Agriculture
Galleries
In June 2016, SPRING, in partnership with USAID's Bureau for Food Security and Bureau for Global Health, hosted the Multi-Sectoral Nutrition Strategy Global Learning & Evidence Exchange...
These photos depict SPRING’s work implemented in the northern region of Mopti, Mali, from December 2014 to March 2016.
Location: Mali
SPRING recently opened its office in Kaolack, Senegal and conducted two nutrition-sensitive agriculture workshops.
SPRING’s extensive fieldwork studied nutrient-rich value chain commodities (NRVCC) that direct beneficiaries produce and set aside for home consumption.
SPRING conducted the fieldwork component of a nutrition needs assessment in Sierra Leone to contribute to post Ebola virus disease (EVD) response efforts.
In response to the Guinea Ebola outbreak, SPRING conducted a nutrition assessment to provide insights into nutrition status.
News
SPRING/Bangladesh shares its experience on Farmer Nutrition Schools in the Policies against Hunger XII Conference in Berlin, Germany
Experts from across sectors meet in Bangkok to strengthen multi-sectoral coordination for nutrition
Program reaches 5,500 farmers with diverse nutrition-sensitive and -specific interventions in agriculture, health and water.
Location: Mali
Faculty and students of Guinea’s agricultural university, along with NGO partners, participated in a SPRING training on nutrition-sensitive agriculture concepts.
SPRING held two community-led total sanitation celebrations in Mali, completing the CLTS process within five months.
SPRING/Mali distributed 11,000 moringa, 2,750 papayas, and 2,750 baobab tree saplings to FNS beneficiaries as a follow-up to FNS training.
In post-Ebola Guinea, SPRING conducted a nutrition assessment to provide insights into nutrition status and inform a new workplan.
Events
SPRING, USAID's Bureau for Food Security, and Bureau for Global Health hosted the Multi-sectoral Nutrition Strategy Global Learning & Evidence Exchange (MSN-GLEE), Asia from June 21 to...
How do traditional market development activities orient their investments to not just improve sales or market share, but also encourage consumption of nutrient-rich commodities? And how can...
This webinar explored how the areas of potential convergence and tension create opportunities and challenges in the design and implementation of nutrition-sensitive agricultural market...
SPRING, USAID's Bureau for Food Security, and Bureau for Global Health hosted the Multi-sectoral Nutrition Strategy Global Learning & Evidence Exchange (MSN-GLEE), West Africa from...
In the December 2015 Ag2Nut call, the Community of Practice presented a synthesis of a set of eight new studies that empirically test, using data from Africa and South Asia, whether a...
Location: Online
The INGENAES project endeavors to build the capacity of both public and private institutions engaged in agriculture extension to provide gender-responsive and nutrition-sensitive advising...
Community Video for Nutrition Guide Highlights Experience Using an Innovative Community-led Video Approach from Digital Green and the SPRING Project
Ronald Vargas and Lucrezia Caon from FAO’s Land and Water division described the various ways soils are fundamental for food and nutrition security, the current threats to soil health, and...
Micronutrient deficiency continues to undermine public health and prosperity in developing countries.
Reports
Over seven days in late January, 2016, trained SPRING field agents administered a survey to randomly selected project beneficiaries to inform project achievements for key Feed the Future (...
SPRING/Mali officially launched in December 2014 with the support of our lead implementing partner, Helen Keller International (HKI). USAID/Mali tasked us with improving the nutritional...
Activities
Completed database of health facilities plus target communities for the fiscal years of 2015 and 2016.
Findings to guide SPRING’s work to strengthen nutrition-sensitive agriculture in Guinea
SPRING works to identify, and promote the adoption of, proven technologies for increased preservation and storage of foods rich in iron, vitamin A, vitamin C, and zinc.
Location: Kyrgyz Republic
SPRING’s extensive fieldwork studied nutrient-rich value chain commodities (NRVCC) that direct beneficiaries produce and set aside for home consumption.
SPRING is reaching local farmers across the Mopti region with nutrition-sensitive agriculture education through Farmer Nutrition School trainings.
Location: Mali
Success Stories
Determined to provide better nutrition and care for her baby, Dolly decided to enroll in a Farmer Nutrition School (FNS) in Bahadurpur in October 2013. Funded by USAID and implemented...
Location: Bangladesh
Pages
Resource Review Summaries
To fight the double burden of malnutrition and achieve SGD2, how do we deliver more nutritious foods to populations? This paper argues that we need to improve food systems by improving...
Using a wide berth of evidence, this paper reviews available cross-disciplinary evidence on how culture affects food security in terms of availability, access and choice, utilization, and...
Vegetable production provides a promising economic opportunity for reducing rural poverty and unemployment in low-income countries and cultivates the world’s most affordable source of...
As the need to integrate nutrition outcomes into our food systems becomes ever more evident, valuing and measuring nutritional quality of the outputs of agricultural production is essential...
Nutrition‐sensitive interventions to improve overall diet quality are increasingly needed to improve maternal and child health. This study demonstrates the feasibility of a structured...
Agricultural interventions may fail to improve nutritional outcomes if they do not take account of time constraints, particularly of rural women who spend a considerable portion of their...
Although the Malawian food supply is shaped largely by trends in smallholder food crop production, Malawi’s decades-long focus on improving smallholder productivity has only moderately...
This synthesis document accompanies three case studies carried out by ENN in 2017 in Senegal, Nepal, and Kenya to document nutrition-sensitive and multi-sector program experiences with a...
IFPRI's flagship report reviews the major food policy issues, developments, and decisions of 2017, and highlights challenges and opportunities for 2018 at the global and regional levels....
This Key Facts sheet is the first in a series that IFPRI will be producing based on the third and fourth Integrated Household Surveys (IHS). The purpose of the series is to present data...
This document summarizes the online discussion Sustainable farming systems for food and nutrition security held in the FSN Forum in October-November 2017. Participants were invited to share...
Convened annually by the Chicago Council’s Global Agricultural Development Initiative, the symposium on global agriculture and food security provides a platform for discussion about the US...
