A Review of the Food Security and Nutritional Impacts of Agriculture Interventions
Tom SchaetzelInfant & Young Child Nutrition (IYCN) Project
Maximizing Nutritional Benefits of Agricultural Interventions
The Infant & Young Child Nutrition Project
• USAID Global Health Bureau flagship project
on infant and young child nutrition.
• Prioritizes the prevention of malnutrition for
mothers and children, focusing from
pregnancy until two years of age.
• Led by PATH in collaboration with CARE,
The Manoff Group, and University Research
Co., LLC.
Photo: PATH/Evelyn Hockstein
A New Era for Agricultural Development
Source: Farming First
Does Increased Agricultural Production Improve Nutrition?
“…one of the most persistent
of misperceptions…about
technology and economics…is
the idea that as long as
production is rising, any
problems of consumption will
sort themselves out.”
Pacey and Payne, 1985
Photo: © 2008 Monirul Alam, Courtesy of Photoshare
Does Increased Income Improve Nutrition?Not everything can be bought…
“Income is a rather dubious indicator of the opportunity of being well
nourished….” (Drèze and Sen, 1989)
Health Education
Clean Water Gender Equality
Photos: PATH
The Problem
There are trade offs and complementarities between production/employment goals and meeting nutritional goals which should be taken into account…when making program decisions. (USAID, 1982)
• How can we maximize the complementarities?
• How can we minimize the tradeoffs?
Review of Experience
• What are the characteristics of agriculture interventions that:
– Improve food security?
– Improve nutrition?
• What are the characteristics of interventions that have negative effects?
Negative Food Security Impact
• Results when increase unemployment among population groups already un- or under-employed.
– Increased production tends to increase employment, but not always
– Mechanization can decrease employment
Negative Food Security Impact
• Increased prices (e.g., price supports) have negative impact when vulnerable households are net purchasers.
– Smaller producers may increase production, but not enough to become net sellers
– Cameroon calculation for 10% price increase:
• 3% income increase and 0.5% consumption increase
• 11.6% reduction of consumption due to purchase
• Lower prices have negative impact when vulnerable households are net sellers.
Positive Food Security Impact is More Likely When…
• Involve women
– Better translation of income increases to food security
– Small-scale processing (often an income source)
• Food promoted is disproportionately produced by food insecure households (usually also disproportionately consumed by these households). Photo: QFP/Mario DiBari
Positive Nutrition Impacts are More Likely When…
• The intervention includes explicit nutrition counseling (coupled with access to health care, sanitation and hygiene).
– Calculation (Rwanda): doubling energy intake decreases stunting by only ¼ standard deviation—a clean latrine has twice the effect
– Comparisons of orange-fleshed sweet potato with and without counseling
Positive Nutrition Impacts are More Likely When…
• The intervention involves women.
• The intervention includes home gardens.
• The intervention introduces micronutrient-rich crop varieties.
Positive Nutrition Impacts are More Likely When…• Vulnerable households regularly consume the
food commodity being produced.
– Independent of income effects
– Even for commercial crops
– Examples: fish, vegetables, dairy, poultry and eggs
Photo: PATH
Positive Nutrition Impacts are More Likely When…• Interventions are designed
to benefit/protect nutritionally vulnerable populations.
• Requires identifying and considering the situation of vulnerable households before the project takes place.
Photo: PATH
Solutions
1. Include meaningful nutrition objectives in project design (with activities supporting them).
2. Protect nutritional considerations in the design of production/income projects.
Photo: QFP/Mario DiBari
Key Considerations
• The expected impacts are often unclear and require modeling at the outset.
• Modeling requires identifying the nutritional vulnerable, and understanding why they are vulnerable.
Thank you
Contact me: [email protected]
The preceding slides were presented at the
CORE Group 2010 Fall Meeting
Washington, DC
To see similar presentations, please visit:
www.coregroup.org/resources/meetingreports