Improving diets and nutrition: food-based approaches.

Chapter 19 (Page no: 246)

Towards long-term nutrition security: the role of agriculture in dietary diversity.

A major obstacle to securing investments in agriculture and food-based approaches for improving nutrition is providing proof of efficacy. Do food-based approaches lead to reductions in malnutrition? To answer this question we need to develop a credible evidence base that articulates the links in the chain between agricultural policy, food production, access and intake, and nutritional status. This chapter reports on recent research that throws some light on the links between agriculture and dietary diversity, both key in this chain. Findings are presented from Bangladesh, where a study looked at the nutrient composition of rice cultivars; from Kenya and Tanzania, where research was conducted on how crop diversity is related to diet quality; and from Malawi, Kenya and Uganda, where the nutritional diversity of cropping systems was studied. The concept of the 'nutrition gap' - the gap between what foods are grown and available and what foods are needed for a healthy diet - is introduced. The nutrition gap is a useful concept that illustrates the importance of dietary diversity and the better appreciation of how traditional food security models may fall short in their efforts to reduce malnutrition. Increased production of staple crops is typically the main goal and driver of these models. Improvements in nutrition are seen more as a function of purchasing power and increased total energy supply, which is assumed to follow automatically from reductions in income poverty. Narrowing the nutrition gap requires moving past this model to one that includes food and nutrition security. The latter is focused on, inter alia, increasing the consumption of a diversified and high-quality diet, as opposed to just increasing total energy consumption. The chapter provides examples of nutrition-sensitive agriculture and food-based strategies and interventions that can be used to improve dietary diversity within specific agro-ecological zones, and for particular food typologies. Taken together, the evidence and examples illustrate the significant and crucial role that agriculture can play in improving dietary diversity and nutrition in poor country contexts.

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