In 2017, the United Nations World Food Program published a report on a five-country study on how WFP’s Food Assistance for Assets (FFA) work can contribute to empowering women and improving...
This webinar is part of the series: "Agriculture-Nutrition-Health linkages: Research in the African context" produced by ANH Academy and the African Nutrition Society. The presentation...
FFI is a multi-sector partnership helping countries plan, implement, and monitor grain fortification programs. FFI aims to use industrial food fortification to prevent neural tube defects...
FAQR, a USAID-funded project hosted at Tufts University, provides actionable recommendations on ways to improve nutrition among vulnerable people for whom the direct distribution of food...
Do higher levels of farm production diversity contribute to improved diets in smallholder farm households? This study adds to existing literature by using and comparing different indicators...
Since 2011, the Integrating Orange Project has promoted production and consumption of orange-fleshed sweet potato (OFSP) to address vitamin A deficiency among rural populations of Zambia....
Postharvest loss exacerbates the food insecurity and welfare loss of farming households in developing countries. This paper analyzes the impact of improved storage technologies on food and...
Livestock development programs seek to amplify resilience in low-income communities but often fail to consider the costs to intended beneficiaries or the effect of prevailing gender norms...
How can social protection programs influence nutrition and food security? This meta-analysis of existing programs in developing regions finds that social protection programs improve both...
A new annual report is now available from the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Horticulture, with contributions from all of the global network’s research teams. This condensed version of...
Can the urban agenda play a bigger role in reversing the triple burden of malnutrition and food insecurity? This paper aims to explore this question by exploring the urban poor food...
Recent discussion has centered on the private sector’s role in nutrition, and whether the state can "shape" the market to deliver better nutritional outcomes. This issue of the IDS Bulletin...
This event is the most recent installment of the ANH Academy webinar series “Agriculture-Nutrition-Health linkages: Research in the African Context.” Dr. Robert Fungo of FAO looks in this...
What do food and market system approaches to development have in common? On February 22, the webinar, “Balancing the Systems: Making Food and Market Systems Work for Nutrition,” hosted by...
This event brought together leading faculty members from Boston University, Harvard, MIT, and Tufts to share their most important new work towards healthier and more sustainable food...
How can investments in agriculture best target positive nutrition outcomes? This event aimed to raise attention to the many entry points the food systems offer as well as the numerous...
To mark the 15th Anniversary of the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), GAIN Nordic and the United Nations World Food Program’s Nordic Office held a conference entitled...
The label of inclusive agribusiness is increasingly applied to development projects and policy strategies across the world. But the notion of “doing no harm” in a system as complex as the...
Over the past 50 years, understandings of the best ways to combat malnutrition among women and children globally have changed, along with the technology that exists to fight it. The IMMANA-...
This study examines whether adoption of improved dairy cow breeds is linked to farm-level outcomes that translate into household-level benefits, including improved child nutrition outcomes...
This article details an analysis of the Jenga Jamaa II project, which aimed to improve household food security and child nutritional status in Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo using...
Using primary household data from Kilosa and Chamwino districts in rural Tanzania, the researchers examined the nature and extent of smallholder participation in traditional agricultural...
In highland Bolivia, a three-year nutrition-sensitive agricultural intervention was carried out with rural families in which chicken rearing was promoted in order to increase egg...
The ambitions contained in the Malabo Declaration, the African Union’s Agenda 2063, and global development goals recognize the size and complexity of the nutrition challenges ahead. The...
IFPRI’s peer-reviewed book examines India’s pulses sector in light of agricultural systems, climate change, irrigation design, and how policies (including the Green Revolution) have evolved...
This 10th-anniversary issue of the Right to Food and Nutrition Watch takes stock of the past decade and looks forward at the challenges and opportunities anticipated for the coming period....
The Ag2Nut Community of Practice works to increase availability of nutritious food for all. Food loss and waste is a major drain on the availability of nutritious food worldwide,...
To gain a better understanding of how agriculture interventions can contribute to improved nutrition, SPRING partnered with USAID and nongovernmental organizations operating in Zambia to...
Part of a regional series on sustainable food systems and diets, FAO’s Europe and Central Asia-focused symposium took place in Budapest from December 4-5, 2017. The symposium objectives...
Malnutrition in all its forms -- undernutrition, micronutrient deficiencies, overweight, and obesity – now affects all countries. The latest High Level Panel report analyzes how food...
When pursuing improved nutrition in agriculture projects, do you give up economic growth objectives, or can you tackle both at the same time? In this blog, SPRING agriculture advisor Victor...
When deciding how to design or whether to fund a nutrition-sensitive agricultural intervention, we need to know the potential scope of impact. How many people will we reach? This blog...
FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva recently gave a keynote speech at the Chatham House think tank, which pointed to FAO's recent report, The Future of Food and Agriculture: Trends...
This blog highlights Cambodia’s fish production industry to explore the role of fish alongside agriculture to create healthier diets. Fish is a key staple in the local Cambodian diet, and...
This blog captures findings of a study that assessed how the strategies and interventions of the UN Joint Programme on accelerating progress towards the economic empowerment of rural women...
How can nutrition education and behavior change influence agricultural interventions? In 2014, process reviews were conducted in Cambodia and Malawi of food security projects that provided...
The research detailed in this article explores Ugandan district leaders’ perceptions of the nutrition situation, programs, and opportunities for integration as part of "Pathways-to-Better...
This article views food security policy’s inclusion of women in agriculture with a critical lens, highlighting myths on women, agriculture, and the environment that continue to pervade...
SNV’s ENUFF project in Lao PDR integrates activities in gender, agriculture, nutrition, and WASH to improve the nutritional status of families in the country's northern region. The project'...
Location: Laos
FANTA’s legacy report highlights six years of technical assistance in Guatemala aiming to raise awareness of the need to invest in evidence-based nutrition services; strengthen...
The latest Global Nutrition Report explores nutrition benchmarks through the framework of the SDGs, noting that a significant population has been left behind from the recent improvements to...
Filling a need to provide empirical evidence on agriculture’s contribution to nutrition, IFPRI’s discussion paper reviews recent evidence (since 2014), including findings from impact...
The Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Nutrition in partnership with the Agriculture, Nutrition & Health (ANH) Academy jointly hosted the 5th Annual Feed the Future Innovation Lab for...
The Symposium, held in Bangkok in October 2017, sought to enhance agriculture and food systems' visibility, create policy and program options, promote sustainable diets, and build...
This event presented findings from a recent report highlighting a randomized controlled trial targeting young children in the highlands of Ecuador, which provided eggs as part of a...
The WEIA tool, launched in 2012, has now been rolled-out in 19 Feed the Future focus countries. This webinar provides an overview of the updated WEAI tool and takes stock of current...
In this blog, Johanna Wong, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Sydney, shares research findings from Timor-Leste about the promoters and inhibitors of animal source food consumption in...
How are agriculture biodiversity, diet quality, and anthropometric outcomes linked in low- and middle-income countries? This comprehensive review of 5 databases using qualitative analysis...
This 5-part downloadable toolkit introduces a framework that considers the social context of the agricultural technologies and the specific challenges that women and men farmers face in...
At a time when donors and governments are increasing efforts to mainstream gender in agriculture, it is critical to revisit long-standing wisdom about gender inequalities in agriculture to...
FAO’s annual report delving into the current status of food systems and agriculture calls for a greater focus on progress in rural areas, where most of the poor and hungry live. To achieve...
Dr. Cynthia Matare lead the first of five installments in a joint webinar series from The ANH Academy and the African Nutrition Society exploring critical links between agriculture,...
A team of researchers from the Egerton University is working on promoting insects as food and feed as a source of protein in the country. The rising cost of conventional animal protein,...
As a feature of Microlinks’ Markets Month, this blog discusses the USAID Yaajeende Project’s community-based, market-orientated food systems approach to sustainably improve nutrition with...
This study uses panel data from small-scale coffee producers in Uganda and compares the effects of two of the most popular sustainability standards used by smallholder farmers in developing...
This guide reports on the learning that has emerged from the Transform Nutrition consortium's research examining the potential of the social protection and agriculture sectors in Bangladesh...
Location: Bangladesh, Ethiopia
This report discusses the broad scope and range of FANTA’s multisectoral nutrition programming activities in developing countries. The report includes the tools and methods the project...
On September 19, the Word Food Programme hosted a webinar with SecureNutrition as part of the UN Network for SUN webinar series. During the webinar, they introduced the Fill the Nutrient...
This seven-minute video shows Zambia's double malnutrition burden: stunting and overweight. A major cause is the limited diversity of Zambia’s food production and consumption: 94 percent of...
This assessment explains a method developed to assess whether a country’s food supply can support healthy diets at the population level, based on an understanding of what constitutes a...
The recently launched ATONU tool can help development practitioners identify and select nutrition sensitive agriculture interventions for their projects. Beginning with the identification...
IGENENAES presents a framework to promote the skills, attitudes, and behaviors (SABs) needed at the individual level to deliver gender- and nutrition-informed agricultural extension...
In efforts to provide a growing population with a sufficient quantity of healthy and nutritious foods, fortification has risen as a solution. However, rice fortification has yet to take...
World Vision recently conducted a study to assess prevailing practices in management of agricultural demos across food security programs with the aim of developing guidelines for improving...
The Modernizing Extension and Advisory Services (MEAS), a $9.5M AgReach project funded by USAID, was active from 2010-2016. Overall, the MEAS project contributed to significant impacts on...
How can the public and private sector work together to improve nutrition? This Global Panel policy brief provides evidence-based recommendations for food system actors to enhance consumer...
In their latest report, Action Against Hunger promotes agroecology in food security and nutrition, rural and agriculture development, and climate change adaptation and mitigation to ensure...
Celebrating seven years of the TOPS Program, the final TOPS/FSN Network Knowledge Sharing Meeting was held on July 19-20, 2017 in Washington, DC. Over 200 implementers, donors, and...
This July webinar delved into the applied research of three Feed the Future Innovation Labs and their contributions to on-the-ground development impact. Leaders from the Feed the Future...
The authors reflect on the first year of the Global Food Security Strategy under Feed the Future, taking into consideration renewed investment in resilience, sustainability, nutrition, and...
What scientific and engineering advances can elevate the power of food and agriculture research? This competition calls for the scientific community to “describe a novel approach to solving...
Climate change is a threat multiplier, particularly when it comes to food security and nutrition. Its impacts on agriculture, nutrition and health will be particularly felt by the most...
Access to a well-rounded extension system provides key support to the 6 million people working in Zambia’s agriculture sector. Agriculture accounts for up to 85% of Zambia’s workforce and...
Mercy Lung’aho, nutritionist for the International Center for Tropical Agriculture, grapples with the gap between food security and nutrition in Rwanda. While hunger has been reduced by...
The IndiKit indicator tool was developed by the Czech relief and development organization People in Need (PIN). It aims to enable humanitarian and development workers to 1) use well-...
The Global Forum for Rural Advisory Services has developed The New Extensionist: a global view of extension and advisory services (EAS) that reinvents and clearly articulates the role of...
Guatemala is the wealthiest of Feed the Future’s 19 focus countries globally, yet it grapples with severe malnutrition, rising poverty, and stark inequality. Guatemala’s economy has made...
Biofortification to address nutrient deficiencies unites agriculture and nutrition to improve the health and livelihoods of smallholder farming families – still the majority of the...
The UC Davis World Food Center organized a workshop on "Aligning the Food System to Meet Dietary Needs: Fruits and Vegetables," on June 2-3, 2017, held at the UC Davis Conference Center....
This report summarizes an online discussion event held April 25-26 2017, hosted by Leveraging Agriculture for Nutrition in South Asia. The LANSA agri-food value chains research teams have...
FAO’s FSN forum is hosting an online discussion to reflect on the role that agricultural extension and advisory services (AEAS) can play in contributing to reducing gender inequalities and...
To meet the growing demand from many countries for experiential learning about what works in Nutrition, Stories of Change sought to systematically assess and analyze drivers of change in...
