Overview and Introduction toA4NH Theme 1

Laurian UnnevehrIFPRI

June 6, 2013

• Diet diversity is one important measure of diet quality• A healthy dietary diversity contributes to improved

nutrition– ASF, F&V, legumes

• Diet quality improvement not uniform with rising incomes

• Are there interventions that would improve diet quality more rapidly and efficiently?

• Focus on value chains for nutrient rich foods

A4NH Value Chain Research Focus: How to Promote Better Diet Quality?

Market Determinants of Diet Quality

• Income– Diet quality improves through diversification– Outcomes improve slowly– For 10% increase in GDP/cap, a 6%

decrease in child stunting • Prices

– Relative prices– eg., staples prices declining relative to more nutrient rich foods

– Opportunity cost of time– eg., switch to more processed foods with urbanization

• Preferences and cultural norms– Shape pathway towards diet diversity, eg. ASF increases with

income vary widely

Market Failures inNutrition and Food Safety

• Consumer knowledge about nutrition, nutrient content/ safety of foods is incomplete

• Supply constraints for nutrient rich foods--perishability, seasonality, variable nutrient content, food safety challenges

• Result: market incentives under reward improved nutrition and food safety.

• Public underinvestment in nutrient rich foods (focus on staple crops), and in public health oriented food safety (focus on meeting standards for high income market access)

Diet Quality Improves (Slowly) with Income Growth

Low Income Lower Middle Developed0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Diet DiversityAnimal Protein

Diet diversity is the percent calories from non-staples; Animal protein is gm/cap/day.Source: FAO

100 300 500 700 900 110010

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

55

60

Bangladesh

Benin

Burkina Faso

Burundi

Cameroon

Central African Republic

Chad

Comoros

Congo, Dem Rep

Côte d'Ivoire

Eritrea

Ethiopia

Gambia

Ghana

Guinea

Guinea-Bissau

India

Kenya

Lesotho

Liberia

Madagascar

MalawiMali

Mauritania

Mozambique

Nepal

Niger

Nigeria

Pakistan

Rwanda

Sao Tome and Principe

Senegal

Sierra Leone

Sudan

Tanzania

Togo

Uganda

Zambia

Zimbabwe

Dietary Diversification vs. GDP Per Capita (2007)

GDP Per Capita (US $)

Diet

Div

ersifi

catio

n In

dex

y = 0.0086x + 30.366R² = 0.0724

2005

8738

525

53

85130

24

Bangladesh: Food Group Shares of Total Food Supply (kcal/capita/day)

Grains, Roots, and TubersLegumes and NutsDairy ProductsFlesh FoodsEggsFruits and VegetablesSugarsOils and FatsMiscellaneous

1257

268

6965

2 151

93168

63

Tanzania: Food Group Shares of Total Food Supply (kcal/capita/day)

Grains, Roots, and TubersLegumes and NutsDairy ProductsFlesh FoodsEggsFruits and VegetablesSugarsOils and FatsMiscellaneous

Data Source: FAO Food Balance Sheets, 2009

1596

10056

515

75

285

63

468

90

China: Food Group Shares of Total Food Supply (kcal/capita/day)

Grains, Roots, and Tubers

Legumes and Nuts

Dairy Products

Flesh Foods

Eggs

Fruits and Vegetables

Sugars

Oils and Fats

Miscellaneous

Data Source: FAO Food Balance Sheets, 2009

• Diet diversity is one important measure of diet quality• A healthy dietary diversity contributes to improved

nutrition– ASF, F&V, legumes

• Diet quality improvement not uniform with rising incomes

• Are there interventions that would improve diet quality more rapidly and efficiently?

• Focus on value chains for nutrient rich foods

A4NH Value Chain Research Focus: How to Promote Better Diet Quality?

