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