Information Brief: Value Chains for Nutrition (VCN)

Transcription

1 Information Brief: Value Chains for Nutrition (VCN) Introduction Changes in diets, physical activity patterns, and food markets lead to the coexistence of over- and undernutrition in low- and middle-income countries 1. As lack of diet diversity is likely to lead to micronutrient deficiencies, this trend contributes to increased child and maternal mortality, as well as the underdevelopment of young children. The problem of malnutrition cannot be solved by economic growth alone, as growing incomes may lead to other health problems such as obesity. One way to sustainably improve the quality of diets and nutrition related behaviors is by promoting policy-, market- and food-based approaches to increase access to high-quality diets 2. Considering the key role that value chains play in determining food availability, affordability, quality, and acceptability, they provide opportunities to promote nutrition 3. Increasing access to affordable high-quality diets through value chains for nutrition is an eligible approach for dealing with the results of the nutrition transition taking place in low- and middle-income countries. This is the central message of a recent IFPRI paper on value chains and nutrition 4, which is summarized in the next two sections. The value chain for nutrition approach Over the last decades, development agencies, donors, and governments have come to incorporate value chain development as a principal element of poverty reduction strategies. Historically, value chain thinking has focused on increasing income for stakeholders along the value chain, rather than considering the incorporation of nutrition in its concepts and interventions. Recently, researchers have recognized the usefulness of value chain frameworks in designing nutrition strategies. Understanding the links between value chains, nutrition and the overall business environment is complex, involving a range of actors working in agriculture, health and nutrition. However, value chain approaches can provide useful frameworks to examine the food system and have the potential to achieve improved nutritional outcomes by leveraging market-based systems. There is a need to understand what constraints prevent increased consumption of nutritious food, and which interventions are likely to be effective in alleviating these constraints. The value chain for nutrition approach can be defined as the process of developing a strategy that addresses a set of nutrition problems through interventions within specific value chains. The general aim of the value chains for nutrition approach is to identify opportunities where chain actors benefit from the marketing of agricultural products with higher nutritional value, in particular focusing on those value chains that are most relevant to the poor. It is important to take into account the enabling environment wherein food chains operate, not disregarding policy and governance; political and economic context; culture, gender, and equity; and climate and environment 5. It must be understood that the scope of value chain for nutrition (VCN) interventions is both extremely broad and highly 1 Popkin, B., & M. Slining. (2013). New dynamics in global obesity facing low and middle income countries. Obesity Reviews, 14(S2), Arimond, M., C. Hawkes, M. Ruel, Z. Sifri, P. Berti, J. LeRoy, J. Low, L. Brown, and E. Frongillo Agricultural Interventions and Nutrition: Lessons from the Past and New Evidence. In Combating Micronutrient Deficiencies: Food-Based Approaches, edited by B. Thompson and L. Amoroso. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; Oxfordshire, UK: CABI International. 3 Hawkes, C., and M. Ruel Value Chains for Nutrition Conference: Leveraging Agriculture for Improving Nutrition and Health Conference Paper 4. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. 4 Gelli, A., C. Hawkes, J. Donovan, J. Harris, A. Summer, A. de Brauw, S. Henson, N. Johnson, J. Garrett, and D. Ryckembusch Value Chains and Nutrition: A Framework to Support the Identification, Design, and Evaluation of Interventions. IFPRI Discussion Paper Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. 5 Hawkes, C., S. Friel, T. Lobstein, and T. Lang Linking Agricultural Policies with Obesity and Noncommunicable Diseases: A New Perspective for a Globalizing World. Food Policy, 37:

2 context specific. Although the potential of VCN to address nutrition problems is clear, so far there has been little documented experience in this field. Implementation of the VCN approach In the IFPRI discussion paper, a framework is developed to identify, design, and evaluate VCN interventions: The starting point in this approach centers on diagnostics aimed at linking a set of nutrition problems in target populations to possible constraints in the supply and demand of specific foods that can then be addressed by interventions. Such a strategy includes a hierarchy of goals and objectives, where the highlevel goals center on the health and nutrition of consumers, reflecting the end result that is intended 6. The authors identify three main channels through which VCN interventions are most likely to operate; they could target the demand, supply or chain efficiency of nutritious foods. First, the demand on the market could be increased by promoting the consumption of nutritious foods (a demand side pathway), e.g. by direct transfers to consumers or through public procurement. Secondly, interventions can influence chain efficiency, affecting food availability, quality, and affordability as well as other elements of the food environment that can enhance nutrition outcomes (value chain interventions pathway). Thirdly, VCN interventions can enhance the supply of nutritious foods by reducing costs, increasing output, and economic returns along the value chain (a supply side pathway). Based on the complex interactions and linkages between these three channels, three integrated main impact domains for VCN interventions are identified: 1) nutrition and health, 2) agricultural production and 3) enterprise development for stakeholders involved in value-addition along the chain. However, whichever VCN pathway is chosen, the interventions will always be context specific, depending on the supply and demand profile of the value chain in question. Five steps and three main interventions were developed to implement the VCN approach, breaking down the complex scope into different components. Figure 1 gives an overview of these steps, while Figure 2 provides a summary of the pathways (activities, outcomes, impact) of the respective main interventions. Figure 1. Methodological steps of the VCN approach (based on IFPRI, 2015) 6 Gelli, A., C. Hawkes, J. Donovan, J. Harris, A. Summer, A. de Brauw, S. Henson, N. Johnson, J. Garrett, and D. Ryckembusch Value Chains and Nutrition: A Framework to Support the Identification, Design, and Evaluation of Interventions. IFPRI Discussion Paper Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute, p. 3. 2

