Multi-functional assessment of nutrition-sensitive landscapes

Nester Mashingaidze et al.

4 March 2015

Humidtropics

Introduction

• Vulnerable populations are often food insecure

• Food security: – Sufficient calories

– Diverse nutrients

• Sources of food – farm production

– market

– Landscape

• Nutrition-sensitive landscapes – optimise production, NRM and nutrition

Objectives

1. Characterise the current landscape and

determine landscape performance in terms of

production, environmental outcomes and

nutrition.

2. Explore trade-offs and synergies of proposed

interventions at landscape level.

3. Identify and test entry points for improvements

in farming, diets and ecosystem services

provided by the landscape

Approach: InDEED Cycle

The case studies

• Western Kenya

– Densely populated (1 044 persons km-2)

– Food crops (maize, beans)

– Cash crops (tea, vegetables)

– Food insecurity, land degradation, poverty

• Northwest Vietnam – Low smallholder agricultural productivity

– Degradation of natural resources

– Low income and access to markets

– Malnutrition

Site selection

1. Review of secondary sources & experts

2. Field visits to 10 sub-locations

- Mambai: tea-based & Masana: maize-based

3. Participatory mapping

4. Transect Walk

Landscapes in Vihiga County

• Mambai landscape - river + ‘forest’

- Impactlite survey to

10 households

• Masana sub-location - circumcision forest

-10 households

surveyed

Preliminary results

• Soil fertility Masana > Mambai

• Majority of land holdings < 0.5 ha

- Some Hhs had fields away from landscape

Mambai (50%) & Masana (30%)

• No major forests, nearby lakes or dams

• Hh size: Masana 5(±2.5) and Mambai 4.5 (±1.4)

Crop production

• Crop species: Mambai slightly > Masana

• Masana: maize > banana > napier

• Mambai: maize > tea > eucalyptus

• Vegetables < 0.04% of cropped area

Food – produced and purchased

• All farms produced food crops

– Beans purchase Masana > Mambai

– Banana purchase low

– Low consumption of traditional vegetables?

Way forward

• Building of farms into FarmDesign on-going

• Farms to be aggregated in LandscapeIMAGES

• Field visits for additional data collection

• Modeling and community feed backs

FarmDesign N cycle

Thank you

Insert photo here

. C. Timler 2014