What are the opportunities for linking agriculture and nutrition?

Marie Ruel (IFPRI)IFPRI, December 7, 2010

Photo: One Acre Fund

Health

Nutrition

Agriculture Income

Employment

Food security

AGRICULTURE BENEFITS NUTRITION + HEALTH THROUGH:

AGRICULTURE POSESRISKS:

Productivity

Physical strength

Endurance

Cognition

Risk taking

Water-related diseasesFood-borne diseases

Zoonotic diseases

Dietary diversity

Livelihoods

AGRICULTURE – NUTRITION - HEALTH

HEALTH & NUTRITIONBENEFITS AGRICULTURE THROUGH:

Gender equity

Education

Agriculture is Essential but Insufficient to Improve Nutrition

Pathways from Agriculture to Nutrition (TANDI)

4

Demand side effects

Sectoral linkages

Supply side

effectsFood prices

National Level

Household Level

Food output

Nonfood output

Nutrient consumpti

on

Food expenditu

re

Non-food expenditu

re

Individual Level

Nutrient intake

Child nutritio

n outcom

es

Hou

seh

old

ass

ets

an

d

live

lih

ood

s

Drivers of “taste”: culture, location, growth,

globalization.

Intrahousehold inequality: gender bias, education, family size, seasonality, religion,

SCTs.

Public health factors: water,

sanitation, health services,

education.

Food imports

Policy drivers of inequality: land policies, financial policies, infrastructure investments, education policies,

empowerment policies for women & SCTs.

Policy drivers of nutrition: health, nutrition, social protection & education

Interacting socioeconomi

c factors[possible leakages]

Interhousehold inequality in assets,

credit, access to public goods & services

Health status

Mother’s nutrition outcome

s

Health care

expenditure

Female employmen

t

National

nutrition

outcomes

Food income:

consumption

Food income: from

markets

Non-food income

Farm/nonfarm

employment

Caring capacity & practices

Poli

cy

dri

vers

of

gro

wth

: G

reen

Revo

luti

on

in

1

97

0s

& 1

98

0s,

“li

bera

liza

tion

” &

non

farm

eco

nom

ic g

row

th i

n 1

99

0s

& 2

00

0s.

Female energy

expenditure

Weak relationship between agriculture performance and nutrition status outcomes

Income and Agriculture Growth Nutrition indicators

Underweight Stunting Low BMI, (Women)

Asset Index 0.24 0.09 -0.45

GDP per cap growth 0.17 0.08 -0.63

Agriculture GDP/worker -0.10 -0.20 -0.44*

Non-Agr. GDP/worker -0.08 -0.14 -0.29*

Estimated elasticities between child undernutrition and welfare indicators

What are the Opportunities? 3 Examples:

BiofortificationHomestead food production programs, which

bring agriculture-health-nutrition together at community and household level

Nutrition-sensitive value chains

Photo: Julie Ruel-Bergeron

Biofortification for Improved Nutrition

OFSP in Mozambique and Uganda(HarvestPlus)

Impact evaluation: randomized trial of 1st HarvestPlus crop

Intervention: • Seed systems

(dissemination of vines, farmers’ training)

• Demand creation (nutrition education)

• Marketing and product development

Reached 14,000 hh in Mozambique; 10,000 in Uganda

Dissemination: 2006-09Source: Dan Gilligan et al. ; Biofortification Conference, Nov 2010

Control

Model 2

Model 1

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

%

66% compared to control

Impact on OFSP Adoption Rate, 2009 Mozambique

Source: Dan Gilligan et al. ; Biofortification Conference, Nov 2010

% who retained OFSP vines for next season

69% compared to control

Photo: One Acre Fund

Agriculture Programs to Improve Nutrition

HKI’s Homestead food production in Bangladesh

Program:

• :• Impact:

Source: Millions Fed , IFPRI, 2009; www.ifpri.org/millionsfed

Production-focused: micronutrient-rich vegetables, small livestock productionNutrition education to promote consumption Focus on women: income generation, empowermentNutrition objective: Improve diet diversity, micronutrient intake

Hel

en K

elle

r Int

erna

tiona

l

Integrating agriculture and nutritionat household and community level

Triple vegetable production; increased income 73% of gardens managed by womenimproved food security for 5 million people

Evidence of impact on maternal & child nutrition is limited

• :

Source: Millions Fed , IFPRI, 2009; www.ifpri.org/millionsfed

Stronger, better targeted BCCFocus on the 1000 days Stronger links to health systems More rigorous theory-based impact evaluation Systematic documentation of lessons learned

Hel

en K

elle

r Int

erna

tiona

l

Areas for improvement:

Nutrition-Sensitive Value Chains

Photo: Andrew Westby

Example of bean value chains in Uganda and Rwanda (Dry Grain Pulses CRSP, Mazur et al. 2009)

4 objectives:Improve yields and quality of harvested beansEnhance nutritional value and appeal through

appropriate post-harvest handling + processing

Increase market accessIncrease demand and consumption

Inputs into production

Production

Post-harvest handling/storage

Processing

Marketing

Increased availability of, access to, and demand for

NUTRITIOUS BEANS

A Nutrition-Sensitive Value Chain for Beans (Uganda)

Field trials with new varietiesSoil & terrain analysisFarmers trainings

Technologies to losses (insects)Nutrient retention analysis

Testing sequencing + duration ofdifferent processing techniques(nutrient retention, anti-nutrients)

Analysis of main market channels,Drivers of market decisions,Presence of nutrient-enhanced foods

Consumer surveysCooking trainings, Education,Behavior chance communications

Source: Adapted from Mazur et al. 2009. Pulses CRSP

Value Chain Steps Activities

Conclusions Agriculture alone will not improve nutrition fast enough We have opportunities and examples of success on how to

bridge the agriculture-nutrition divide We have challenges Our biggest challenge AND opportunity is to work together

- cross-sectorally (how?) And we need to do much better at documenting successes

– and failures; we need the evidence We have a momentum, global consensus, new initiatives,

committed donors, experienced NGOs, research community