Investing in nutrition through agriculture

Good nutrition for increased productivity, reduced poverty and better lives

Improving the livelihoods of the rural poor is at the heart of IFAD’s work, and maximizing agriculture’s contribution to improving nutrition is an essential part of that mission. Of course, other sectors have roles to play, but good nutrition begins with food and agriculture.

Malnutrition takes many forms: undernutrition, micronutrient deficiencies, and obesity and overweight.1 Undernutrition is the largest contributor to child mortality worldwide, and nearly 25 per cent of children under 5 are chronically malnourished.

However, in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, home to three quarters of these children, the figure is 40 per cent. More than 2 billion people suffer from micronutrient malnutrition. And it should be remembered that three quarters of the world’s hungry people live in rural areas, and, paradoxically, many of them are smallholder farmers.

Malnutrition blights lives and undercuts social and economic development. Children who are chronically malnourished in the critical first thousand days beginning at conception can suffer irreversible damage to their physical and mental development.

Over their lifetimes, malnourished individuals can earn 10 per cent less than well-nourished ones.
One study found that undernutrition in Africa causes economic losses that vary by country from 1.9 to 16.5 per cent of GDP. In addition, governments end up spending billions of dollars on programmes in order to deal with poor nutrition and its effects.

Good nutrition is thus not just an outcome of economic growth and social development but an essential input as well. Investing in nutrition through agriculture is more than a social good. It is sound development policy and good economics.

The challenges of achieving good nutrition, however, are increasingly complex. The consumption of processed foods and the more sedentary lives of an increasingly urban population are amplifying the prevalence of overweight, obesity and diet-related illnesses, such as heart disease and diabetes, even in the low- and middle-income countries where IFAD works. At the same time, in many of these same countries, adult undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies persist.

IFAD’s work brings the benefits of agriculture to bear on the problem of malnutrition. IFAD supports projects that help shape agriculture and food systems in ways that improve the nutrition, incomes and productivity of smallholders and the rural poor.

By affecting food systems as a whole, these efforts benefit the entire population – rural and urban alike.