Nutrition and Health: An integrated "farm to fork approach" to improving food and nutrition security in the Caribbean

“An integrated “farm to fork approach” to improving food and nutrition security in theCaribbean by linking agricultural productivity and diversity on small holder farms to school

feeding programs”

Presented by Leroy E. Phillip

Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences,

McGill University, Montreal, Canada

Phillip, L.E., Gray-Donald, K. C. , Carvalho, R. M. P. de, Stanley, A., I. Granderson, I. Liburd- Willett, I. and Madramootoo, C.A.

Sponsored By: Hosted By:

Presented at the International Food Security Dialogue 2014

Theme: “Nutritional security - relations between food, agriculture, health and nutrition”

• Background and Problem definition

• Project Goals

• Farm to Fork Model building

• Project Results

• Significance of findings and conclusions

Outline

Trinidad and Tobago

Guyana

St. Lucia

St. Kitts and Nevis

BACKGROUND: CARICOM Countries

CARICOM countries social economic profile : Selected Indicators (2013)

COUNTRY POPULATION

(thousands)

Area(Km2)

Population density/Km2

DEBT TO GDP RATIO

GNI PER CAPITA INCOME (US

dollars)

Poverty (%) Per capita food supply

(Kcal/capita/day)2009

ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA 91 440 186 89.3 12,640 18.4 2,428BAHAMAS 355 13,878 23 52.4 21,280 9.3 2,626BARBADOS 275 432 660 100.3 12,380 19.3 2,956

BELIZE 331 22,966 14.5 83.6 4,180 41.3 2,716DOMINICA 68 750 105 79.9 6,460 28.8 3,014GRENADA 106 344 318.5 112 7,110 37.7 2,456GUYANA 759 214,970 3.5 .. 3,410 36.1 2,621

HAITI 10261 27,750 350 15.1 760 77 n/aJAMAICA 2771 10,991 252 131.3 5,140.00 17.6 2,808

ST. KITTS-NEVIS 54 261 164 133 13,330 21.8 2,546ST. LUCIA 180 617 298 80.4 6,530 28.8 2,664

ST. VINCENT & THE GRENADINES 109 389 307 70.3 6,380 30.2 2,914SURINAME 539 163,821 2.9 .. 8,480 31 2,548

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO 1355 5,131 254 46.6 14,440 21 2,778

Source: Adapted from J. R. Deep Ford 2013; FAO country Profiles

BACKGROUND: Country Profiles

CARICOM countries social economic profile : Selected Indicators (2013)

COUNTRY POPULATION (thousands)

Area(Km2)

Population density/Km2

DEBT TO GDP RATIO

GNI PER CAPITA INCOME (US

dollars)

Poverty (%) Per capita food supply

(Kcal/capita/day)2009

ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA 91 440 186 89.3 12,640 18.4 2,428BAHAMAS 355 13,878 23 52.4 21,280 9.3 2,626BARBADOS 275 432 660 100.3 12,380 19.3 2,956

BELIZE 331 22,966 14.5 83.6 4,180 41.3 2,716DOMINICA 68 750 105 79.9 6,460 28.8 3,014GRENADA 106 344 318.5 112 7,110 37.7 2,456GUYANA 759 214,970 3.5 .. 3,410 36.1 2,621

HAITI 10261 27,750 350 15.1 760 77 n/aJAMAICA 2771 10,991 252 131.3 5,140.00 17.6 2,808

ST. KITTS-NEVIS 54 261 164 133 13,330 21.8 2,546ST. LUCIA 180 617 298 80.4 6,530 28.8 2,664

ST. VINCENT & THE GRENADINES 109 389 307 70.3 6,380 30.2 2,914SURINAME 539 163,821 2.9 .. 8,480 31 2,548

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO 1355 5,131 254 46.6 14,440 21 2,778

