Food security

Reports

Photo of A woman and her daughter outside a building. Caption: “Mother and daughter share a laugh during the household survey in Cross River State”

SPRING conducted a two-phase multi-sectoral nutrition assessment for the USAID Nigeria during August–October 2017. We undertook the study to inform the development of a five-year, Global...

Keywords: Food security, Malnutrition
Location: Nigeria
2 women and a child standing in front of a sign

SPRING conducted formative research in August 2014 to explore factors that affect household-level food purchase and production decisions in the Feed the Future zone of influence (ZOI) of...

Galleries

The video development team watches as a neighbor explains benefits of poultry raising for the family, “Small scale poultry farming at home can be beneficial for you and it can meet your short term financial needs.” Photo credit: Sarah Hogan, 2017

Under the UPAVAN project, SPRING and Digital Green create community videos promoting nutrition-sensitive agriculture practices in Odisha, India. This community video shows neighbors...

A participant looks at a copy of the new publication for home based storage and preservation of nutritious foods in the Kyrgyz Republic.

SPRING/Kyrgyz Republic hosted an event for health officials in Bishkek to discuss nutrition-sensitive agriculture and launch a new reference book on long-term food storage and preservation.

Young girls at market

In response to the Guinea Ebola outbreak, SPRING conducted a nutrition assessment to provide insights into nutrition status.

News

One man kneels and looks at the screen of a video camera. Two women and two men lean over his shoulder to also see the screen.

SPRING shared its SPRING/Guinea Social and Behavior Change (SBC) approaches at the ICTforAg 2017 conference during a session entitled "Multi-Channel Communications in Hard-to-Reach Places."

Nora Madrigal (USAID), Aisha Zhorobekova (USAID), Il Hyong Won (Good Neighbors)

SPRING/Kyrgyz Republic hosted an event for health officials in Bishkek to discuss nutrition-sensitive agriculture and launch a new reference book on long-term food storage and preservation.

Poultry

SPRING/Senegal organized a two-day workshop on improved village-level poultry rearing for members of its agricultural partner networks.

Keywords: Agriculture, Food security
Location: Senegal
Nathan Park, center, poses with SPRING volunteers and trainers after a session on methods of long term storage and preservation of nutritious foods at home.

Deputy Mission Director Nathan Park visited SPRING activity sites in Kok-Jangak rayon, where he participated in a training on home-based storage of nutritious foods, and joined a home visit...

Stainglass depicting food being handed over (Image from the Borlaug Symposium)

SPRING joined a diverse gathering of nutrition and food security experts at the annual conference.

Keywords: Food security
Young girls at market

In post-Ebola Guinea, SPRING conducted a nutrition assessment to provide insights into nutrition status and inform a new workplan.

Journal Articles

Screenshot of the website where this document is housed. Contains the title and authors.

This chapter will first provide a review of the nutrition narrative in relation to food and nutrition, introduce the current understanding of linkages between agriculture and nutrition and...

Photo of market in Guatemala

For this study, SPRING examined the relationship between the food environment and nutrition.

Activities

Woman standing at a vegetable stall at market

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.

Videos

A Wife and Husband sit on a rug and discuss the family's monthly food consumption

Four men discuss the harvest and the food shortage that always follows. A community advisor tells the men that they should discuss food consumption with their wives and divide the harvest...

Keywords: Food security
Location: Niger, Sahel

Posters

Increasing Nutrition Sensitivity of Value Chains: A Review of Two Feed the Future Projects in Guatemala

The effect of agriculture on nutrition is multifaceted. Agriculture— contributes to a healthy life by producing foods for household consumption and increasing availability of foods within...

Events

Soil  An essential ingredient to  healthy food and nutrition

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...

Keywords: Food security, Agriculture
Location: Online
Ag2Nut Community Call: Livestock and Food Security: Does it Matter how Food is Produced?

One of the issues the Ag2Nut community has discussed is the need to make diverse, nutritious foods more available and accessible.

Keywords: Food security, Agriculture
Location: Online
First slide of event powerpoint

Understanding local contexts is critical to designing and implementing effective approaches to improve nutrition through agricultural programs.

Title slide from presentation

The April 23, 2015, Ag2Nut community call featured two new toolkits for gender in agriculture, food security, and nutrition.

Keywords: Gender, Food security, Agriculture
Location: Online
Uganda

Ag2Nut Community Call for 7/30/2014, featuring Tim Sparkman (Mercy Corps) and Terri Ballard (Women's Dietary Diversity Project). Tim discussed facets of the food trade system in Uganda, and...

