Agricultural interventions and nutrition: lessons from the past and new evidence.

Abstract

Globally, many poor households rely on agriculture for their livelihoods, and this remains true even when livelihoods are diversified. Poor households are also most vulnerable to undernutrition, including lack of micronutrients. Over the last decades, a variety of organizations have aimed to harness agriculture for nutrition. Agricultural approaches have the potential to substantially impact nutritional outcomes in a sustainable way, but there is insufficient understanding of the evidence base for this potential impact and of how best to achieve this potential. This chapter aims to consolidate the available evidence linking agricultural interventions to nutrition outcomes. First, the chapter describes five pathways through which agricultural interventions can impact nutrition: consumption of own production; increases in income; reductions in market prices; shifts in consumer preferences; and shifts in control of resources. Second, we review four types of studies that provide insights about links between agriculture and nutrition: early studies of agricultural commercialization; studies of women in agriculture; studies of horticultural interventions; and studies of livestock and aquaculture interventions. Consistent themes include the importance of integrating well-designed behaviour-change communications and careful consideration of gender dimensions. Third, we present two case studies that show how well-designed interventions can successfully diversify diets and/or impact micronutrient intakes and nutritional status outcomes; the second case study illustrates impact at scale. The review yields lessons for design of future interventions and for evaluation design, and identifies critical areas for future work, which include investigations of cost-effectiveness, scaling up processes and sustainability.

Farmers’ tales: adaptive strategies for agricultural commercialisation and food and nutrition security in Myanmar

“…Despite the existence of several pathways that might potentially link agricultural commercialisation to nutrition achievements, there is no evidence that agricultural interventions lead to sustained changes in the overall diet of a population (Ruel & Alderman, 2013). Furthermore, Meeker and Haddad (2013) argue that, so far, review studies on the effectiveness of agricultural interventions aimed at improving nutritional status showed mixed results (Arimond et al, 2011;Berti, Krasevec, & FitzGerald, 2004; Hawkes & Ruel, 2007;Kawarazuka, 2010;Masset, Haddad, Cornelius, & Isaza-Castro, 2011;Ruel, 2001;Webb & Kennedy, 2014). This might be related to the fact that most agricultural programs aiming to increase agricultural production are not originally designed with clear nutritional goals (Meeker & Haddad, 2013).…”

“…A set of possible pathways, potentially linking agriculture to positive nutritional outcomes are recognized in the literature (Berti et. al., 2003;Hawkes & Ruel, 2007;Arimond et al, 2011;Masset et. al.…”

“…Farmers have a crucial role in a food system being both producer and consumer (Hawkes & Ruel, 2011). Worldwide, individual farmers have been increasingly involved in processes of specialisation and commercialisation with substantial improvements in agricultural outputs (Carletto et al, 2015).…”

“…2 Theoretical framework Hawkes and Ruel (2011) underlined the importance to focus on what happens between production and consumption, particularly from the perspective of farmers being (commercial) producers as well as consumers. This requires the engagement of a holistic, multisector approach which place people at the centre of the analysis.…”

Relating Seasonal Hunger and Prevention and Coping Strategies: A Panel Analysis of Malawian Farm Households

“…Higher crop diversity on a smallholder’s land has been associated with reduced levels of seasonal hunger and malnutrition (Abdalla et al, 2013; Afifi et al, 2015; Bacon et al, 2014; Devereux, 2009). Certain crops, like sweet potatoes and garden vegetables, make off-season harvesting of new food sources possible (Arimond et al, 2011; Krishnal & Weerahewa, 2014), whereas early maturing seed varieties help to reduce the wait before harvests (Herforth, 2010; Keding & Cogill, 2013; Mazid & Johnson, 2010; Mburu, Kung’u, & Muriuki, 2015; Powell et al, 2015; Zug, 2006). …”