Source: Adapted from J. R. Deep Ford 2013; FAO Country Profiles

BACKGROOUND: Country Profiles

Prevalence of Overwt / Obesity in the Caribbean in > 30 years old

23

16

25

7 8

2016 15

1412 11 10 10

1

5755 54

4643

3430 29

2725 24 23 22

19

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Ba

rba

do

s

Trin

ida

d a

nd

To

ba

go

Do

min

ica

Ja

ma

ica

Sa

int L

ucia

Ba

ha

ma

s

Sa

int K

itts

an

d N

evis

An

tig

ua

an

d B

arb

ud

a

Gre

na

da

Sa

int V

ince

nt a

nd

th

e

Gre

na

din

es Be

lize

Su

rin

am

e

Gu

ya

na

Ha

iti

Pre

va

len

ce

of

Ob

es

ity

Males

Females

Source: J. R. Deep Ford 2013; FAO

BACKGROUND: Obesity Problem

0

5

10

15

Under Weight Over Weight

4

6

3

13

Pe

rce

nta

ge

Changes in Childhood (0-5yr) Underweight and Overweight Status During a decade

2000

2010

Source: CFNI

BACKGROUND: Obesity Problem

FoodAvailability

Availability1 (Kcal/percapita/day) % of change

2009-1990RPG2 2009 Surplus (+) or

Deficit (-) relative to RPG (%)

1990 2009

Total Food Calories

2393 2636 10 (+) 2250 17 (+)

Staples3 965 1140 18 (+) 1012 13 (+)

Fruits & Vegetables

162 213 31 (+) 337 37 (-)

Sugar & Sweeteners

389 367 6 (-) 180 104 (+)

Fats & Vegetable Oils

842 838 0 450 83 (+)

Protein 229 263 15 (+) 225 17 (+)

BACKGROUND: Food Availability Pattern

1Kcal/per capita/day; 2Recommended Population Goal (2002); 3Staples= Cereals + Starchy RootsSource: Food Balance Sheets - FAOSTATS, http://faostat.fao.org/, April 2014

FoodAvailability

Availability1 (Kcal/percapita/day) % of change

2009-1990RPG2 2009 Surplus (+) or

Deficit (-) relative to RPG (%)

1990 2009

Total Food Calories

2393 2636 10 (+) 2250 17 (+)

Staples3 965 1140 18 (+) 1012 13 (+)

Fruits & Vegetables

162 213 31 (+) 337 37 (-)

Sugar & Sweeteners

389 367 6 (-) 180 104 (+)

Fats & Vegetable Oils

842 838 0 450 83 (+)

Protein 229 263 15 (+) 225 17 (+)

1Kcal/per capita/day; 2Recommended Population Goal (2002); 3Staples= Cereals + Starchy RootsSource: Food Balance Sheets - FAOSTATS, http://faostat.fao.org/, April 2014

BACKGROUND: Food Availability Pattern

-

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

3,000

3,500

4,000

4,500

U$

Mill

ion

Year

TRENDS IN CARICOM AGRICULTURAL TRADE IN CROPS AND LIVESTOCK PRODUCTS 1990-2011

Total EXPORTS U$M Total IMPORTS U$M

Source: J. R. Deep Ford 2013; FAO

BACKGROUND: Food Import Bill

• Improve nutrition & health outcomes of CARICOM populations through availability of foods that would increase intake of vegetables & fruits, decrease caloric intake, and increase micronutrient intake;

• Develop food production systems based on agricultural diversification, water conservation & efficient use of land;

• Understand constraints to, and accelerate the rate of technology adoption by small farmers;

• Adapt international standards of food safety and quality for a healthy, market-oriented food supply chain;

• Build and test a Farm to Fork Model for CARICOM food and nutrition security;

• Expand and build human and institutional capacity to solve problems of food and nutrition insecurity in CARICOM;

Project Goals

MODEL Building

Preconditions for successful farm to fork model

Policy instruments

Build partnerships

Knowledge generation

CHANGE

MODEL BUILDING: Framework for change

Effort

NCD’s

Agriculture Education

Health

Collective

action

Innovation

Technology

adoption

Social

capital

Policy

MODEL Building: Farm to Fork Model

for CARICOM Food Security

Market-driven production of local produce to address food and nutrition insecurity (obesity & overweight):

3 pillars and a matrix:

• Nutrition interventions in school feeding programmes (SFP);

• Technologies for small farmers to sustainably enhance year-round availability & diversity of produce to meet SFP needs for safe, nutritious food;

• Structured system for strategic procurement of produce from local farmers;

Matrix (glue): Fostering collective action and innovation through better understanding of technology adoption , social capital, knowledge sharing policy and institutions, and gender equity.