Child being fed

A discussion on what is needed for global monitoring of adequate food, focused on the need for appropriate indicators of adequate nutritious food, as well as some current efforts to develop...

Food and Nutrition Security Diagram

On February 27thth, 2014, five experts discussed global efforts to define and implement indicators that accurately measure access to nutritious food.

Keywords: Food security, Agriculture
Location: Online
Ag2Nut Community Call: Introducing the Food Security Information Network

On January 21st, 2014, SPRING hosted the Ag2Nut Community of Practice call, featuring Alexis Hoskins and Veronique De Schutter of the World Food Programme.

Keywords: Food security, Agriculture
Location: Online
Photo Credit: Dr. Sally Abbott, USAID Bureau for Food Security

Despite a number of studies indicating the importance of integrating nutrition into agricultural and livelihoods programming, there are surprisingly few real world examples of how to do so

Keywords: Food security, Agriculture
Location: Online

Resource Review Summaries

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...

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...

Keywords: Agriculture, Food security
Location: Malawi

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...

Despite steps taken to address the global burden of nutrition, malnutrition and food insecurity remain critical issues, especially among women and children. The 2017 Global Nutrition Report...

Keywords: Anemia, Food security

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...

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...

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...

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...

Keywords: Agriculture, Food security
Location: Cameroon

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...

Keywords: Agriculture, Food security
Location: Tanzania

This course, designed for USAID staff implementing Feed the Future country-level activities, underscores the Agency's focus on food security development and incorporates the Agency’s vision...

Keywords: Food security

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 State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World monitors progress towards both the targets of ending hunger (SDG Target 2.1) and all forms of malnutrition (SDG Target 2.2). It...

Keywords: Food security

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...

Continuing a series on practical tools and approaches to address enabling environment constraints to food security, this Feed the Future blog examines the World Bank’s Enabling the Business...

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...

Keywords: Agriculture, Food security
Location: Zambia

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-...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Keywords: Agriculture, Food security
Location: Nepal

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...

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...

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...

The Food Chain Crisis prevention system is the Food and Agriculture Organization’s response to the increasing number of food chain emergencies, which bring unprecedented challenges to food...

Keywords: Food security

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...

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...

Keywords: Food security

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...

As required by the Global Food Security Act of 2016, this strategy presents an integrate whole-of-government strategy and agency-specific implementation plans. This strategy reflects the...

Keywords: Food security

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...

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...

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 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...

Young children remain the most vulnerable population to food insecurity--low birthweight and stunting continue to be among the most visible effects of malnutrition. Helen Keller...

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.

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...

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...

Keywords: Agriculture, Food security
Location: India

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...

Keywords: Food security, Agriculture
Location: Bangladesh

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...

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,...

Immediate action is needed to tackle climate change in all sectors in order to mitigate its growing impact on the food and nutrition security of the most vulnerable. This report describes...

Keywords: Food security

This blog discusses the COP21 observer and side events on climate, agriculture, and nutrition. The Paris Agreement recognized food production, food security, and ending hunger, however, it...

Secure, on-farm storage can benefit smallholder farmers by improving the market value of crops, allowing farmers to be price makers rather than price takers, improving the variety and...

Keywords: Food security

Men and women livestock holders are differentially vulnerable to climate change. This article proposes a gendered conceptual framework for understanding the impact of climate change on food...

Keywords: Gender, Food security

The 2015-2016 El Niño is anticipated to be the worst on record. This report provides a global analysis of the current and expected El Niño disasters and its impact on agriculture, food...

Keywords: Food security

Video highlights from this conference have been made available online. Presentations include “Sustainable Food Security and Nutrition: Demystifying Conventional Beliefs” and “Genetically...

Keywords: Food security

Key messages in the 2015 State of Food Security report revolve around social protection, gender-sensitive programs, and national commitment. The report explores what social protection can...

Keywords: Food security, Gender

The 42nd session of the Committee on Food Security in Rome explored a range of issues including nutrition in protracted crises, water access, and connecting smallholder farmers to markets....

Keywords: Food security

A 3 day course-themed conference, 'Borlaug 101: The Fundamentals of Global Food Security,' celebrated the 101 years after Dr. Norman E. Borlaug's birth. Presentations included the impact of...

Keywords: Food security

The FAO offers a series of courses for agriculture and food security professionals, including an introduction to basic concepts of nutrition and livelihoods. This 35 minute module is built...

Keywords: Food security

This report reviews 102 health and multi-sectoral programs that integrate family planning with nutrition and food security interventions. Lessons learned and promising program practices for...