In this interview with Kristin O'Planick and Sally Abbott of USAID, learn how the Leveraging Economic Opportunities (LEO) and the Strengthening Partnerships, Results, and Innovations in...
To prevent storage of moldy crops, which are detrimental to farmers from both health and market perspectives, researchers at UC Davis invented a low-cost, easy-to-use tool that farmers can...
The Commodity Management (CM) Toolkit is an operational guide for anyone working on programs using food commodities. This toolkit, created by TOPS, is a set of interconnected flowcharts...
In its new technical brief, the ANH Academy’s Food Environments Working Group provides an overview of the nutrition field and proposes a conceptual framework in which the food environment...
This brief addresses a need in agricultural program design capacity by providing a list of food system-based intervention options that have great potential to improve nutrition. It also...
The Developing Local Extension Capacity (DLEC) Project produced diagnostics of the extension systems in Bangladesh and Nigeria. These analyses take a critical and constructive approach to...
Farmers in both developed and developing countries continue to face barriers to growing optimally nutritious or sustainable crops. This article provides a primer to these barriers, and how...
Because value chains play a key role in determining food availability, affordability, and quality, they have a role in shaping diets and can contribute to improving nutrition. This webinar...
During this seminar, Gitau Mbure, Senior Technical Advisor for Agriculture at World Vision, and Clare Sullivan, Deputy Agriculture and Food Security Center at Columbia University, shared...
This ACDI/VOCA webinar focused on the influence of social and behavior change research in the market systems context, utilizing case studies to demonstrate its significance. One case study...
The role smallholder farmers play in addressing global food security is highlighted in this article. Small farms found in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, southeast Asia, and China produce...
The African Union Commission considers biofortification to be of great importance in the fight against malnutrition. The Commission has committed to using biofortification as a central...
Drawing upon the combined analytical skills of agriculture and nutrition program staff, this tool supports a dialogue between agriculture specialists and nutrition specialists as they...
Sustainable food production and healthy diets complement each other, each one providing a means and an end to achieving global food security. This food systems-oriented report focuses on...
The South Asia Food and Nutrition Security Initiative (SAFANSI) seeks to address the South Asian Enigma—how chronic malnutrition remains intractable despite high economic growth—by...
Women’s Empowerment Mainstreaming And Networking (WEMAN) is an initiative which focuses on gender mainstreaming in rural development with the objective of contributing to food and income...
Linking agricultural extension and advisory service with participatory learning and action on nutrition and health has the potential to improve the sustainability and impact of food and...
This report assessed the nutrition situation amongst residents of the "estate" or commercial farm sector, identified the main causes of nutritional deficiencies, as well as gaps in the...
The U.S. Agency for International Development Bureau for Food Security (USAID BFS) collaborated with leaders and practitioners across the development landscape to share knowledge, good...
This online event, hosted by The Board for International Food and Agricultural Development (BIFAD) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), reached out to...
Although there is a consensus regarding the need to invest in nutrition-sensitive programs, the current global evidence base regarding the nutritional impacts of nutrition-sensitive...
This article aims to revisit the commonly held belief that women in Sub-Saharan Africa are responsible for 60–80% of the agricultural labor supplied, a figure that traces back to an...
This study works to expand the evidence base for how the transition from subsistence to commercial agriculture affects nutritional outcomes. Using data from three African countries, the...
The authors perform a qualitative study of changing food habits in Humla, Nepal, based on outside factors like access to markets and work-for-food programs. They find that while a new road...
IFPRI’s annual report on global food policy marks progress in 2016 towards food security and nutrition, as well as a commitment to sustainable development. This year’s report has a special...
Empowering women is a critical component to improving food security. But what does women's empowerment in agriculture look like and how can practitioners design activities to promote it?...
The World Health Organization recently hosted a nutrition seminar at its headquarters in Geneva to discuss the Global Panel’s recently launched Foresight report Food Systems and Diets:...
Targeting interventions for smallholder farmers is constrained by a lack of nuanced information about these populations’ behaviors. This is particularly challenging for food security and...
Why would talking about a clock help a family grow more food? In this guest blog, Emily Hillenbrand highlights the work of the Pathways program, which focuses on getting women farmers...
The United Kingdom and Germany have pre-selected 7 NAMA Support Projects targeting emission reductions from the NAMA Facility’s 4th Call, which will receive funding for their Detailed...
This blog post shares updates on the development of the pro-WEAI, highlighting a midterm workshop on March 9-11, 2017 in Colombo, Sri Lanka, which reviewed progress on the quantitative and...
On March 16, the World Bank Group Agriculture Global Practice co-hosted with the Health Global Practice and SecureNutrition a presentation by the authors of the Global Panel’s “Foresight...
On March 16, Domitille Kauffmann from FAO’s Nutrition and Food Systems Division delivered a training to strengthen capacities of development practitioners to integrate nutrition into their...
The FSN Forum of the FAO invites the participants of the FSN Forum to read the discussion paper on "Inclusive value chains for sustainable agriculture and scaled up food security and...
This journal article investigates the extent of children’s exposure to animal feces and whether this exposure is associated with child anthropometry. Using diverse, large samples of data...
The objectives of this online course are to understand the definitions of food systems, value chains, food security, nutrition security and their interconnectedness; be able to apply...
Trends and Challenges sheds light on the nature of the challenges that agriculture and food systems are facing now and throughout the 21st century. While extreme poverty and hunger have...
Rural advisory services are a possible channel for improving nutrition in rural communities because of their ability to improve household practices through consistent service provision and...
Part of a new series on food security, this blog post outlines challenges of linking agricultural development to nutrition. The review outlines the decline of hunger and poverty, persistent...
When looking to dramatically and sustainably scale-up agricultural production to meet the food and nutrition demands of the burgeoning global population, it is clear that the ingenuity,...
Feed the Future highlights an INGENAES training on integrating gender within agricultural value chain and agro-enterprise initiatives held December 7-9, 2016 at Mukono Zonal Agricultural...