MODEL Building: Farm to Fork Model

Project Themes

Research Interventions/Activities

St. Kitts and Nevis

Trinidad and Tobago

Guyana

St. Lucia

CommunityNutrition &

Health

Menu modification to school lunch

X X n/an/a

Nutrition education n/a X n/an/a

Food safety X X X X

SocioeconomicsPolicy and Institutions X X X X

Food choice experiments/ Technology adoption

X n/a Xn/a

Water and Land resources

(Agricultural technologies)

Drip Irrigation for food crops

X X XX

Protected agriculture X X n/aX

Open field cropping systems X X XX

Post harvest Quality X X X X

Silage-based small ruminant production

X n/a n/an/a

Research Interventions

Source: Adapted from Ezilon maps, 2014

Pilot Countries

MANSION

STAPLETON

SANGRE

GRANDE

SAN JUAN-

LAVENTILLE

School Lunch Feeding

MODEL Building

(METHODOLOGY: Study

Period ad Sample Size

CountryTreatment

# of children (total=1871)

# of children assessed (5-12 yr)(Total= 491)

St. Kitts and Nevis Menu modification 839 101

Control 567 87

Trinidad and Tobago

Menu modification (MM) 119 80

Nutrition education (NE) 99 54

MM+NE 150 101

Control 97 68

Menu Planning goals in keeping with the US National School Meals Program, 2010.

1/3 of daily recommendations

Fat: Reduce total fat to no more than 30 percent of calories.

Sodium-

Reduce intake of sodium to 600-800 mg

Iron include iron rich foods to provide approximately 2-4 mg

Protein To include a variety of protein sources (peas and beans,

fish and poultry)

Energy Approximately 470 kcal

Fiber Increase use of whole grains, roots and tubers

Fruits &

Vegetables

1 serving of whole fruit or 100% fruit Juice and 1

serving of Vegetables

Menu Planning Goals

Before Rice and beans, turkey wings,

Noodles/ground meat

Hot dogs

Chicken soup with pumpkin and dumplings

Cheese sandwich

Sugar drink

Added String beans, carrots

Tomatoes, cucumbers

Sweet potato, pumpkin

Melon, green banana

Mutton

21

Innovation: Menu changes in St Kitts

Agricultural technology for crop productivity and diversity

Model Building

• 4 on-farm experimental sites (2 in St. Kitts ; 2 Guyana);

• 16 farmers in SK; 10 in east coast Guyana

• For St. Kitts, the irrigated area was 1.84 ha in total; 0.66 in Stapleton and 1.18 in Mansion.

• In Guyana, the irrigated area was 1.65 ha in ( total; 0.85ha in Parika region and 0.80ha in Black Bush Polder).

• Crops : 13 different crops (F& V)

• Study Design: 3 irrigation scheduling treatments (Control, 80% of AWC and 100% of AWC)

• Measurements : crop yield, soil moisture, climate parameters

Methodology – Drip Irrigation Studies

PROJECT RESULTS

Preconditions for successful farm to fork model

String beans

Tomatoes Cucumbers

Cabbage

Melons

Pumpkin

Watermelon

RESUTS: Drip Irrigation for crop productivity and diversity

Carrots

RESULTS: Drip Irrigation for crop

productivity and diversity

24883

9840

30976

24167

16800

2800

1792016800

72389613

15246

Pumpkin String beans Tomato Honeydew*

Comparative project yield (Kg/ha) - St. Kitts

Irrigated Not irrigated Carribean FAOSTATS 2012 values

RESULTS: Drip Irrigation for crop

productivity and diversity

11994

11099

5154

13806

11200 11200

13440

16800

18346

16352

1096311923

Cabbage Carrot Cucumber Watermelon

Comparative project yield (Kg/ha) - St. Kitts

Irrigated Not irrigated Carribean FAOSTATS 2012 values

RESULTS : Using the McGill IRRIMOD© Soil Water Balance Model

Average monthly irrigation requirement at the three study sites during 2005-2012

RESULTS: Post-harvest Losses Mapping

RESULTS: Controlling Post-harvest Losses

Direct sunlight control Packaging materials

Wrapping materials

School Feeding

RESULTS: School Feeding

• Baseline Data: food security; nutritional status; obesity

• Produce Procurement by school meals Centre: – produce supplied by local Farmers – Diversity of produce procured