3 Figure 2. Impact pathway of the VCN approach (based on IFPRI, 2015) CIAT s contribution to VCN work CIAT contributes to the work on value chains for nutrition through the research of a multidisciplinary team, working in partnership with national and international development organizations and partner institutions. Together they deploy a holistic, demand driven, impact oriented action research approach, assessing sustainable food availability, food access, food use, food quality, food safety and food utilization. In this approach, particular attention is given to gender equality, inclusive business relationships and the sustainability of agricultural production. The overall aim of CIAT s VCN approach is to increase the production and consumption of more diverse, safe and nutrient-dense foods for improved food security, nutrition and income of smallholder farmers, peri-urban and urban consumers. In order to fulfil this objective, CIAT focuses its VCN research on establishing sustainable and efficiently performing food value chains to decrease food losses, contamination, nutrient leakages and environmental impacts along the chain, and improved access to affordable, nutrient dense and safe quality food especially in urban and peri-urban areas through inclusive business models. In the short term, CIAT s VCN research aims to close the knowledge gap by assessing supply and demand constraints along the different stages of the value chain for vulnerable groups of urban and peri-urban consumers, and to increase their access to and utilization of nutrient dense, safe and diverse foods. Longer term research is aimed at developing and testing solutions to increase the availability of affordable, safe and nutrient-dense food for target populations, accounting for their context specific micro-nutrient deficits. CIAT s research on value chains for nutrition is supported by the LINK methodology, a value chain research instrument developed by CIAT. Based on the application of a participatory toolkit, the LINK methodology aims to build a bridge between smallholder producers and buyers of a selected value chain by facilitating a systemic learning process between actors that aims to discover new opportunities for innovation. Geographically CIAT s VCN research prioritizes the East Africa bean corridor (Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania), and Nicaragua and Honduras in Central 3

4 America. The subsequent section presents an overview of CIAT s current work on a range of ongoing and future projects related to value chains for nutrition. Ongoing projects related to VCN Understanding value chains that supply nutrient dense foods to urban and peri-urban consumers in Kenya and Uganda through informal markets (A4NH) Value chains for nutritious foods provide an opportunity to intervene in both the supply and demand components that can expand production and consumption of more nutritious foods and create a potential win-win situation for the rural and urban poor. In this one-year project that is to be finalized by the end of 2015, CIAT and partners apply a chain-wide approach to study the delivery of beans, a key staple, and amaranth as a nutrient dense vegetable, to impoverished urban and peri-urban populations in Kenya and Uganda, two countries where beans are key sources of livelihoods for farmers and of nutrition for both rural and urban consumers. Both target crops move from farm to plate through a relatively long chain that links producers, rural intermediaries, wholesalers, processors, retailers and consumers. The focus is on informal markets where traditional marketing institutions such as wholesale markets and regional brokers continue to be a key point of articulation between smallholder farmers and low-income consumers. Through this approach CIAT hopes to understand food system dynamics both for Nairobi and Kampala as well as for rapidly urbanizing towns (Kisumu and Mukono) with stronger backwards and forwards linkages to rural communities. This project has four specific research objectives: 1) Understand how informal national and sub-national market channels function for a basket of nutrient dense foods, including beans and amaranth, focusing on the invisible middle of the production to consumption chain comprised principally of informal actors. 2) Assess existing national and county public food & health policies and identify those that could improve the ability of the informal market to benefit poor producers and consumers. 3) Understand current business models in targeted food production and distribution systems to identify potential improvements as well as the feasibility for promoting more inclusive nutrition sensitive business models in this context with informal actors. 4) Engage with key national and county government actors and development donors to promote the testing and evaluation of promising nutrition sensitive upgrading interventions. Informal markets for poverty reduction and food security: Exploring policy options in Nicaragua and Honduras (Ford Foundation) The overall objective of this one-year project is to better understand informal market channels for agricultural goods (beans, cheese, and either tomatoes or onions) in Honduras and Nicaragua, and to identify policy options for increasing the value that the informal market provides to poor producers and consumers. The project employs a mix of quantitative and qualitative approaches to develop a deeper understanding of informal agricultural markets and food systems, and to identify opportunities to enhance their potential for poverty-reduction. The results are expected to be relevant for public sector agencies at the national and municipal level with a focus on policies relating to market oversight, food safety, labeling, price discovery, and infrastructure. 4