Micronutrient deficiencies are prevalent in crops and people in sub-Saharan Africa. Agronomic biofortification can increase yields and micronutrient contents of these crops, but there is a...
Crop species richness (CSR) may be important for maintaining the diversity of diets of smallholder farming households. This study defines CSR and determines its association with the...
USAID released another technical brief in its series to provide guidance in implementing the Agency’s Multi-sectoral Nutrition Strategy. This brief presents five key strategies for...
How can extension build on its "core competencies" in improving household food security to lay the foundation for better nutrition? This discussion paper explores the conceptual linkages...
Approaches that improve women’s engagement in livestock value chains and their impact on women’s empowerment and maternal and child nutrition (MCN) can be powerful in improving women’s and...
Location: Kenya
Liberia continues to face high levels of malnutrition, especially stunting among children under five. Stunting is partly due to the lack of information about growing and consuming...
The agriculture sector has a significant role to play in improving the nutritional status of women and children. Strengthening the link between agriculture and nutrition is critical to...
Location: Guatemala
The overwhelming majority of agricultural programs are unable to prove their impact on reducing undernutrition—while they can increase crop yields, they often have not been able to provide...
Within food systems, businesses have to be incentivized towards supplying more safe and nutritious food at affordable prices. Simultaneously, consumers need more incentives to make better...
The December 2016 Climate-Smart Agriculture Global Learning and Evidence Exchange (CSA-GLEE) was held in Siem Reap, Cambodia. The USAID Bureau for Food Security, in collaboration with the...
What are the key food safety issues related to livestock production, animal source foods and what are their potential impacts on human health and nutrition? In this webinar, experts shared...
The government of Uganda has rolled-out five high iron bean varieties in an attempt to address national iron deficiency anemia especially among women, children, and infants. In Uganda,...
HarvestPlus and partners continue to promote biofortification as a sustainable and effective method for improving the nutrition of vulnerable populations through enhanced staple crops. Its...
Using nationally representative data from three African countries, this analysis reveals little evidence of a relationship between nutritional status and the degree of agricultural...
This series of technical briefs provides an overview of key issues related to women’s economic empowerment: unpaid care work; engaging and working with men; and, promoting women’s...
Mobile phone technology has the potential to initiate behavior change and facilitate the long-term maintenance of new behaviors. This paper reviews the existing m-agri and m-health...
This compendium has been designed to support officers responsible for designing nutrition-sensitive food and agriculture investments in selecting appropriate indicators to monitor how these...
Through a review of a Feed the Future livestock program, this report launch explores the complex pathways from household livestock ownership to nutritional gains in early childhood. A...
Aflatoxins constitute a ‘silent’ threat to food security. A substantial body of knowledge is available on the aflatoxin challenge affecting African farmers, other agri-entrepreneurs, and...
This one-day learning event provided a forum where both nutrition and agriculture specialists could feed into discussions and share their ideas and experiences on nutrition-sensitive...
This webinar explored how the Feed the Future Gender-Sensitive Climate-Smart Agriculture for Nutrition (G-CAN) initiative aims to support USAID on the new Global Food Security Strategy....
Extension professionals are fully committed to improving rural livelihoods and strengthening communities, but there is still a great need across the board to better integrate gender and...
Only highly contaminated nuts or kernels may show clear signs of aflatoxin contamination, making sorting a challenge. Now, scientists at the Peanut & Mycotoxin Innovation Lab are...
In the November 2016 Ag2Nut Call, Matthias Jäger, Markets and Value Chain Expert, International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) / CGIAR, presented findings from a pilot project in...
This study examines the feasibility of delivering maternal, infant, and young child nutrition behavior change communication through an innovative agricultural extension program serving...
Location: India
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
This online course illustrates the linkages between agriculture, food systems, and nutrition. Starting from two realistic scenarios, the course describes benefits and opportunities for...
This webinar reviews technical information regarding different packaging and distribution options for soy dairy enterprises, including the use of glass versus plastic bottles, different...
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...
Location: Tanzania, Uganda, Ghana, Zambia, Ethiopia, 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...
A 4-year longitudinal investigation reveals that a Heifer International intervention in Nepal was associated with significantly improved child anthropometry (related to the duration of...
Drawing examples from a multi-country project, this paper discusses the benefits of joining biodiversity with agriculture and nutrition efforts. Steps and actions taken in Brazil, Kenya,...
This study assessed the mean fruit and vegetable intake by relative cost for study participants in 18 countries ranging from low- to high-income levels. Consumption of fruit and vegetables...
Most existing studies linking dietary diversity with farm production diversity build on household-level indicators calculated from seven day food consumption recalls. This study revisits...
Bangladesh achieved rapid growth in rice productivity at a relatively late stage in Asia's Green Revolution, as well as unheralded progress against undernutrition. This paper identifies the...
This report champions a vision for a food-secure 2030 by building on the momentum of the passage of the Global Food Security Act, the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals, and the...
Open agriculture and nutrition data can play a role in solving the global challenges of food insecurity, health crises, climate change, and poverty. This requires changes in legal, social,...
Poor diet is the number one risk factor driving the world’s disease burden. This evidence-based report is designed to help policymakers make their food systems more supportive of high...
This webinar, hosted by the Leveraging Economic Opportunities (LEO) activity, shares how four Feed the Future projects in Sub-Saharan Africa have contributed to systemic change. These...
In this event, Sir Gordon Conway emphasized that sustainable intensification offers a practical pathway towards the goal of producing more food while ensuring that the natural resource base...
The roundtable brought together African leaders in agriculture and health to discuss opportunities for the agricultural community to achieve nutrition security through healthy diets. It...
This upcoming symposium in Zambia will share past experiences, human-centered design, and innovations in gender and nutrition issues in extension. It aims to provide nutrition specialists,...
Appropriate indicators for measuring nutrition impacts in agriculture is a topic that has received much discussion. This call featured several recent publications supported by the Food and...
In this video, Binu Cherian and Parminder Virk of HarvestPlus discuss why biofortification can be an effective measure to help address micronutrient deficiencies, especially as a...
Transfers of food-producing livestock encourage direct consumption of such foods, while transfer of other livestock assets (draft cattle) encourages non-food expenditures by the...
