Bio-fortification Partnerships Improve Nutrition in Uganda, Burundi & Bangladesh
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World Vision and HarvestPlus have partnered to promote biofortified crops in Uganda, Burundi, and Bangladesh as part of multi-dimensional nutrition programs. In Uganda, over 105,000 smallholder farmers grew iron beans and orange sweet potatoes, reaching over 40,000 children with nutrition education. In Burundi, 198 tons of iron beans were marketed through value chains and nutrition promotion reached over 1,000 households. In Bangladesh, over 404,000 people, including 5,135 farmers and families, grew zinc-rich rice varieties to improve nutrition. The partnership aims to strengthen efforts to scale up biofortification interventions and access nutrient-rich staple foods in more countries to reduce micronutrient malnutrition.
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Bio-fortification Partnerships Improve Nutrition in Uganda, Burundi & Bangladesh
- 1. Bio-fortification as part of Multi-dimensional Nutrition Programmes in Uganda, Burundi and Bangladesh World Vision and HarvestPlus Partnership Sisay Sinamo (MD, MPH) Nutrition Advisor, WVI East Africa Region Brussels, Belgium June 14, 2016
- 2. Launch of HarvestPlus & WorldVision Partnership at Davos (January 2014) HarvestPlus Director Howarth Bouis (L) and World Vision CEO Kevin Jenkins (R) after signing MOU We envision a future in which billions of people, especially the most vulnerable, will grow and consume biofortified, nutrient- rich staple crops in sufficient quantity to achieve public health impact. Our combined efforts to encourage communities at risk of hidden hunger to grow, consume and even sell excess yields of biofortified staple crops can contribute significantly to improve nutrition and food security, and, ultimately, reduce micronutrient deficiency among at risk populations.
- 4. WorldVision and Harvest Plus in Uganda Esther & Rodgers (2 years)
- 5. •Reach: 105,000 smallholder farmers/ households in four districts in northern Uganda, •Payback system: enabled the direct beneficiaries transfer planting material to two other beneficiaries. WorldVision and HarvestPlus in Uganda
- 6. • Nutrition education: 23,000 caregivers trained on nutrition modules (how to use OSFP and high iron beans), reaching over 40,000 children < 5 • Farmers-to-farmers mentorship: 62% of farmers surveyed were engaged in production of OSFP and high iron beans in the four districts WorldVision and HarvestPlus in Uganda
- 7. Launching Bio-fortification in Burundi • WV uses Community Care Groups to promote nutrition • Bio-fortification started with 20 tons of iron beans imported from Rwanda two years ago
- 8. Burundi: Expanding the reach • 198 tons iron beans marketed using value chain approach • In 2015, 58 tons of certified seed produced and sold to NGOs • Nutrtion promotion was condcuted using Positive Deviance Hearth (reached 910 households), 22 community-run crèches with 330 children
- 9. Burundi: Preventing Severe Malnutrition • Enriched porridge is fed to children in community crèches, keeping the pressure off of feeding centres for malnourished children. • Men, women and children are able to articulate basic nutrition message with songs
- 10. Burundi:Women and Smallholder farmers Female leadership in co-ops and saving groups Substantial evidence of new investments and asset purchase Increased purchasing power for improving diet diversity and nutrient density of family foods
- 11. Bangladesh: Extra crop in Cropping Pattern T. Aman Sharna (155 days) Fallow (70 Days) Boro BRRI dhan28 (140 days) Aman BRRI dhan62 (100 days) Boro BRRI dhan64/ BRRI dhan28 (135- 140 days) Mustard/ lentil/ vegetables (125-130 days)
- 12. Country example: Bangladesh In Bangladesh WV started program to reduce maternal and child mortality and stunting: Intermediate outcomes: •Improved delivery of essential health services to mothers, pregnant women, newborns and children under five. •Improved utilization of essential health services by mothers, pregnant women, newborns and children under five. •Increased consumption of nutritious foods and supplements by mothers, pregnant women, newborns and children under five. •Increased dissemination and use of data on local vital events by civil registries and local planners and decision makers. Reach:Total= 404,344 people ( 5135 farmers and their families) Coop leader with BRRI 62 high Zn rice
- 13. Summary and way-forward •Summary • Bio-fortification is greatly contributing to reduce hunger and micronutrient malnutrition among farmers in developing countries. • However, due to limited resources the existing effort could not meet the need/demand to scale up the intervention in areas where the need is high. • Way forward • WorldVision-HP will strength efforts to reach more countries to access nutrient rich staple foods • We pledge for more resources allocation to prevent micronutrient malnutrition in developing country through sustainable means • Additional research needs to done for other staple crops to meet micronutrient demand among the needy population
Editor's Notes
- In January 2014, WV and HarvestPlus signed an MoU at the World Economic Forum in Davos, making a commitment to together improve nutrition for hundreds of millions of people around the world. The partnership builds on the relative areas of expertise to accomplish what each one of us, separately, could not accomplish The partnership focuses on nutrition smart agriculture using innovative approaches to improve vulnerable farmers’ access to nutritious staple food crops—for home consumption and for sale in local markets World Vision brings the biofortified staple crops into multi-dimensional programs to address malnutrition, targeting households of small holder farmers and most vulnerable, that includes women farmers, elderly farmers, farmers with young children, especially malnourished children
- World Vision and Harvest Plus work in partnership to deliver multi-dimensional programming that reaches children and families in 15 countries (2014-2016)