Last month, FAO released The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2015, which listed agricultural productivity growth, economic growth, markets, and social protection as key factors to...

Keywords: Food security

Concentrated within West Africa and the Sahel, this report shares strategies for multisectoral integration of nutrition. The report includes both a review of programs and an outline for...

Keywords: Food security

Application of the value chain approach can be integral to achieving key nutrition outcomes. This event shared value chain project results, challenges, and successes, and outlined policy...

Keywords: Food security

Political commitment steers nations’ strategies in nutrition program development. This article explains approaches to measuring this commitment among nations to inform practitioners’...

Keywords: Food security

Findings of this report suggest that supporting small scale farmers is the most effective method for combating global hunger. Applying data collected from 98 international Caritas...

Keywords: Food security

IUFRO examines food security, hunger, nutrition, and the impact that forests, trees, and landscapes can have on improving global nutrition outcomes. The authors suggest that although...

Keywords: Food security

Natural hazards and disasters impact agricultural productivity, which affects populations’ access to nutritious food. This brochure details the repercussions that natural hazards and...

Keywords: Food security

FAO lists the key factors for achieving food security and nutrition including: agricultural productivity growth, economic growth, markets, and social protection. Examining undernourishment...

Keywords: Food security

Water dictates agricultural production, and access to water directly affects nutritional status. This report examines the connection between water, food security, and nutrition, and...

Keywords: Food security

This interview with Acting Assistant to the Administrator, USAID Bureau for Food Security, Richard Greene discusses why the US Government is working on global nutrition, what Feed the...

Keywords: Food security

The 2015 Global Food Security Symposium focused on leveraging food systems for improved health outcomes. This event examined global malnutrition and how food systems can affect improved...

Keywords: Food security

The April Ag2Nut community call featured two new toolkits from CARE and Land O'Lakes for gender in agriculture, food security, and nutrition. The event explored new thinking in this...

This paper introduces an applied framework, named the Kaleidoscope Model, to analyze drivers of change in the food security arena, with a specific emphasis on agriculture and nutrition...

Keywords: Food security

This article profiles an FAO-led project designed to improve food security and nutritional status and decrease aid dependency in households in mid-western Nepal. The project focuses on...

Keywords: Food security
Location: Nepal

The Chicago Council has launched a new project, "Global Food Security by the Numbers," to map current U.S .investments and generate discussion about the types of activities and agencies...

Keywords: Food security

The authors of this paper aim to empirically infer causal linkages between fruit and vegetable production, individual intake, food security, and anemia. Qualitative research and econometric...

As both global and national development practitioners seek to benefit from multisectoral thinking, one researcher based at Stanford University (California, United States) has done the same...

Following on to the TOPS/FSN Network Knowledge Sharing Meeting in July 2014, the TOPS Program has posted several questions to the online discussion forum of the FSN Network Portal in an...

Keywords: Food security

The FAO recently released its proposals for the post-2015 sustainable development goals, elaborating 31 indicators and 14 ‘themes’ that cross food security, nutrition, sustainable...

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,...

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 paper examines the association between food insecurity and nutritional status of children and married women in Nepal using DHS data. There is a significant association between food...

Keywords: Food security, Malnutrition
Location: Nepal

This 2-volume report by the IPCC provides a global update on the causes and impacts of climate change. Among other key perspectives, Section 7 deals with food security, and notes impacts on...

Keywords: Food security

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 6th, in order to gather country examples of ‘Care Farming’ that can be analyzed by FAO and its partners to develop programming...

Keywords: Food security

ACF International has newly released 3 case studies based on ACF innovative nutrition-sensitive interventions, in Liberia, Guinea and Pakista that complete the 3 previously released in 2012...

The TOPS Program team of technical specialists has undertaken a review of final evaluation reports from Food for Peace‐funded development food assistance projects (formerly referred to as...

Keywords: Food security

The FSN invites you to provide your comments on the zero draft of the political outcome document available in the six UN languages through a public online consultation. In providing your...

Keywords: Food security

Donor Platform is hosting a virtual briefing with Paulus Verschuren, Special Envoy Food and Nutrition Security for Development from the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Paulus will...

Keywords: Food security
Location: Netherlands

The High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition is launching a study on critical and emerging issues in the area of food security and nutrition to inform the work of the UN...

Keywords: Food security

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...

Keywords: Agriculture, Food security
Location: Africa

This paper provides an initial opportunity to delve into the consolidated Household Economy Analysis (HEA) and Cost of the Diet (CoD) databases in an attempt address four key policy and...

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...