Slide 1 (RYY, 6-7 June 2013)

Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH) Workshop:Enhancing Nutrition in Value Chains

IFPRI, Washington, D.C., 6-7 June 2013

Leveraging Vegetable Seed Suppliers

The Seed Grant Case Study: Enhanced nutritional outcomes of populations through nutrition-sensitive

agricultural promotion by a vegetable seed company in Bangladeshand Possible Expansion

Ray-Yu Yang, Nutritionist, Peter Hanson, Vegetable Breeder, AVRDC, TaiwanS.M. Abdul Mukit, Marketing Manager, Lal Teer Seed, Bangladesh

Shahabuddin Ahmad, Vegetable Sector Leader, Horticulture Project, Bangladesh

Slide 2 (RYY, 6-7 June 2013)

Vegetable availability vs. health/nutrition status

Health status indicator:Children under 5 mortality rate

Nutrition status indicator:Children under 5 underweight

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800

50

100

150

200

250

300

Vegetable availability (g/person/day)

Ch

ildre

n <

5 m

ort

alit

y ra

te (

1/1

00

0)

Niger

Mali

Tanzania

Philippines

r = - 0.52p < 0.001n = 171

Bangladesh

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 8000

10

20

30

40

50

60

Vegetable availability (g/person/day)

Ch

ildre

n <

5 u

nd

erw

eig

ht (

%)

Niger

Mali

Tanzania

Philippines

r = - 0.53p < 0.001n = 148

Bangladesh

Source: Keatinge et al., 2012

Slide 3 (RYY, 6-7 June 2013)

Share of vegetable consumption (availability) in Asia(min. 200 g/day/person)

5%

59%56% 88%71%

8%4%

87%

7%

14%29%36%

8% 12% 15%

715 g/day 423 g/day 422 g/day 171g/day

144 g/day

Onion

Tomatoes

Other veg

Eastern Asia38

Western Asia23

Central Asia23

S Asia

9

SE Asia

8

Source: RYY 2011, Data: FAOSTAT 2010

Slide 4 (RYY, 6-7 June 2013)

Share of vegetable consumption (availability) in SS Africa(min. 200 g/day/person)

Source: RYY, 2013; Data source: FAOSTAT 2012

Improving incomes, nutrition and health in Bangladesh through potato, sweetpotato, and

vegetables

USAID Horticulture Project-CIP/AVRDC

Slide 6 (RYY, 6-7 June 2013)

The value chain flow can be restricted by poor food habits and unawareness of nutritional significance of healthy diets including vegetable consumption

Seeds(genebank/breeding)

Field Plate HumanMarket

Home-based production

Slide 7 (RYY, 6-7 June 2013)

Promotion of healthy eating and vegetable consumption in Bangladesh (USAID-CIP/AVRDC-Horticulture Project)

• Promotion mechanisms – Nutrition and health extension channels

• BRAC health program (an NGO in Bangladesh)• Target: low income consumers

– Projects: WorldFish, SPRING, Government Nutrition/Health– Agricultural extension channels

• Project field days and agricultural training/promotion• Target: farmers (consumers, buyers) and their families

• Vegetable seed companies• Target: farmers (consumers, buyers) and their families

Slide 8 (RYY, 6-7 June 2013)

Advantage of nutrition outreach to farmers and farm families via seed companies

• Many seed companies have strong farmer extension activities to promote sound crop management practices to maximize productivity

• Seed companies routinely conduct farmer field days for promotion of vegetable seed sales and reach thousands of farmers throughout the country.

• Promoting increased production and consumption of vegetables is in the interest of vegetable seed companies

• Seed companies would gain financially by increased production and consumption of vegetables

Slide 9 (RYY, 6-7 June 2013)

Lal Teer Seed Company

• Based in Bangladesh• Part of Multimode group of

companies• Strong vegetable R&D • Seed and input distribution

network throughout Bangladesh• Strong sense of corporate social

responsibility

Covering 493 Upazillas

Slide 10 (RYY, 6-7 June 2013)

Program name Districts covered

No of Program conducted

No of beneficiaries

Community Meeting 15 240 9,600

Field day 64 1200 12,000,000

Demo plot 64 1500 2,000,000

Farmers' information Booth 05 Continuous Many

Lal Teer Seed technology dissemination

10

Demo plot

Community Meeting

Service Booth

Slide 11 (RYY, 6-7 June 2013)

Nutrition promotion and home garden training

Farmers buy benefits not products (seeds)

Slide 12 (RYY, 6-7 June 2013)

Case Study -

• Enhanced nutritional outcomes of populations through nutrition-sensitive agricultural promotion by a vegetable seed company in Bangladesh

Slide 13 (RYY, 6-7 June 2013)

Goal and objectives

Long term goal• Increase supplies of nutritious food and increase consumption of

healthy diets in developing countries. Medium term objectives• Enhanced public awareness, demand for and access to nutrient-

rich vegetables for rural and urban poor with emphasis on nutritious diets for women and children

Specific objectives in year one• Strengthen the nutritional impact pathway of vegetable production

in Bangladesh through collaboration with a vegetable seed company.

