adminZimbabwe today joins the rest of the world in commemorating World Food Day which is running under the theme “Healthy People Depend on Healthy Food Systems”. World Food Day is celebrated annually on October 16 in honour of the foundation of the Food and Agriculture Organisation in 1945.
FAO reports that 925 million people are under-nourished and two billion are affected by micro-nutrient malnutrition.
Unsustainable development models are degrading the natural environment and threatening the ecosystems and the biodiversity that will be needed for future food and nutrition security.
Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.
Importance of food systems
A food system is made up of the environment, people, institutions and processes by which agricultural products are produced, processed and brought to consumers. Every aspect of the food system has an effect on the final availability and accessibility of diverse, nutritious foods and therefore on consumers’ ability to choose healthy diets.
Of course, there are other factors, too: household income, prices and consumer knowledge, for example.
What is more, policies and interventions on food systems are rarely designed with nutrition as their primary objective. Even when they are, impacts are difficult to attribute and researchers sometimes conclude that food system interventions are ineffective in reducing malnutrition. In contrast, the effectiveness of medical actions — such as giving vitamin supplements, which address specific nutrient deficiencies — is more easily observed.
Malnutrition
The immediate causes of malnutrition are complex. They include:
- Inadequate availability of (and access to) safe, diverse, nutritious food;
- Lack of access to clean water, sanitation and health care; and
- Inappropriate child feeding and adult dietary choices.
Malnourished women are more likely to give birth to smaller babies, who start life with a higher risk of physical and cognitive impairment. In fact, maternal malnutrition is one of the main ways that poverty is transmitted from generation to generation.
At the same time, obese parents may suffer from vitamin deficiencies themselves and their children may be stunted because of low birth weight and poor care and feeding practices.
Stunted children may even have a greater risk of developing obesity and related diseases in adulthood. Most countries in the world face many types of malnutrition.
The cost to the global economy caused by malnutrition — as a result of lost productivity and direct health care costs — could account for as much as 5 percent of global income. That is equivalent to US$3,5 trillion per year or US$500 per person.
Wiping out malnutrition worldwide is a daunting challenge, but the return on investment would be high. If the global community invested US$1,2 billion per year for five years on reducing micro-nutrient deficiencies, for example, the results would be better health, fewer child deaths and increased future earnings. It would generate annual gains worth US$15,3 billion — a benefit-to-cost ratio of almost 13 to 1.
The root causes of malnutrition are even more complex and encompass the broader economic, social, political, cultural and physical environment.
Addressing malnutrition, therefore, requires integrated action and complementary interventions in agriculture and the food system, in natural resource management, in public health and education, and in broader policy domains.
Because the necessary actions typically involve several government institutions, high-level political support is needed to motivate a co-ordinated effort. But healthy diets are more than staple foods.
They are diverse, containing a balanced and adequate combination of energy and nutrients.
For these reasons, the priorities for agricultural research and development must become more nutrition-sensitive, with a stronger focus on nutrient-dense foods such as fruits, vegetables, legumes and animal-source foods.
Greater efforts must be directed towards interventions that diversify what small-scale farmers produce — with integrated farming systems, for example.
Increased production
Higher productivity in agriculture contributes to better nutrition by raising incomes — especially in countries where agriculture accounts for a large share of the economy and employment — and by reducing the cost of food for all consumers. It is important to realise, though, that the impact of agricultural growth is slow and may not be enough to bring about a rapid reduction in malnutrition.
Steady increases in agricultural productivity will continue to be crucial in the coming decades: production of basic staple foods will need to increase by 60 percent to meet the expected growth in demand.
Online Reporter