INTERNATIONAL FOOD POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE sustainable solutions for ending hunger and poverty Challenges and Successes in Linking Agriculture and Nutrition Marie Ruel, Director, Poverty, Health and Nutrition Division, IFPRI
INTERNATIONAL FOODPOLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTEsustainable solutions for ending hunger and poverty
Challenges and Successes in Linking
Agriculture and Nutrition
Marie Ruel, Director,
Poverty, Health and Nutrition Division,
IFPRI
Agriculture – Nutrition Linkages
Over three decades of researchOver 3 decades of research
Building an Integrated Agriculture and health Agenda, London, June 23, 2010
Conceptual framework (80’s)
Food availability
Food access
HH choices and use
Individual utilization
Nutritional Status (PEM)
DETERMINANTS
POLICIES
Building an Integrated Agriculture and health Agenda, London, June 23, 2010
INTERNATIONAL FOOD POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE
Highlights (80’s)
Agriculture affects nutrition via its effects on income, prices, demand for labor, time allocation, energy expenditure
Recommendations:• Create nutrition units (to coordinate,
build nutrition goals into agriculture projects)
• Strengthen national capacity• Develop models to assess impact
Building an Integrated Agriculture and health Agenda, London, June 23, 2010
(Pinstrup-Anderson; Berg & Forman; FAO; ACC/SCN)
INTERNATIONAL FOOD POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE
Highlights (90’s)
Impact of commercialization: • Larger effect on food expenditure than
energy intakes • Relatively small elasticity for nutrition
Importance of health as an input into nutrition (infectious diseases) recognized
Importance of policy context, economic, environmental, geographical, social, farming system factors in determining impacts
Building an Integrated Agriculture and health Agenda, London, June 23, 2010
Von Braun, Kennedy, Bouis, Pinstrup-Anderson, Biswas
BreastfeedingComplementary feedingVitamin AZincHygiene
INSTITUTIONS
POLITICAL & IDEOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK
ECONOMIC STRUCTURE
RESOURCESENVIRONMENT, TECHNOLOGY,
PEOPLE
Food/nutrientintake
Health
Water/Sanitation
health services
Interventions
Immediate causes
Underlying causes
Basic causes
- Agriculture- Poverty Reduction- Education- Health Systems Strengthening- Income generation- Women’s empowerment
Maternal and
child-care
practices
Access to food
Determinants of Nutrition
Adapted from UNICEF 1990
INTERNATIONAL FOOD POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE
Highlights –(2000s)
Micronutrients, diet quality, double burden
WHO Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health
“Member States need to take healthy nutrition into account in their agricultural policies
Building an Integrated Agriculture and health Agenda, London, June 23, 2010
INTERNATIONAL FOOD POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE
Highlights (2000) - 2
Plant breeding to improve micronutrient content of staple foods (Harvest+)
Scaling up of integrated agricultural interventions with nutrition behavior change, gender-focus (homestead food production (HKI; TANA))
HIV/AIDs-agriculture-livelihoods-nutrition (e.g. RENEWAL)
Agriculture and Health Research Platform (AHRP) – CGIAR +
TANDI project
Building an Integrated Agriculture and health Agenda, London, June 23, 2010
INTERNATIONAL FOODPOLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTEsustainable solutions for ending hunger and poverty
A Few Examples of Success
INTERNATIONAL FOOD POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE
HarvestPlus: Breeding crops for better nutrition
Iron biofortified rice: added 83% to iron Iron biofortified rice: added 83% to iron stores of non-anemic Filipino women stores of non-anemic Filipino women (Haas et al. 2008)(Haas et al. 2008)
Biofortified orange-fleshed sweet potato:Biofortified orange-fleshed sweet potato: increased Vit. A intake & status in children increased Vit. A intake & status in children in Mozambique in Mozambique
(Low & Arimond 2008)(Low & Arimond 2008)
INTERNATIONAL FOOD POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE Building an Integrated Agriculture and health Agenda, London, June 23, 2010
Project Model (Mozambique)
Building an Integrated Agriculture and health Agenda, London, June 23, 2010
Impact on Intake of OFSP (6-35 mo old)
Building an Integrated Agriculture and health Agenda, London, June 23, 2010
Impact on Vitamin A intake (6-35 mo old)
Building an Integrated Agriculture and health Agenda, London, June 23, 2010
Hellen Keller International Experience
Source: Spielman & Pandya-Lorch, Millions Fed, IFPRI 2009
Building an Integrated Agriculture and health Agenda, London, June 23, 2010
Hellen Keller International Experience
Source: Spielman & Pandya-Lorch, Millions Fed, IFPRI 2009
INTERNATIONAL FOODPOLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTEsustainable solutions for ending hunger and poverty
What Have We Learned?
Building an Integrated Agriculture and health Agenda, London, June 23, 2010
INTERNATIONAL FOOD POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE
Success Factors in Agriculture-Nutrition Collaboration
Shared objectives of collaboration Early inclusive engagement with
relevant partners Established mechanisms for horizontal
& vertical communication Methods, tools & mechanisms for
working together Enabling policy environment – making
links with intersectoral bodies
Building an Integrated Agriculture and health Agenda, London, June 23, 2010
INTERNATIONAL FOOD POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE
Challenges
Limited success – or evidence –that agriculture can be an effective tool to improve nutrition
Large untapped potential Lack of capacity, interest, incentives at all
levels for integration Skepticism when facing complexities, long-
term investment, inter-sectoral work
Building an Integrated Agriculture and health Agenda, London, June 23, 2010
Health
Nutrition
AgricultureIncome
Employment
Food security
Dietary diversity
AGRICULTURE BENEFITS
AGRICULTURE RISKS
Productivity
Strength
Endurance
Cognition
Risk taking
Water-related diseasesFood-borne diseases
Zoonotic diseases
Gender equity
Livelihoods
AGRICULTURE – NUTRITION - HEALTH
HEALTH/NUTRITIONBENEFITS
INTERNATIONAL FOOD POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE
Impact Pathways
INTERNATIONAL FOOD POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE
New Challenges– New Opportunities
Momentum: global response to food & economic crisis, climate change threats
Commitment at high level to tackle hunger, food insecurity, nutrition through agriculture
Recognition of the need to:• Exploit synergies; break intersectoral divides• Create capacity, incentive systems• Address institutional/governance issues that
have prevented integration
Building an Integrated Agriculture and health Agenda, London, June 23, 2010
INTERNATIONAL FOOD POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE
Announcement
2020 Conference:
“Leveraging Agriculture for Improving Nutrition and Health”
February 10-12, 2011 in New Delhi
Building an Integrated Agriculture and health Agenda, London, June 23, 2010