Value chains for nutrition in South Asia: Who Delivers, How, and to Whom. Mar Maestre (IDS) From 7 February 2018, Brighton, UK With LANSA team: Nigel Poole (SOAS); Bhavani RV and Rohit Parasar (MSSRF); Haris Gazdar, Natasha Ansari and Rashid Mehmood (CSSR); Sirajul Islam and Abid Ul Kabur (BRAC)

1. Who Delivers, How, and to Whom
Value chains for nutrition in
South Asia
Mar Maestre (IDS)
7 February 2018, Brighton, UK
With LANSA team:
Nigel Poole (SOAS); Bhavani RV and Rohit
Parasar (MSSRF); Haris Gazdar, Natasha
Ansari and Rashid Mehmood (CSSR); Sirajul
Islam and Abid Ul Kabur (BRAC)
m.maestremorales@ids.ac.uk

2. Outline
13:00-13:40
• Introduction to Bulletin – Mar
Maestre, IDS
• Agri – food chains in South Asia,
Bhavani RV, MSSRF
• Dairy value chain in Afghanistan,
Nigel Poole, LCIRAH
13:40 – 14:00/14:30
• Q&A

3. Why value chains for nutrition?
• Nearly half of South Asian children are
stunted.
• Food security programmes often focus on
increasing the production of food.
• Yet, 50-70% value created by the food system
is post farm gate
• For low-income consumers, market sources of
food include informal sector operators and
small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)
How can we leverage market-based
interventions to improve diets of low-income
populations?

4. • What are the existing (or potential)
agri-food value chain pathways to
deliver nutritious foods from
agriculture to nutritionally
vulnerable consumers? Who plays
what role?
• What are the key challenges and
opportunities? What are the
implications for policy-makers in
South Asia?
Research questions

5. Methods
 Literature review
 Conceptual
framework
development
 International and
regional
stakeholder
engagement
 Country mapping of
agri-food value chains
 Three agri-food value
chain analysis per
country
 Qualitative and
Quantitative methods
• Embedded within the LANSA consortium of research
partners, from different countries (Afghanistan, Bangladesh,
India, Pakistan, UK, and USA).

6. Impact pathways & policy linkages for
improved nutrition
Adapted from Maestre, M., Poole, N. & Henson, S. (2017). Assessing food value chain pathways, linkages and
impacts for better nutrition of vulnerable groups. Food Policy 68, 31-38
Demand for nutrient -dense foods by
vulnerable groups
targetingdeficienciesof vitamins, minerals, proteins
Distribution environment
Industry environment Firm environment
Product environment
Public
policy
Changes in food demand
Changes in food supply
Changes within
the value chain
Changes in food supply

7. Agri-Food Value Chain Pathways
B
D
A
C
Wheat flour
fortification
in Pakistan
Grameen Danone
(Bangladesh)
Amul & BIL
(India)
Dairy value chain
assessment in
Afghanistan,
Bangladesh & Pakistan
Public distribution:
SNP under the ICDS
scheme (Telangana
and Tamil Nadu), India
A B C D
Demand for nutrient -dense foods by
vulnerable groups
targetingdeficienciesof vitamins, minerals, proteins
Distribution environment
Industry environment Firm environment
Product environment
Public
policy
Changes in food demand
Changes in food supply
Changes within
the value chain
Changes in food supply
A

8. Key lessons
• Several pathways for value chains interventions to strengthen
nutrition/diets
 It involves trade-offs
 Need to meet both businesses (of all types and sizes) and
nutrition/diets requirements
• We need to further understand and work with SMEs and the
informal sector
• Public sector with strong institutional environment and nutrition-
targeted policies
• Think people not consumers (including gender relations and
household dynamics)
• There is not one solution or one chain. Multiple actors have a
role and we need a combination of strategies

9. Thank you