• Cost of Improved lunch menu

• Menu Compliance

• Diet Quality :– Nutrient content of meals as offered – Meal Acceptance ( plate waste)

• Nutrition outcomes of children – 24 h recall dietary intake– Fruit and vegetable intake – Anthropometry (BMI; height for age)

School Feeding data Collected

BASELINE RESULTS: BMI of subjects in St. Kitts

Food security status % Overweight and

Obesity among

children (%)

% of Thin among

children (%)

Food insecure 46 28 5

Food secure 54 38 4

Baseline RESULTS : Food Security vs nutrition inTrinidad and St. Kitts

2013 2014

Product Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar

Tomato 2619%

surplus83%

surplus 0 0 17 57 43 53 36 82 78 80

Pumpkin 19 0 23 45 62 88 25 72 97 22 67 88 94

Cucumber 6333%

surplus 25 0 30 7314%

surplus 0 38 67 33 0 0

String Beans 43 33 41 8 33 20 15 0 53 70 17 18 43

Carrots 8 255%

surplus 3314%

surplus 92 0 0 0 86 77 828%

Surplus

Sweet Potato 73 0 33 0 19 35 19 58 59 0 22 28 10

White Potato 0 29 31 60 14 0 0 16 0 0 43 871%

Surplus

Cabbage 0 0 0 0 92 0 0 23 93 0 86 97 92

Watermelon 0 0 21 14 79 26 25 0 9 0 8 0 13

Cantaloupe 0 0 0 0 0 0 26 0 0 0 0 0 0

Banana 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 0 25 0 4 7 1

Other fruits 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 13 53 25 8 3 0

Onion 2842%

Surplus 85

Mutton 0 0 24 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Extent of produce supplied by Local Farmers (Project and Non Project Farmer) in St. Kitts relative to School Meal Centre Needs – January 2013 to March 2014 school year

Extent of supplied (%)

0-25 26-50 51-70 76-100 Surplus

RESULTS: Food Procurement

Roots – White potato, Sweet potato, Carrots and Breadfruit; Vegetables – Tomato, Pumpkin,

Cucumber, Cabbage. Collard leaves and Onions; Pulses – String beans; Fruits –

Watermelon, Banana, Cantaloupe, Oranges, Sour orange, Star fruit and Lime; Mutton

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Jan-Jun 2013 Sept-Dec 2013 Jan-Mar 2014

717

6

37

55

96

28 30 26

51

34

100

4 0 0% o

f P

rod

uce

su

pp

lied

Proportion (%) of produce supplied to St. Kitts School Meals Centre (SMC) by local farmers ("project" and non-project farmers ) in

relation to SMC needs- January 2013 until March 2014 school year

Fruits Vegetables Pulses Roots Mutton

RESULTS: Food Procurement

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

Jan

uar

y

Feb

ruar

y

Mar

ch

Ap

ril

May

Jun

e

Sep

tem

ber

Oct

ob

er

No

vem

ber

Dec

emb

er*

Jan

uar

y

Feb

ruar

y

Mar

ch

2013 2014

Qu

anti

ty o

f p

rod

uce

(K

g)

Total quantity of all produce received by St. Kitts School Meals Centre from local farmers ("Project "and non-project farmers) - January 2013 until March 2014

school year

All farmers Project farmers

19.7 tonnes

of produce

RESULTS: Food Procurement

65

7

5

7 78

6

11

7

13 13

11

45 5

45

65 5

87

1211

9

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

Jan

uar

y

Feb

ruar

y

Mar

ch

Ap

ril

May

Jun

e

Sep

tem

ber

Oct

ob

er

No

vem

ber

Dec

emb

er*

Jan

uar

y

Feb

ruar

y

Mar

ch

2013 2014

Nu

mb

er o

f V

eget

able

s an

d F

ruit

s

Diversity (number ) of Fruits, Vegetables , Pulses and Roots received by St. Kitts School Meals Centre from local farmers ("Project" and Non

Project Farmers) -January 2013 to March 2014 school year

All farmers Project farmers

RESULTS: Food Procurement

319391

0

200

400

600

Calories (Kcal)

Energy intake (Kcal/child/d/lunch meal) by school children in St.

