Improving nutrition and health through agriculture

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Reblogged from Farming First:

The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) has launched a new book entitled “Reshaping agriculture for nutrition and health”. Originally the policy briefs for the conference “Leveraging Agriculture for Improving Nutrition and Health,” facilitated by IFRPI’s 2020 Vision Initiative in India one year ago, this book compiles revised edits from leading experts, practitioners and policymakers on the links among agriculture, nutrition, and health.

Much of the rhetoric around agriculture centres on production – the need to increase yield and output. This book reinforces the need to recognise agriculture’s deeper purpose – to grow healthy well-nourished people.

One of farmers’ most important tasks is to produce food of sufficient quantity (that is, enough calories) and quality (with the vitamins and minerals needed by the human body) to feed all of the planet’s people sustainably so they can lead healthy, productive lives. This is effectively one of the goals of agriculture, although it is rarely made explicit.

In order to meet this goal, the book argues that the agriculture, nutrition and health sectors should work together, yet they are currently working in isolation. They examine how much more agriculture could do to improve human well-being if it included specific policies, actions and interventions to achieve health and nutrition goals; what kinds of changes would maximize agriculture’s contribution to human health and nutrition; and how could human health and nutrition contribute to a productive and sustainable agricultural system.

Several areas are explored by the various authors, including: the specific roles played by economic and agricultural growth, innovations in crop science and food supply chains, the health of agricultural labourers, agriculture associated diseases, women’s place at the intersection of the three sectors in question and the challenges of advocacy and policymaking.

To read the full document “Reshaping agriculture for nutrition and health”, click here.