Agriculture and Nutrition Resource Review

This study examines the feasibility of delivering maternal, infant, and young child nutrition behavior change communication through an innovative agricultural extension program serving nutritionally vulnerable groups in rural India. The existing agriculture program involves participatory production of low-cost videos promoting best practices and broad dissemination through village-level women’s self-help groups. Compared to agricultural information, nutritional content required more time, creativity, and technical support to develop and deliver.

Recent reviews demonstrate that agriculture has little impact on nutritional status but the reviews do not critically examine the choice of appropriate outcome indicators. This paper reviews which nutrition impact indicators are currently used in agriculture-nutrition projects, and highlights priorities and gaps in measurement. 

An impaired ability to respond to dark conditions suggests Vitamin A deficiency. This article outlines result of a study conducted in Zambia, in which researchers tested consumption of biofortified orange maize alongside white maize, then tested for symptoms of night-blindness or impaired vision. The study suggests that biofortification may be an effective way to prevent these deficiencies.

This infographic shows several opportunities for agriculture to contribute to improved nutrition, especially for those most at risk. By addressing these opportunities in current and new agricultural activities, USAID and its implementing partners can more effectively contribute to better nutrition.

These guidelines aim to strengthen the contribution of agricultural extension and community mobilization to improve household food and nutrition security in Uganda. The intended primary users of these guidelines include those involved in facilitating farmer selection of agricultural enterprises, such as agriculture officers, agents, and community development workers.

The new strategy of USAID’s Office of Food for Peace (FFP) provides a programming framework that captures the best of what FFP currently does, while challenging FFP and its partners to strive for greater impact with greater efficiency and sustainability. The strategy’s two key objectives and supporting intermediate results reflect FFP’s increasing focus on affecting change at both an individual and systems level across the spectrum of its emergency and development activities. Its three objectives ground the framework in strong accountability, learning, and leadership.

The 2016 Global Hunger Index presents a multidimensional measure of national, regional, and global hunger, focusing on how the world can get to Zero Hunger by 2030. The developing world has made substantial progress in reducing hunger since 2000, yet this progress has been uneven, and great disparities in hunger continue to exist at the regional, national, and subnational levels. To reflect the multidimensional nature of hunger, the Index has updated its indicators of malnutrition.

The Paris Agreement, adopted in December 2015, represents a new beginning in the global effort to stabilize the climate before it is too late. It recognizes the importance of food security in the international response to climate change, as reflected by many countries focusing prominently on the agriculture sector in their planned contributions to adaptation and mitigation. To help put those plans into action, this report identifies strategies, financing opportunities, and data and information needs. It also describes transformative policies and institutions that can overcome barriers to implementation.

This online course illustrates the linkages between agriculture, food systems, and nutrition. Starting from two realistic scenarios, the course describes benefits and opportunities for integrating nutrition into food system policies, investments, and programs. It also provides a series of examples of nutrition-sensitive policies and interventions, as well as an overview of the main initiatives and commitment to nutrition which learners can use to integrate nutrition in their work.

This webinar reviews technical information regarding different packaging and distribution options for soy dairy enterprises, including the use of glass versus plastic bottles, different refrigeration options, bottle sealing, pasteurization, and same day distribution scenarios. Case studies from the Soybean Innovation Lab’s soy dairy network provide real world examples of these techniques in action. 

Challenges remain in connecting market-led livestock interventions to animal source foods (ASF) consumption in producer and rural households. This seminar shares and discusses the latest research and project-based learning on the roles of livestock producers, including small holder farmers, in increasing access to and consumption of ASF among vulnerable populations.

This special event convened global leaders to discuss how to sustain and accelerate progress in ending hunger and undernutrition by 2025. Given major agreements and global events including the Sustainable Development Goals, the Paris climate change agreement, and the Second International Conference on Nutrition, the time is ripe for action to create a world free from hunger and undernutrition.

During this webinar, the inaugural round of fellows from the IMMANA program highlighted their research on developing new methodological approaches to guide agricultural interventions for nutrition improvement. Presentations cover food systems, animal disease, and human nutrition in Tanzania; nutritional barriers to agricultural productivity in Uganda; school feeding program implementation and child nutrition in Ghana; women’s time-use, agriculture, and nutrition in Zambia; milk consumption, nutrition, and health in southern Ethiopia; and, intra-household allocation and child nutrition in Bihar, India.

SPRING joined a diverse gathering of nutrition and food security experts at the annual International Food Assistance and Security Conference hosted by the U.S. Agency for International Development and U.S. Department of Agriculture in Des Moines, Iowa, October 10-11, 2016. The conference is held in conjunction with the World Food Prize and Borlaug Dialogue International Symposium and provides public- and private-sector partners an opportunity to discuss issues and challenges related to alleviating hunger. SPRING gave two presentations, offering a nutrition perspective in a global discussion about food security and ending extreme poverty.