5 Cali Better Food (Ford Foundation) Through this 18-month project ( ), CIAT and partners aim to explore the consumer end of the urban food system with a focus on low-income, mostly Afro-Colombian populations in the city of Cali, Colombia. The project provides insights and specific entry-points for both national level development policies as well as key municipal level entry points for urban governments interested in promoting pro-poor nutrient-sensitive food systems. The overall goal of the project is to create better access to more nutritious, safer food stuffs, optimizing linkages between urban and rural actors, while reducing environmental impacts, in Cali and surroundings, through strategic research leading to improved public policies, inclusive business models and strategic partnerships. VCN related projects in the pipeline Making value chains work for food and nutrition security of vulnerable populations in East Africa (BMZ Germany) Building on the knowledge gained from the ongoing project Understanding value chains that supply nutrient dense foods to urban and peri-urban consumers in Kenya and Uganda through informal markets, this 3-year project ( ) aims to improve the diets of vulnerable rural and urban consumers at the base of the pyramid, specifically women of reproductive age and children 6 59 months old, in Kenya and Uganda. This is expected to be achieved through increased consumption of more diverse, safe, and nutrient-dense foods sourced from multiple crops and delivered through market-based solutions. The purpose is to facilitate participatory processes to ensure that nutrition-sensitive tools, methods, and technologies generated for analyzing and upgrading bean-based value chains in Kenya and Uganda are used by project partners in national research and innovation systems, including the private sector. The project will work to influence decisionmakers and policy-shapers by linking project interventions to the strategies and plans of national nutrition programs. The project is expected to reach an estimated 50,000 rural and urban consumers by the end of the project, with the potential of reaching 2 million consumers in Uganda and 3 million consumers in Kenya within 3 years after the project. Securing nutrients along the bean-based value chains in Zambia and Malawi (IDRC Canada) Bean is considered as a highly nutritious crop that can mitigate hunger in Malawi and Zambia. The project implemented by CIAT and its partners proposes to scale up processing innovations at various nodes in the bean value chain, from primary farm production to consumption, in order to accelerate delivery of appropriate nutrition to the most vulnerable populations in Malawi and Zambia. The 28-month project ( ) will conduct an integrated nutrition value chain analysis of beans from farm gate to consumption. Strong partnership relationships will be established with up to 75,000 farming families in each country. The project will combine tested agronomic practices, validated processing innovations, effective partnership, optimized multimedia communication tools and informed policies to accelerate production and processing of targeted nutritive market-use bean varieties. Optimizing nutrition outcomes through agricultural investments in beans value chain in Burundi, Ghana, Zimbabwe (IFAD) Through this 3-year project ( ), CIAT and its partners aim to respond to the need for more and better designed research to clarify what agricultural programs, specifically around value chains interventions, can do to achieve positive maternal and child nutrition outcomes. The goal of the initiative is to optimize nutrition outcomes through value chain upgrading for at least 500,000 farming families in Burundi, Ghana and Zimbabwe. The specific objectives are to: (a) analyze the value chain targeted for upgrading in the specific countries; (b) develop countryspecific nutrition-sensitive value chain upgrading strategies and interventions; and (c) develop and validate a suite of value chain indicators for measuring nutrition and performance. The project will work within existing legume value chains and innovation platforms to facilitate their upgrading via economic and nutrition relevant interventions. 5

6 An integrated approach The value chain for nutrition approach links innovative research on consumer and nutrition economics, food science, and postharvest handling with participatory nutrition-sensitive value-chain assessment and upgrading methods. It conjoins CIAT s experience in nutrition research, value chain analysis, multi-stakeholder innovation platforms, and inclusive business models. It works with partners expertise in low-cost, energy-efficient technologies, combined with quantitative research on consumption patterns, consumer preferences, and willingness to pay for nutritionrelevant product attributes. As such VCN also contributes to CIAT s new strategic initiative on Sustainable Food Systems through an approach that enables specific methodologies to deliver nutritional outcomes, while shifting the emphasis of current commodity-focused efforts to improve dietary quality beyond biofortification, using a food basket approach. CIAT Strategic Initiatives Value Chains for Nutrition (VCN) is part of FoodLens, one of three global initiatives created under CIAT s new strategy for the period The aim of these forward-looking, collaborative endeavors is to open wider avenues for enhancing the development impact of CGIAR research. Contact Matthias Jäger, Senior Expert Market and Value Chains, Linking Farmers to Markets, Decision and Policy Analysis Research Area m.jager@cgiar.org André Zandstra, Head, Partnerships and Donor Relations a.zandstra@cgiar.org 6