Positive monitoring reports and feedback from Ghana indicate that the School Meals Planner Package tool can be adapted for other countries to meet context-specific needs. The package...
This study compared models of the most nutritious version of a commonly consumed diet given locally available foods (“common diet”) in 3 agroecological zones of Nepal with the least...
This article features one community’s story of an innovative, community-focused approach to tackling malnutrition in rural Bangladesh through its Farmer Nutrition School pioneered by SPRING...
In light of the Nutrition for Growth Summit (N4GII) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on August 4th, 2016, this brief provides information and advice to help policymakers invest in effective...
The second edition of the Sustainable Nutrition Manual has been released after endorsement by Malawi’s Agriculture Technology Clearing Committee (ATCC). The new version provides details on...
In these short videos, World Bank experts describe how they integrated nutrition-sensitive agriculture activities into their work. Each video provides concrete examples of what drives the...
This resource outlines intervention design, impact evaluation, and the approach to form partnerships to expand the practice of household gardens. The World Vegetable Center’s approach to...
The nutrition and climate change communities came together in this special session following the 6th Global Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project (AgMIP) Workshop in...
This year’s symposium focused on approaches to improving agricultural production, nutrition governance, the role of home food production on consumption, influences of mycotoxins on food...
Designing and disseminating technologies through Agricultural Extension Services in a gender-responsive and nutrition-sensitive way can help extend the benefits of technologies like...
In partnership with USAID's Bureau for Food Security and Bureau for Global Health, SPRING hosted the Multi-Sectoral Nutrition Strategy Global Learning & Evidence Exchange (MSN-GLEE)...
The fourth and final MSN-GLEE was held in Washington, DC, on July 15, 2016 and was attended by USAID Mission staff and other U.S. Government staff, host country government partners,...
The Agriculture, Nutrition, and Health (ANH) Academy Week held in Addis Ababa in June led to a side meeting of Ethiopia-based Ag2Nut Community of Practice members, resulting in the...
Unifying the aspirations of the nutrition and sustainable agriculture communities presents a unique opportunity to align the goals of these sectors in a common cause. In this article, the...
Climate-smart agriculture interventions must take a “systems approach” in order to address a broad spectrum of issues. This video outlines the use of “participatory system dynamics modeling...
Site and Life Magazine features a focus on systems, and the linkages between agriculture and health in this issue. Through a variety of infographics, tools, and interviews with leading...
Peanuts are an integral agricultural commodity and food crop within Feed the Future, contributing to smallholder incomes and nutrition in ways that lead to food security. This online...
SPRING and Land O’Lakes International Development co-hosted this webinar to explore links between markets and nutrition sensitivity. Last year, the USAID Bureau for Food Security engaged...
This webinar explored women's health and empowerment; critical factors that are frequently overlooked in agriculture and nutrition research. With the focus of interventions and studies so...
The Intervention Guide for the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) is a resource to help USAID missions and implementers design interventions for the domains of empowerment...
The 68th UN General Assembly declared 2016 the International Year of Pulses. In the context of this campaign, FAO experts Teodardo Calles and Fernanda Grande hosted a webinar to present the...
The Realigning Agriculture to Improve Nutrition (RAIN) project aimed to design, implement and evaluate a model of multi-sectoral integration of interventions to reduce the prevalence of...
Nutrition training of health and agriculture workers is critical to reduce child undernutrition. This manual, available in English and Amharic, equips health and agriculture workers at the...
The livestock sector is an important part of the development of agriculture and food systems. It drives major economic, social, and environmental changes in food systems worldwide, and...
This research examines correlations between socioeconomic status of women, anemia prevalence, and potential sources of iron in household diets in Afghanistan. It also explores whether...
Despite strides made to reduce global hunger, vulnerable people on a global scale are still hungry. The availability of cheap cereal foods has coincided with a reduction in dietary...
The concept of “nutrition-sensitive agriculture” designates a role for agriculture in providing food security – access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food for all people at all times.
In response to persistently poor maternal, newborn and child health indicators in low income countries, governments, non-governmental organizations and international donors have intensified...
Reducing stunting in South Asia requires the coordination of nutrition-sensitive and nutrition-specific interventions, especially measures that lead to improved nutritional status for...
In his new book, journalist Roger Thurow tells stories of mothers and babies worldwide to explore the effort to end childhood malnutrition. Thurow highlights the importance of proper...
Location: Uganda, India, Guatemala, United States
The Diagnostic Tool can assist program planners in identifying and mapping the scope and nature of linkages between agriculture and social protection interventions in their countries,...
The Minimum Dietary Diversity for Women (MDD-W) indicator acts as a tool for assessment, target-setting, and advocacy. MDD-W is a dichotomous indicator of whether or not women 15-49 years...
The Voices of the Hungry project (VoH) aims to estimate prevalence of food insecurity consistently across national populations. These estimates are based on conditions and behaviors...
Nearly 200 performance and impact evaluations of Feed the Future programs were reviewed using the lens of the Feed the Future Learning Agenda to produce this report. Six themes and...
The 2013 Lancet nutrition series argues that in order to achieve global targets for reducing undernutrition, there needs to be a multi-sectoral approach to include scaled-up, proven...
Soy milk and soy yogurt have the potential to contribute to improved nutrition for thousands of people while generating economic opportunities. This webinar focused on developing...
After reviewing 42 evaluations of agricultural interventions for improved maternal and child nutrition, the authors of this article identify three intervention typologies – enhancement,...
This article aims to increase the evidence base around the benefits of integrated agriculture and nutrition programs for children’s health and nutrition outcomes. It presents the results of...
This report examines the evolution of the policy debates on nutrition and agriculture from India’s Independence to the present in order to better understand the roots for the weak links...
Health Communication Capacity Collaborative’s SBCC Implementation Kit (I-Kit), includes a step by step approach to integrate gender into an existing SBCC strategy or marketing kit. It is...
This facilitator’s guide has been prepared for public, private, and NGO extension providers to strengthen their capacity to address gender in a transformative manner and to integrate...
