Patrick Webb, Dean for Academic Affairs Friedman School of Nutrition Tufts University Boston
Aligning agriculture and nutrition: Can understanding our differences help us meet common goals?...
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Transcript of Aligning agriculture and nutrition: Can understanding our differences help us meet common goals?...
Aligning agriculture and nutrition:Can understanding our differences
help us meet common goals?
Will MastersProfessor, Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts University
www.nutrition.tufts.edu | sites.tufts.edu/willmasters
Grand Challenges Annual Meeting| Agriculture-Nutrition Track 6-7 October 2014
Aligning agriculture and nutrition:Can understanding our differences
help us meet common goals?
To help frame the discussion:• Context• Differences• Changes ahead?
Development outcomes
Technological change
Agriculture
Nutrition
Everything is connected
Aligning agriculture and nutritioncontext | differences | changes ahead?
Presentation slide (suppressed until publication) shows charts of adult population mean intake of fruits and vegetables by region from the Global Dietary Database project, using methods reported in Micha et al., BMJ 2014;348:g2272. These data, obtained from 266 surveys in 113 countries, reveal a pattern of:--large gaps between actual and WHO recommended intake
levels, indicating great potential public health gains;--wide variation between regions that is not linked to per-capita
income indicating possibility of learning from success; and--small but almost universal improvements from 1990 to 2010
indicating progress that can be accelerated and scaled up.
Source: Micha et al. (unpub.) from 266 surveys in 113 countries, using method reported in BMJ 2014;348:g2272.
Diets are far from healthy
Aligning agriculture and nutritioncontext | differences | changes ahead?
Note: Health includes nutrition. Agriculture includes forestry and fisheries. Values are billions of constant US dollars at 2012 prices (both axes).
Source: Calculated from OECD (2014), Official Bilateral Commitments by Sector, downloaded 4 Oct. 2014 (http://stats.oecd.org/qwids).
ODA commitments for health, agriculture and in total, 1967-2012
19651968
19711974
19771980
19831986
19891992
19951998
20012004
20072010
0
20000
40000
60000
80000
100000
120000
140000
0
2,000
4,000
6,000
8,000
10,000
12,000
14,000
16,000
18,000
20,000
All DAC donors
Total (all sectors, left axis)Agriculture Health
Total (all sectors)
Health and agriculture
19651968
19711974
19771980
19831986
19891992
19951998
20012004
20072010
0
5000
10000
15000
20000
25000
30000
35000
40000
0
1,000
2,000
3,000
4,000
5,000
6,000
7,000
8,000
9,000
10,000
United States
Total (all sectors, left axis)Agriculture Health
Total (all sectors)
Health and agriculture
Aid priorities have cycled
Aligning agriculture and nutritioncontext | differences | changes ahead?
Agriculture(food production)
Nutrition(food utilization)
Diets, disease andending malnutrition
The two sectors approach food from different angles
Productivity, income and ending poverty
Public investment for specific locations
Service delivery to specific beneficiaries
RCTs on stations & farms, then economics of adoption and impact
RCTs in communities, then epidemiology of prevalence and status
Places PeopleMain focus:
Typical intermediate results and primary outcomes
Typical targeting of interventions
Typical assessment and evaluation methods
Some stylized differences between agriculture and nutrition
…but don’t forget the many similarities, and variation within the sectors!
Aligning agriculture and nutritioncontext | differences | changes ahead?
Public domain knowledge, common property resources and other social structures
Funders, farm input and service providers
Many diverse farmers
Food provision and sale
Many diverse food consumers and service beneficiaries
The two sectors have different market structures
Funders, nutritional product and health service providers
Product and service delivery
Aligning agriculture and nutritioncontext | differences | changes ahead?
…this is another reason for the high location-specificity of agriculture
To align the two sectors, need to anticipate and facilitate change
• Tailoring
Aligning agriculture and nutritioncontext | differences | changes ahead?
• to reach the most malnourished, often the poorest• to reach women and newly formed households• to suit location-specific circumstances
• Diversification• of agricultural programs
-- for more diverse diets-- for more diverse market channels
• of nutritional programs-- for more diverse types of foods-- for more diverse delivery channels
Examples of tailoring: Agriculture-nutrition linkages depend on local markets
Qty. of nutritious foods (kg/yr)
Qty. of farm household’s labor time (hrs/yr)
Qty. of farm household’s other goods (kg/yr)
Nonfarm employment(allows sale of labor to buy food)
Qty. of nutritious foods(kg/yr)
Once farmers are actively trading, production decisions are “separable”
from consumption choices,linked only through purchasing power
Rural food markets(allows sale of other goods to buy food)
In self-sufficiency, production =consumption
Consumption
Production
Consumption
Production
That same separability applies whether households are buying or selling,
and allows consumption smoothing over time
Aligning agriculture and nutritioncontext | differences | changes ahead?
– in diets, from starchy staples towards more nutrient-dense foods• meeting demand for diet quality through legumes, fruits and vegetables,
dairy, eggs, meat and fish
– in markets, from value chains towards more complex channels• using households’ varied income sources to buy from local vendors,
marketplaces and retailers
Diversifying agricultural programs is not easy!– can we diversify successfully
-- and sustain productivity growth in staple species?-- and maintain public and philanthropic support?-- and adapt our organizational structures?…and find enough technological diversity, plasticity &
potential?
Examples of diversification in agriculture:To anticipate & facilitate nutritional gains
Aligning agriculture and nutritioncontext | differences | changes ahead?
– in programs, from service delivery to various market channels• expanding range of mechanisms for nutritional improvement
– in products, from single nutrients to increasingly diverse foods• including packaged foods, to save women’s time and meet children’s needs
Diversifying nutrition programs is not easy!– can we diversify successfully
-- and sustain delivery of needed services?-- and maintain public and philanthropic support?-- and adapt our organizational structures?…and develop enough low-cost nutritional
improvements?
Aligning agriculture and nutritioncontext | differences | changes ahead?
Examples of diversification in nutrition:To anticipate & facilitate agricultural gains
Conclusions
Agriculture Nutrition?
A complicated relationship, but three big changes ahead could help the marriage work:
–Tailoring interventions, to meet time- and location-specific needs• Reaching the most malnourished women & children• Taking account of effect modifiers, such as separability due to local markets
–Diversifying agriculture, to meet dietary needs• Beyond starchy staples to more diverse vegetal and animal sourced foods• Beyond value chains to more diverse local vendors, marketplaces and retailers
–Diversifying nutrition, to use agricultural potential • Beyond service delivery to markets for nutritious and convenient foods• Beyond single nutrients to foods, including packaged foods