The Role of Gender in Strengthening the Causal Linkages between
Livestock Production and Human Nutrition
Jemimah NjukiPresented at the BECA-CSIRO Workshop on Human Nutrition
ILRI Nairobi, 26-29th April 2010
First a note on agriculture and nutrition Four main pathways through which agriculture can
improve nutrition
Increasing household availability and access to sufficient and affordable quantities of food
Increasing availability and access to high-quality foods and diverse diets
Reducing gender inequity and empowering women, who play a critical role in ensuring food, nutrition and health security for their families
Increasing income and reducing poverty in households and communities engaged in agricultural work
Agriculture links to nutrition
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
How can we improve nutrition?
Livestock production and human nutrition? What do we know?
Figure. Hypothesized causal linkages between livestock keeping and human nutrition and health outcomes among the poor (adapted from Nicholson et al., 2003). ASF = animal-source food; HH = household (Randolph et al. 2007)
Animalsowned
Humannutritional
(growth) status
Human healthstatus
+
+
Probability ofzoonotic disease
Animalproduction
Food cropproduction
Food crop sales
Animal &product sales
+
+ +
+
-
HHIncome
+
+
Dietaryintake
+
Level of care/feedingbehavior
+
Labor allocatedto livestock
+
-
Labor demands on(female) caregiver
Total labordemands
+
+
Healthinputs
+
Food croppurchases
ASF purchases
HH cropconsumption
HH ASFconsumption
+
+
+
+
+
Chronicdisease risk +
-
Land allocationto feed
Traction, nutrientcycling
+-
+
+
+
+
+
Environmental toxinconcentration
-
+
test
test
Food-bornediseases
+
-
Watercontamination
+
-
Its complex!
Basic pathways from livestock production to improved nutrition
Consumption of animal source foods from a household's own production
Impacts on household income from sale of livestock products (can be spent on other food, or not)
Impacts on productivity of cropping systems through nutrient cycling
Impacts on the allocation of labour, including labour for care of children
Impacts on human disease incidence from livestock keeping
Assuming some simplicity………..
? ?
What are the intervening issues What are the pre-conditions
Consumption of animal source foods and improved nutrition: what do we know?
ASF are energy dense and good sources ofProteinMinerals (Fe, Zn and Ca)Vitamins (Vit B12 and Riboflavin)
Many minerals are better absorbed from ASF than they are from plant source foods
ASF also tend to be rich in fat, good source of fat soluble vitamins
Potential to boost immunity in HIV infected persons
Consumption of animal source foods and improved nutrition: what do we know?
Pregnancy Consumption of ASF associated with infant growth Maternal haemoglobin concentration associated with
infant birth weight
Infancy and childhood Positive association between milk consumption and
height for age Z scores of children (Ruel, 2003) Positive association between meat consumption by
children and physical growth In Kenya, children consuming meat had greater MUAC
than non-consumers (Grillenberger, 2005) In observational studies in 3 countries, the only dietary
measure that has predicted cognitive performance in children is the amount of ASF in the diet (Allen, 1993)
Consumption of animal source foods and improved nutrition: what do we know?
Animal Source Foods and Chronic Disease Risk Red meat consumption can increase the risk of
coronary heart disease and several forms of cancer (Hu and Willet, 1998). Poultry consumption does not seem to be a risk factor and fish may lower the risks
In healthy diets, the beneficial role of meat outweighs the uncertain association with cancer (Hill, 2002)
We know the links between consumption of ASF and improved nutrition!
• What we do not know is:– what are the interventions, programs, policies that will lead
to livestock production leading to increased consumption of animal source foods !
– To what extent is this a technology /social science question? Or a combination?
?
Livestock production and improved nutrition? What are the intervening factors
Set within 4 levels of dairy intensification• Low-income smallholder households without cattle• Low-income smallholder households with
indigenous cattle with no or very irregular milk sales
• Low-income smallholder households already participating in formal milk markets (still low market orientation)
• Low-income smallholder households with cross or purebred dairy cows and regular milk sales.
1. Direct Nutrition Benefits
Intermediate determinants of child nutritional status
Breast Feeding and weaning practices Food intake patterns and practices (diet
diversity and food frequencies) Intra-household food allocation Nutrition knowledge, attitudes and
practices
2. Gender mediated interventions Changes in women’s roles with
introduction /intensification of livestock production especially in terms of time allocation (care giver time)
Decision making in relation to use of milk and income allocation
Expenditure patterns-food and health input purchases
Access to training, nutrition information, livestock assets
3. Household Economics Changes in income
and income share generated by dairy activities
Income expenditure on food
Allocation of milk production to own consumption vs sale
4. Public Health
Health related determinants of child nutritional status (healthcare expenditure and health seeking behaviour
Disease risk profiling
Syndromic surveillance
Access to public health services and information
Key Areas for further research Given these social factors intervening between livestock
production and improvements in human nutrition What livestock? What milk? What forms? How do we structure livestock programes so that they
deliver on nutrition outcomes? What are the most optimal pathways (combination of
pathways) to nutrition improvement through livestock Safety and nutrition