The Influence of Agro-Food Policies and Programmes on the Availability, Affordability, Safety and

Acceptability of Food

Spencer Henson and John HumphreyInstitute of Development Studies,

Brighton, UK

PREPARATORY TECHNICAL MEETINGFAO Headquarters, Rome, Italy

13-15 November 2013

Our choices

• Focus on micronutrient undernourishment – hidden hunger

• Food-based approaches• Post-farmgate, not on-farm consumption

Urban households; non-farm rural households; farm households that buy food in markets, seasonally or year-round, etc.

• Market-based approaches. Businesses of all types and sizes Enhancing the nutritional functioning of agri-food value chains

Is there is unrealised potential to mobilise

business for combating micronutrient

deficiencies amongst the poor?

Food-based options for improving micronutrient intake

Fortification of Staple Foods – oil, flour, etc.

Biofortification – orange fleshed sweet potato

Agronomic biofortification – zinc-enhanced fertiliser

Targeted fortified foods:Foods with added nutrient packages – Shokti doiComplementary foods for childrenLipid-based supplements for regular consumption

Increasing dietary diversity

Essential outcomes for food-based approaches to nutrition

Food is safe

Food maintains nutritional quality and benefits up to the point of consumption

Food is consumed by the populations whose nutritional deficits are being targeted by the intervention

Requirements for successfuly selling foods rich in micronutrientsNutrition awareness – buyers understand importance of foods

Signalling – people believe foods have the claimed benefits. Nutrient content is often a credence characteristicʺ ʺ

Acceptability – people are willing to prepare and eat the product

Availability –physically availability in places where the target populations can purchase it

Affordability – target populations must be able to purchase it

Adapted from, Hawkes, C. and Ruel, M.T. 'Value Chains for Nutrition', paper presented at Conference ‘Leveraging Agriculture for Improving Nutrition and Health’, New Delhi, February 2011

Business challenges for selling nutritious foods

Meet the five requirements

Capturing value:Credence good issuesRisks and uncertainties of innovation

Value chain integrity: food safety and quality issues

Minimise the challenges

• Sidestep the acceptability challenge• Use existing distribution channels wherever possible, and

avoid products that require careful handling and preservation

• Avoid the signalling problem altogether – for example, compulsory fortification – or focusing on foods whose characteristics are more evident: fresh fruit and vegetables

• Combat fraudulent claims through branding and certification and certification

Dietary diversityStaples fortificationSupplementary foodsBiofortificationAgronomic biofortification

Policy initiatives: offset costs or defray risks

• Nutrition awareness programmes and demand promotion

• Use of public distribution: feeding programmes

• Advance commitments to enable companies to get to scale

• Support for value chain integrity, particularly for food safety at the farm level

Concluding remarkss

• What role for the informal sector

Consider more focus on improving quality and safety of informal sector provision of nutrient-rich food

• Keep it simple. Minimise the challenges• Efficacy and cost-effectiveness of business-promoting

interventions is varied and requires more impact assessment