Over the past several years, FAO has supported projects in Malawi and Cambodia to improve childhood nutrition through agriculture and nutrition education for complementary feeding. Many of...
The third in a series of reports focused on the future of food, this latest release from the World Bank focuses on how the food system can deliver improved nutrition and health for better...
Despite inherent differences in program approaches and contexts, agricultural market development and nutrition activities must work together to address the immediate and underlying...
Sustainable management of wild fisheries, especially small-scale fisheries, is critical for achieving local food security and poverty reduction in many developing countries--but fish are...
In the April call of the Ag2Nut Community of Practice, participants discussed the role of nutrition in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Participants heard from Asma Lateef,...
Urbanization and the transformation of agriculture, food systems, and rural spaces present challenges and opportunities for inclusive growth, poverty eradication, economic, environmental...
Global and Regional Health Effects of Future Food Production under Climate Change: a Modelling Study
This modeling study estimates the change in the number of deaths attributable to climate-related changes in weight and diets for six scenarios of climate and socioeconomic variables. Most...
Bangladesh experiences high hunger rates, especially seasonally. Short duration varieties and direct seeding of rice were introduced to farmers in Northwest Bangladesh during the monsoon...
The Sustainable Development Goals agenda makes achieving food security and ending malnutrition a global priority. Within this framework, the importance of fisheries in local and global food...
This article describes the rural Cambodian diet with a particular emphasis on the role of fish. Despite the widespread consumption of nutritious fish, multiple factors contribute to...
A growing body of research on value chain approaches to nutrition has highlighted challenges in developing commercially viable business models that can deliver affordable, available,...
Given the range of drivers of nutrition—spanning multiple sectors of agriculture, social protection, health, WASH, and education—tackling undernutrition demands a multisectoral response....
To address the continuing injustices faced by women across the globe, this year’s theme for International Women’s Day (IWD) was “Planet 50-50 by 2030: Step It Up for Gender Equality.” This...
This guide, the first in a series on how climate change impacts farm families, is written for agronomists, extension field agents, and program managers. It suggests general extension...
Since the food crisis of 2008, the world has struggled to address unexpected, rapid rises and falls in global food prices, which have sparked political unrest and increased economic risks...
This photo essay explores livelihoods in Bangladesh in detail, focusing on a woman farmer who learned how to improve sanitation in her community through a community video program. With...
Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) is one of the three cross-cutting themes within the Feed the Future initiative, along with environment and gender. As global consensus coalesces around the...
This webinar addressed an important question for economic development in rural areas of low- and middle-income countries: if agriculture is to promote nutrition, do we need to take women’s...
HarvestPlus is a global leader in the development of more nutritious and micronutrient-rich varieties of staple food crops. This process, known as biofortification, has proven to be an...
Household surveys are not always effective in collecting reliable data on the amount of milk small-scale producers retain for household consumption. This study reviewed alternative survey...
This paper proposes a new food security assessment methodology based on the concept of sustainable nutrition security (SNS). The model defines seven metrics: (1) food nutrient adequacy; (2...
Despite rapid economic growth in recent years, South Asia still has among the highest child malnutrition rates in the world with half the child population undernourished. Besides children,...
Child malnutrition is a complex issue requiring integrated approaches across sectors such as agriculture, nutrition, and health. While national-level efforts are underway in many countries...
This special edition is rich with field experiences and relevant peer-reviewed research that provide insights into the current state of knowledge and action for nutrition-sensitive...
The final report of the Technical Meeting on “Integrating Agriculture and Nutrition Education for Improved Young Child Feeding” consists of 2 parts. The first covers the proceedings of the...
The FAO has published detailed process reviews of two agriculture-nutrition education projects that aimed to improve infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices using local foods,...
Location: Malawi, Cambodia
This event discussed how open data on agriculture and nutrition can foster innovation and drive organizational and sector change through increased transparency. Public and private open data...
This workshop launched the second phase of the IFPRI-led Gender, Agriculture and Assets Projects (GAAP2), in Nairobi, Kenya. GAAP2 aims to develop measurements for women’s empowerment in...
The December 2015 Ag2Nut Community of Practice call presented a synthesis of eight new studies that test whether a connection can be found between household agricultural production and...
In support of the International Year of Family Farming, FAO’s Global Forum has teamed up with the Food Tank site (www.foodtank.com) to promote debate on policies and technology that support...
The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) hosted an intensive training at its Rome headquarters in July 2014, with the goal of ‘growing’ a pool of experts able to capably...
In this 17-page book chapter written in 1985, the author reviews shifts in developing countries away from subsistence food production and towards agricultural commodites for sale.
This report provides a snapshot of activities among Feed the Future’s 19 focus countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, and the Caribbean in 2012-2013. Guided by the "Key Pathways...
This article details the differences in product-related research and development among food, agricultural, and pharmaceutical sectors and how this might relate to framing a conversation...
In Egypt, less than 5 percent of land is suitable for agriculture. To meet growing demand, aquaculture will need to come together with agriculture to increase food production per unit of...
This #AskAg Twitter Chat featured a conversation on linking agriculture and nutrition with USAID, the 1000 Days Initiative, and the SPRING Project. Experts from each organization provided...
This forum discussion focused on the relationship between horticulture and nutrition, including highlights of how the Horticulture Innovation Lab's research has related to nutrition during...
This webinar featured the authors of USAID’s Multi-Sectoral Nutrition Strategy outlining key aspects of the strategy, focusing on its practical relevance to agricultural development...
Nutrition Education as a Strategy to Strengthen Family Farming Households and Improve People’s Diets
Capitalizing on the ‘Year of Family Farming’ (UN General Assembly), the Global Forum is hosting a moderated online conversation centered around the role of nutrition education within the...
This e-Update from SecureNutrition contains information on the Hunger and Nutrition Commitment Index, Harvesting Nutrition winners, and articles from DFID, the Food Security Information...
There is currently a lot of discussion around the role of food systems in better framing agriculture and nutrition within the context of producers, retailers, consumers, and a range of...