Kitts

Control Schools Intervention Schools

15

47

27

27

44

311

0

10

20

30

40

50

Protein (g) Carbohydrates(g)

Fiber (g) Fat (g)

Nutrient intake (g/child/d/lunch meal) by school children in St. Kitts

Control Schools Intervention Schools

1078

4

2307

12

1

10

100

1000

10000

Vitamin A (IU) Vitamin C (mg)

Vitamin intake ( per child/d/lunch meal) by school children in St. Kitts

Control Schools

Intervention Schools

Intervention 24hr recall

“End of project” intake of fruit and vegetables (no. of servings) by children (8 to 12

year old) in Trinidad, based on 24 h dietary recall and the number of children eating

the school lunch meals on recall day (preliminary results)

0.36 0.35

1.16

0.52

0.00

0.20

0.40

0.60

0.80

1.00

1.20

Fruit intake Vegetable Intake

No

. of

serv

ings

Intake of fruit and vegetable by children (8 to12 year old)

Control Improved menu

Control Test meal -April

2013

Test meal –

Sept-Oct 2013

Fruit /Veg servings 0.13 0.51 1.07

% of Children

accepting new

foods (%)

N/A 46-85 --

Cost per meal per

child ($EC)

0.96

($0.39 CAD)

1.57

($0.64 CAD)

2.06

($0.84 CAD)

Meal cost & acceptance in St. Kitts

MODEL Adoption and Preconditions

Preconditions for successful farm to fork model

Collective

action

Innovation

Technology

adoption

Social

capital

Policy

Farm to Fork Modelfor CARICOM Food & Nutrition Security

1. CARICOM project: First in CARICOM to adopt a multi-sectoralapproach to generating an integrated package of scientific evidence for solutions to food and nutrition insecurity.

2. Preconditions for model adoption:

– Equipping small holder farmers with sustainable agricultural technologies and technology uptake by farmers;

– Strengthening markets & mechanisms for produce procurement for school feeding;

– Investments in and strengthening of School Feeding Programmes and Policy

– Acceleration of technical and institutional capacity

– Need for collective action and Knowledge flows among Institutions, policy makers,community and stakeholders

Comments and Preconditions for successful farm to fork model

Regional and National emphasis on components of Food Security

Caribbean Agricultural Research and

Development Institute (CARDI)Council for Trade and Economic

Development (COTED)

Guyana St. Kitts

• School feeding programs (SFP,s) are underutilized vehicles for reversing theobesity trends in CARICOM while providing market opportunity for smallholder farmers ;

• Equipped with drip irrigation and other agricultural technologies, localfarmers delivered about 20 tonnes of new nutritious produce in one year tothe SFP in St. Kitts- a novelty in food procurement by the SFP in the EasternCaribbean

• Project results from serve to construct a useful farm to fork model forregional application in finding solutions to CARICOM food and nutritioninsecurity

• Findings from the Project could inform policy makers of a new, and integratedapproach to addressing food insecurity in CARICOM

Conclusions

Acknowledgements

Funding for this project was provided by The Canadian International Food Security ResearchFund (CIFSRF) a program of Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC)undertaken with the financial support of the Government of Canada provided throughForeign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada (DFATD).

We acknowledge the enormous support and contribution for the institutional partners andpersonnel in St. Kitts-Nevis

Special appreciation is expressed to Patrick Cortbaoui, all other Project Team members andProject Partners for their contributions to the project.

Project website: https://www.mcgill.ca/globalfoodsecurity/research-initiatives/caricom-project

Acknowledgments

THANK YOU

CARICOM Project website:

www.mcgill.ca/globalfoodsecurity/research-initiatives/caricom-

project