Research on Agriculture for Improved Nutrition

• Background• Potential for agricultural change to improve nutrition and...• Increasing interest in agriculture-nutrition but... • Evidence base poor - 2 systematic reviews (Masset et al, 2011, Girard et

al, 2012) reveal little evidence of impact & a need for more & better designed research

• Need to determine pattern, design & direction of current research to inform future funding

• DFID commission: • Mapping and gap analysis of current and planned research• Leverhulme Centre for Integrative Research on Agriculture and Health

(LCIRAH)• Centre for Sustainable International Development (CSID) at University of

Aberdeen• Report submitted August 2012

Methodology/ Research Process

• Conceptual framework linking agriculture, food and nutrition

• Template for data collection & inclusion criteria• List of relevant organisations to contact (n=135)• Final list of eligible projects (n=151) • Completion of template – project team &/or

researchers• Mapping and gap analysis.• Information collected between April and August 2012. • Overseen by Expert Panel

Research chain for agriculture and nutrition

Agricultural practices e.g. cropping/ horticultural/ fish/ animal raising practices, input use, time allocation

Agricultural inputs e.g. crops/ animal/ fish breeding, technology, fertilisers, irrigation

Food value chain e.g. storage, processing, distribution, retailing

Agricultural interventions/ practices

Food consumption & intake e.g. household food expenditure, food consumption & dietary diversity; individual food & nutrient intake & dietary diversity; infant & young child feeding practices

Impacts/ outcomes related to nutrition

Health care & education e.g. national investment in services, household practices

Health/ education status & wellbeing

Economic outcome e.g. household income, national growth

Indirect impacts/ intervening factors

Clim

ate

& E

nvi

ron

men

t

Culture, Gender & Equity

NUTRITIONAL STATUS

farmers, agricultural workers, (pregnant) women, children, infants, populations in fragile states/humanitarian crises, urban

consumers, other high risk groups

Food environment availability, nutrient quality, affordability, acceptability

Policy & Governance Po

litical & E

con

om

ic Co

ntext, e

.g. fra

gile

/ stab

le sta

te, h

um

an

itaria

n situ

atio

n

(anthropometry and biomarkers)

Developed to define pathways by which agriculture may contribute to nutrition directly and indirectly

Helpful for characterizing individual research projects as well as identifying gaps in the research overall

Conceptual Framework

Realigning Agriculture for Improved Nutrition (RAIN)

Agricultural practices Establish smallholder model farmers (SMFs) - homestead gardening, small-scale animal husbandry.

Agricultural inputs Vegetable seeds & small animals provided at the beginning then farmers are supported to generate their own inputs later on .

Food value chainLinkages to markets & potentially to micro-finance services

Agricultural interventions/ practices

Food consumption & intake Aims to improve consumption (diversity & quantity) of nutritious foods. Measures: Household Hunger Scale & Household Dietary Diversity Score, IYCF in first 2 yrs

Impacts/ outcomes related to nutrition

Health care & education Use of health services, maternal knowledge of HIV, child feeding, health seeking and nutrition

Health/ education status & wellbeing Child health (health card, vaccination status, de-worming, vitamin A, incidence of child illness) & maternal health, e.g. BMI

Economic outcome Maternal involvement in income-earning work, remuneration for work, use of loans for agricultural purposes

Indirect impacts/ intervening factors

Cli

mat

e &

En

viro

nm

ent:

No

Culture, Gender & Equity: Yes - aims for improved gender equality awareness & practices

NUTRITIONAL STATUSTarget: children < 2, pregnant/lactating

women in one district in Zambia. Aims to reduce prevalence of chronic malnutrition

among young children & improve nutritional status of pregnant & lactating women.

Measures: Prevalence of stunting <5 yrs (HAZ scores), prevalence of wasting (WAZ,

WHZ)

Food environment Aims to improve availability of and access to sufficient quality foods. Not clear how measured.

Policy & Governance: Yes - aims to produce coordination between agriculture & health sectors & shared goal of nutrition

Po

litical & E

con

om

ic Co

ntext: N

o

Sustainable Production of Underutilized Vegetables to Enhance Rural Food Security

Agricultural practices Conducting on-farm experiments of different indigenous /underutilised vegetables

Agricultural inputs Selecting & evaluating different indigenous /underutilised vegetables , including for nutritional quality

Food value chainDetailed value-chain analyses for promising species, e.g. testing packaging technologies & determining market potential

Agricultural interventions/ practices

Food consumption & intake

Not measured

Impacts/ outcomes related to nutrition

Health care & education No

Health/ education status & wellbeing

No

Economic outcome Looking at the economic empowerment of women

Indirect impacts/ intervening factors

Cli

mat

e &

En

viro

nm

ent:

Yes

–lo

okin

g a

t the

impa

ct o

f cro

p di

vers

ifica

tion

on th

e en

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t

Culture, Gender & Equity: Yes - project is about economic empowerment of women

NUTRITIONAL STATUS

Not measured

Food environment Measures: indigenous /underutilised vegetables use, distribution & nutritional quality.

Policy & Governance: No

Po

litical & E

con

om

ic Co

nte

xt: No

Mapping: overview of project funding & organisational arrangements

• Significant majority (133/ 151) part of larger programme or funding initiative (e.g. CGIAR A4NH)

• Multiple funders reported (46 in total), but dominated by 5 (BMGF, CIDA, IDRC, USAID, DFID)

• One third (n=57) led by CGIAR centres• Lead organisations international or North

America/ Europe• Almost all included LMIC organisation as a partner

Mapping: overview of project types & focus

• Sub-Saharan Africa focus of 93/151. South Asia next with 36.

• Emphasis on women and children (‘1000 days’) & rural poor/ farmers

• Very few projects targeted urban populations or men as a specific group

Category Theme Number of projects

Agricultural production of nutritious* foods Biofortification (crop breeding) 17

Agricultural development/technology 15

Traditional/indigenous/local foods 11

Home gardening/homestead production 11

Aquacultural technology development 7

Other 6

Agrobiodiversity 5

Total 66

Value chains Of nutritious* foods 12

Specific to biofortification 10

Not specified 2

Total 24

Agricultural growth/ development more broadly 21

Multi-sectoral nutrition projects that include agriculture 7

Reducing/ understanding impact of aflatoxin contamination 4

Policy, research, data and methodology Governance/capacity building/policy analysis 6

Development of methodology 4

Collection/analysis of datasets 5

Total 15

Other/ not known 14

Grand total 151

Gap analysis: conclusions• Whole research chain – research that considers the full pathway of change

from agricultural inputs, practices, value chains, food environment to nutrition outcomes; a significant number of projects do not consider the value chain

• Indirect effect of changes in agriculture on nutrition, through income and economic growth and associated changes in health and investments in health and education services

• Effects of agricultural policy on nutrition as mediated through the value chain• Governance, policy processes and political economy as it relates to the

development of agriculture-for-nutrition policies and programmes, the ability to implement them (and scale up) and for them to achieve their stated goals once implemented.

• The way research on agriculture and nutrition is conducted, such as the development of methodologies and appropriate metrics

• Consumers as a broader target group, notably rural workers and non-rural populations

• The rural and urban poor at risk from nutrition-related non-communicable diseases

• Cost-effectiveness