Slide 14 (RYY, 6-7 June 2013)

Nutritional impact pathway of vegetable seed companies with agricultural oriented extension and marketing

Slide 15 (RYY, 6-7 June 2013)

Enhanced nutritional impact pathway of vegetable seed companies with nutrition integrated agricultural extension and marketing, and the A4NH project interventions

Slide 16 (RYY, 6-7 June 2013)

Main activities in year one Jointly with Lal Teer Seed Limited and partners to 1. Discussions to understand seed company marketing and extension.

(months 1-2) 2. Design, fine-tune, and develop nutritional promotion materials for use in

training, promotion and field demonstration (months 2-5)3. Training of Trainers program in nutrition and nutrition awareness. (months

3-10)4. Select target sites, target populations, extension and/or promotion events

for a case study (months 2-3)5. Conduct the case study (quasi-experiment with control and pre-/post

evaluation) to investigate effectiveness of the proposed project interventions and test the proposed project hypothesis. Indicators for measurement in year one focus on nutritional knowledge and attitudes, and consumption when feasible. (months 4 -10)

6. Present and publish the results in international agricultural and nutritional events, and develop strategy for scale out. (months 11-12)

Slide 17 (RYY, 6-7 June 2013)

Potential expansion of the case study approach to other regions

Slide 18 (RYY, 6-7 June 2013)

Increasing supplies and consumption at national and regional level-

Increasing consumers’ demand and incentives for consumption of nutritious food including vegetables

Seeds(genebank/breeding)

Field Plate HumanMarket

Home-based production

Slide 19 (RYY, 6-7 June 2013)

AVRDC’s relationship with private seed sector

• Long history of service and collaboration with seed companies in S/SE Asia and East Africa• Seed company benefited from access and use of AVRDC

vegetable breeding lines• AVRDC-APSA (Asia and Pacific Seed Association) Consortium

(2003-2013)

Slide 20 (RYY, 6-7 June 2013)

Selecting seed company collaborators

• Seed companies differ in interest in AVRDC’s mission to alleviate malnutrition and poverty, long-term vision, corporate social responsibility

• Selective AVRDC partnerships with progressive seed companies – AVRDC provides technical support (improved lines, breeding protocols,

training) to improve plant breeding capacity – Encourage and equip seed companies to promote nutrition messages– View farm families as vegetable consumers and nutrition promotion as a

means to increase demand and consumption of vegetables by farmers– Encourage seed companies to produce and distribute mini-pack vegetable

seeds to home gardeners some of whom become commercial producers – More vegetable demand and consumption means increased seed sales!

Slide 21 (RYY, 6-7 June 2013)

Company Location Company LocationAdvanta India Known-You Taiwan/GlobalAllied Botanical Philippines Mikado Kyowa JapanAnkur Seeds India Namdhari IndiaAjeet Seeds India Nuziveedu IndiaBHN USA Nunhems Holland/GlobalChia Tai Thailand Rasi Seeds IndiaClause Thailand Thailand Syngenta Swiss/GlobalClover Seed Hong Kong Rijk Zwaan Holland/GlobalEast-West SE/S Asia Sakata Japan/GlobalEnza-Zaden Holland Seedworks IndiaIndo-American India Seminis US/GlobalJK Agri Genetics India Takii Japan/GlobalKaneko Japan Tokita Japan/GlobalVNR India Vibha India

Potential seed companies for scale out in South and Southeast Asia

Slide 22 (RYY, 6-7 June 2013)

Potential seed companies for scale out in Africa

East and Central Africa: • Simlaw (Kenya Seed Company) and East

Africa Seed Company (Kenya)– Directly market seeds in Kenya, Tanzania

and Uganda, and indirectly in Rwanda, Burundi, Congo and South Sudan

– Simlaw is promoting nutrition and East Africa wants to.

– Both understand that increased demand for vegetables means more seed sales.

West Africa • Technisem Seed (based in Senegal)

Meeting with Simlaw, 27/05/13

Meeting with East Africa Seed, 27/05/13

Slide 23 (RYY, 6-7 June 2013)

Perspectives

• Seed companies can strengthen both agricultural production (vegetable supply) and nutrition awareness (vegetable demand) of farmers and their families

• Wide and sustained reach to customers (farmers)• Complements and reinforces nutrition extension • AVRDC – The World Vegetable Center is in a good position to lead

the proposed approach and collaborate with partners under the Nutrition Sensitive Value Chain Component of the A4NH Program