- Many of you will be familiar with Roger Thurow’s recent publication ”The First 1,000 Days: A Crucial Time for Mothers and Children – and the World.” Let me read an excerpt….&quot;In Uganda,” writes Thurow, &quot;the immediate causes of infant mortality [are] hypothermia, premature birth, and pneumonia and infections, with malnutrition being an underlying cause of 40 percent of all under-five deaths. . . Vitamin A deficiency afflicts about 40 percent of all children and about one-third of all women of childbearing age. . . &quot; He goes on to say that Uganda loses nearly $1 billion worth of productivity every year to due to high levels of stunting, iodine deficiency disorders, iron deficiency and the lifetime impact of low birth weight.Then he tells Esther’s story. &quot;Esther had toiled in the fields all morning, tending to her crops, bending deeply to turn the soil and remove the weeds with a hoe. She was especially proud of two particular plots, her orange sweet potatoes, rich in vitamin A, and a new variety of beans that had a higher-than-normal iron content. Before heading off to the health clinic for the lesson with Susan, Esther had washed the dirt from her feet, legs, and arms and put on clean clothes. She chose her favourite new shirt, which hung loosely on her tall, thin frame. The polo-style shirt was bright orange and proclaimed this message on the back: &quot;Prevent Vitamin A and Iron Deficiencies. Plant and Eat Orange Sweet Potatoes and High Iron Beans. The shirt was gift from Harvest Plus, an international research program that was pioneering the fortification of staple crops, a new wave in agriculture that, through conventional breeding, raises the nutrient content of the food people eat every day. It was one of the imperatives of the 1,000 Days movement, bringing agriculture and nutrition together in a marriage called &quot;Nutrition-smart&quot; agriculture.&quot; The program which was endorsed in the Nutrition Action Plan, had been introduced to the rural areas around Lira by HarvestPlus and the international humanitarian agency World Vision just two seasons before. Esther readily embraced the new crops. The timing for her, she believed, was wonderful, the planting in sync with her pregnancy. The harvest would coincide with the birth of her child. The vitamin A and iron would help keep her strong, and give her baby a good start in life; the nutrients would enrich her breastmilk and then also the baby&apos;s first solid food of mashed-up sweet potatoes and beans.&quot;
- The project has set up a payback system where after harvest, all the direct beneficiaries transfer planting material to other beneficiaries through payback. Though there is no formal agreement, during sensitization training each farmer is asked to give out planting material to two other farmers. So far, almost 80,000 farmers received orange-fleshed sweet potatoes and iron beans planting materials/ seeds.
- The project uses three nutrition modules to train care givers with under five children and women of reproductive age on how to feed their children incorporating the two bio-fortified crops in a balanced diet. The nutrition education covers other food groups, hygiene and feeding for under two years old children, pregnant and lactating mothers. Feeding practice promotion follows after completing distribution and planting of material and agronomy trainings in production of bio-fortified crops. So far twenty-three thousand people were trained on nutrition reaching over forty thousand children under the age of five years. The critical success factors for the project were: Demand creation Seed systems Market and product development Strong follow up, monitoring and reporting
- The biofortification work built on the considerable experience and expertise of the World Vision Burundi staff in implementing mult-dimensional programming for nutrition. We imported 20 tons of iron beans (Mac 44 beans) from HarvestPlus Rwanda to jump start the program two years ago as an additional component to the nutrition programming. Building on the established relationships, World Vision was able to quickly scale up to ensure consumption of the valuable nutritious crop. NOTE: Point here is to highlight the multi-sectoral aspect of the program that biofortification was brought into.
- Building on the established relationships in communities, World Vision Burundi was able to scale up quickly and effectively. Last year we sold over 58 tons of certified seed. People love the taste of Mac 44 and the yield is 40% higher than local varieties. Add to this is the community care nutrition program including 22 crèches feeding children high iron bean porridge and we have had many children recovering from malnutrition. The Positive Deviance Hearth programme (called FARN in Burundi) directly targets underweight children. Iron beans were used in the menus and promoted in this programme that reached 910 households 4617 kitchen gardens for HHs to increase access and consumption of vegetables to improve nutrition. World Vision, with it’s partnership with DSM, was also able to provide Micronutrient Powders to the children. All of this work complements government nutrition programs including deworming and Vit A supplementation for children under five. NOTE: point here is that WV is doing what others can’t … scale up biofortification quickly and effectively, within a broader progam because of our expertise in working with communities on nutrition programming
- The feeding of enriched porridge to children is helping to prevent severe malnutrition in the communities. These children have a more nutritious diet due to both the biofortification and the kitchen gardens, and the behavior change interventions provided by the community care groups. All members of the family are included for nutrition education. NOTE: Point here is that the program (as a whole .. Not just biofortification.) treat mod malnutrition and prevents severe maln
- This programme focussed on women farmers and they are enagaged in cooperatives and saving groups leadership. We could see that iron bean farmers could purchase assets and make investments from the sales of the beans. Some of this is seen in purchase of motorcycles, cows by farmer groups, pineapple fields and new stores as well as increased purchasing power to improve the diet diversity and nutrient density of foods for children, as well as the whole family. NOTE: message here on gender, women’s empowerment, increase purchasing power leading to assets and food purchases
- BRRI 62 is an early maturing rice which provided a niche in the value chain of other crops like early potatoes
- In all our programs, World Vision seeks to empower women, while at the same time building on holistic family approaches to ensure that fathers, grandmothers, faith leaders and cultural leaders all fulfill their roles in contributing to well-being of children, and all community members.