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Roundtable I: Institutional and policy Environments for promoting nutrition sensitive agriculture- what is required

for evidence-based policy making?

Summary and highlights Prepared by B. Burlingame and J.Armstrong

8 December 2011

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Summary of Presentations Presentations made by participants from:

Cambodia

Bangladesh

Philippines

Mongolia

India

Lao PDR

Farmers Forum

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Trends and Common Themes:

•Across Asia, there have been improvements in various indicators of malnutrition and undernutrition, but MDG and WFS targets remain out of reach and trends are of concern.

•Focus on multisectoral, institutional arrangements within government, key strategy documents, national level initiatives.

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Trends and Common Themes:

•Perspectives from Ministries of Health, Agriculture, Rural Development, Nutrition.

• Virtually all presentations highlighted strong political support at highest levels for food security and nutrition.

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Trends and Common Themes:

“We have more than enough strategies and policies [and plans of action, etc etc]- the question is how

to implement them”

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The Plenary: Multisectoral or

convergence approaches as the graveyard of good intentions, due in part to a lack of accountability of all actors, and a top-down approach.

Multisectoral initiatives are only as valid as how effective they are at the community level, not on how well planned they are. This must be a flexible, community-led process.

There is a need to scale

DOWN nutrtion, not scale up.

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The Plenary: Extensive discussion of

argoecology, of zero budget agriculture (knowledge, traditional practice, available biomass, etc)

Sustainablity issues (including diet, agriculutre and environment) as critical considerations, as indicated in the first presentation on day one.

There is scope for more extensive application of the Right to Food approach, in terms of land access and tenure issues.

FAO should consider supporting and mainstreaming agroecological practices for food security and nutrition.

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The Plenary: Livelihood strategies in

agriculture are limited (as in the case of children not following their parents) and fragile. Trade considerations risk diverting household energies from nutrtion focused ag onto ‘high value’ crops.

Trade holds potential for better private sector engagement, something which thus far has been limited.

Public/private partnerships remain a possibility, but only if they address farmers at their level, within their own communities.

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“How do you intend to utilize the full creative potential of ordinary

poor people and farmers? Are they recipients or guides?”

The Plenary:

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“They know more than you know.”

The Plenary:

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Recommendation: FAO should assist (not lead) the farmers to create a forum to invite researchers, politicians, and policymakers to listen to and learn from farmers.

In other words, the standard model for ‘capacity building’ should be inverted.

This should also include more opportunities for substantive participation from farmers in leadership roles, on budgets and planning,

not just for opening sessions….

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In Summary:

Business as usual is not an option.

We need dramatic change.

And we need it now.

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thank you…