Inputs into production

Food production

Food storage and processing

Food distribution and transport

Food retail and labeling

Value Chain Approach

Consumer

Producer Supply side

Test & evaluate solutions

Demand side

Characterize diets, market access and constraints to

consumption of nutritious, safe foods

Test new tools to improve knowledge, awareness,

and demand for nutrition and safety along the value

chain

Identify bottlenecks and production constraints to improved nutrition and

safety in the entire value chain

Example: Creating economic and nutritional value from

Orange-fleshed sweet potato(OFSP), Mozambique

Source: Coote et al. In: Hawkes and Ruel, IFPRI 2020 Conference Background Paper #4, 2011

↑production

↑ market opportunities

↑consumption

↑vitamin A nutrition

Elements of This Approach

• Each value chain study for a nutrient-rich food should include all of these elements: – dietary and nutritional assessment of target population– identification of key foods to improve / diversify diets– mapping of the value chain for these foods– identification of constraints to supply and to demand– developing and/or testing interventions– assessment of impact on diets of target population

Changes in Value Chains that Could Improve Nutrition

• Technologies– Improvements in production, storage, handling, processing, or marketing to

reduce nutritional loss, improve access, or reduce safety risks, eg. Greater seasonal availability for fruits

• Information– Increased demand for improved safety and nutrition through education or

improved incentives for different actors in the value chain, eg. Nutrition education with improved vegetable seeds

– Nutritional quality reflected in prices and/or made more affordable, eg., quality certification for locally sourced infant foods

• Policies and Institutions– New contractual arrangements create incentives to deliver more nutrient

rich foods or to create demand for such foods, eg. Home grown school lunch programs

Center/Value Chain/ Countries

Title How Research is Improving Nutrition

AVRDC/Vegetables/Bangladesh

Enhanced nutritional outcomes of populations through nutrition-sensitive agricultural promotion by a vegetable seed company

Improved nutrition knowledge and enhanced vegetable productivity

WorldFish/ Fish/ Bangladesh

Expanded research on dried small fish in Bangladesh to improve nutrition in the first 1,000 days of life

New infant food from nutrient dense locally produced food

IDS & ILRI/Dairy/Bangladesh

Assessing the Impacts of Efforts to Enhance Access to Nutritious Foods: Grameen Danone Case

Enhanced nutrition in an affordable food product

ILRI/ASF/Kenya The relationship between livestock value chains and nutritional status of women and children: a pilot study in Kenya

Understanding role of ASF value chains in nutritional outcomes

ICRAF/Fruit/Kenya &Peru

Leveraging fruit value chains for sustainable and healthier diets in Kenya and Peru

Expanding fruit intake in diets of target populations

Seed Grants Awarded to Expand Research

Other New Research in Theme 1Institution/Value Chain/ Countries

Title How Research is Improving Nutrition

Tufts/Infant Food/ Africa

Nutritional Composition and Quality Challenges for Locally Sourced Infant Foods

Providing affordable infant foods

IFPRI/Dairy/India Awareness and Valuation of Nutrition and Food Safety Attributes among Dairy Consumers in India

Improved nutritional quality of milk

U. Pretoria/F&V/S. Africa

Food safety on fresh produce wholesale markets in South Africa: Dual standards development on local markets

Improved food safety for fruits and vegetables

GAIN/F&V/ Kenya &Tanzania

Production and Access to Improved Vegetables

Nutrition education, improved processing for better access

Imperial College/School Feeding/ Ghana

Measuring the impact of "home-grown" school feeding programmes linking agriculture, nutrition, health and education

Improved diets for school children and enhanced local farmer income

Scaling Up and Out

• Are there lessons across countries for the same commodity?

• How do interventions in multiple value chains within one country result in overall food system change?

• Purpose of the Workshop– To review research plans for new activities in the A4NH

program to enhance nutrition in value chains; to identify synergies and gaps in the research portfolio; and to explore potential partnerships to support and extend these activities.

• Format– Overview of indicators and measuring impact pathways– Presentation of research plans and discussant comments– Summary panel