Transform Nutrition, a consortium of development partners funded by the UK and led by IFPRI, recently released a 2-page brief on current efforts to link gender and nutrition. In particular...
In May 2014, USAID held the first-ever Feed the Future Global forum. This 3-day event gathered together global leaders from public and private sectors to highlight scalable results,...
June’s Ag2Nut Community of Practice monthly call featuring a presentation on USAID's 2014-2025 Multi-Sectoral Nutrition Strategy. Mike Manske, Nutrition Advisor in USAID's Nutrition...
The Community for Zero Hunger has created a 5-part survey targeted towards “individuals whose primary responsibility is shaping domestic policy, designing programs, and/or implementing food...
A panel of judges from World Bank’s SecureNutrition Platform, GAIN, and Save the Children have selected three winners for the 2013 Harvesting Nutrition contest, identifying projects and...
This series of eight country case studies (Brazil, Malawi, Mozambique, Nepal, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, and Thailand) synthesizes and analyzes national policies in the area of...
Location: Brazil, Malawi, Mozambique, Nepal, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Thailand
LANSA is a research partnership focused on improving agriculture interventions and food policy to improve nutrition. They recently released a call for policy-related research, with a...
Engaging Men and Boys in Food and Nutrition Security: The Hidden Half of Gender Equality Programming
SPRING, TOPS, and USAID hosted the final segment in a three-part webinar series, Women's Empowerment and Men's Engagement: How a Focus on Gender Can Support Agriculture and Nutrition....
Gender, Agriculture, and Assets Project (GAAP) hosted an outreach event in Washington, D.C. to present findings from projects focusing on gender and agriculture. Marie Ruel and Keith Weibe...
This seminar featured representatives from two Feed the Future Innovation Labs discussing the mechanisms through which their research is being implemented. R. Muniappan of the Integrated...
The nexus of gender, agriculture, and nutrition is square in the communities’ spotlight these days, and the CGIAR A4NH program is offering a new blog to keep the discussion going. The site...
When did the first academic questions around gender and agriculture arise? For the CGIAR it was at least 1986, when a group of researchers at the annual consortium meeting came together...
This comprehensive, 50+ page report provides perspective from DFID UK on the effectiveness of using agricultural activities to achieve nutrition outcomes. A literature review drawing...
The Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (AN4H) research program recently produced a short video featuring senior researcher Jody Harris (IFPRI), as she talks through the agriculture-to-...
This paper proposes a typology of interventions and a metric of integration among them to help researchers build on each other's results, facilitating integration in methods to inform the...
This report examines the relationship between agriculture and nutrition in developing countries, focusing on how nutrition is currently prioritised within agricultural policy frameworks,...
Empowering Women in Agriculture: Strengthening Production and Dietary Diversity to Improve Nutrition
Access event resources from the second SPRING, TOPS, and USAID webinar in a three-part series, Women's Empowerment and Men's Engagement: How a Focus on Gender Can Support Agriculture and...
See all resources from the 2014 Feed the Future Innovation Lab Council Partners Workshop, held March 10-11 in Kathmandu, Nepal. The Workshop centered on the theme of “Scaling Up...
On March 23, 2014, the Ag2Nut Community of Practice and Food Security Information Network (FSIN) continued its discussion on what is needed for global monitoring of adequate food, focused...
The Global Forum is hosting an online discussion through May 8th, that follows on to a joint water-sharing strategy developed among countries in the Aral Sea Basin. The goal of this...
SPRING has developed a series of briefs that illustrate how evidence-based pathways and principles can strengthen agriculture and nutrition linkages under Feed the Future. Short vignettes...
SPRING, TOPS, and USAID kicked off the first event in its webinar series, Women’s Empowerment and Men’s Engagement: How a Focus on Gender Can Support Agriculture and Nutrition, with a...
This webinar provided an overview of the global malnutrition problem; the main approaches through which the agriculture sector can address malnutrition; some of the agriculture-related...
This study examines the relationship between the price of maize and low birth weight to help quantify the impact of local food prices on one outcome of household food insecurity. The...
Animal-sourced foods, though good sources of vitamin A, are often too expensive for poor rural populations. Crops biofortified with provitamin A offer a convenient and accessible source of...
Agriculture is often viewed as a predominantly economic activity. But in the 1960’s and 1970’s, concerns about food shortages and growing populations led to an increased focus among...
The Committee on World Food Security (CFS) concluded its consultative process to develop and ensure broad ownership of principles for responsible agricultural investments (CFS-RAI). The...
The World Vegetable Center’s 33rd International Vegetable Training Course aims to enhance technical, scientific, and managerial skills of the participants to contribute to sustainable...
The annual LCIRAH conference brings together researchers from around the world, this year to examine the impact of agri-food policies, institutions, and governance on human health and...
A Feed the Future program in Kenya has teamed up with the country’s Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries and the Ministry of Health to improve the nutrition of rural Kenyan...
Building on the Nutrition-Specific and Nutrition-Sensitive Interventions to Accelerate Progress (see above), this brief delves deeper into agriculture-nutrition linkages, including a look...
This report examines African agricultural development paths over the last 30 years, including the complex link of agriculture and food security in a constantly evolving context. In addition...
This review finds agriculture-nutrition research to have a strong geographic focus on sub-Saharan Africa, concerned especially with nutritional impacts on women and children. Few projects...
Resources include a GFRAS/World Bank report on strengthening linkages of nutrition within extension and advisory services, ACDI/VOCA factsheets on nutrition integration, reports on...
There remains insufficient evidence to support well-defined, scalable agricultural biodiversity interventions that can be linked to improvements in nutrition outcomes. The book provides a...
The symposium included two keynote addresses discussing the 2013 Lancet Series on Nutrition and the role of Aflatoxin in growth suppression, a session on multi-sectoral nutrition research...
This blog by World Bank Vice President Rachel Kyte highlights efforts to take climate-smart agriculture to scale through the “triple win” approach of increasing productivity and income,...
SPRING hosted the January Ag2Nut Community Call, focused on current activities of the global Food Security Information Network, a collaborative effort between the FAO, IFPRI, and WFP, with...