Review 1, Fina Opio, ASARECA at the Food Security Futures I Conference. April 11, 2013 in Dublin, Ireland.

1. Priorities for Public Sector Research on
Food Security and Nutrition: Discussion
Discussant: Fina Opio

2. Introduction
Congratulate and thank the authors of the paper for
an excellent write up.
Covered most of the important aspects of food and
nutrition ranging from:
 importance of good nutrition; through
 Prevalence and costs of malnutrition
 Conceptual frameworks for food and nutrition
 Effects of income and food prices on diets
 Enhancing the nutrient content of specific foods
 Enhancing supply chains for nutrition and Diversity

3. Introduction cont.
 Food safety and Agricultural associated
diseases
 Enhancing supply chains for nutrition and
Diversity
 Food safety and Agricultural associated
diseases
 Time allocation, Nurturing Behaviour and
Income – Control linkages
 Public policy

4. Areas of focus for this discussion
Conceptual framework
Markets and trade as related to food and
nutrition
Commercial food fortification and biofortification
The role of Gender in food and nutrition
Effect of policies
Food and Nutrition and agriculture – associated
diseases.

5. Conceptual framework
It is important to note that good nutrition is the
foundation of human health and well-being, physical and
cognitive development, and economic productivity.
As indicated in the paper Nutrition outcomes depend on
many factors but food systems, policies and institutions
are fundamental.
Food systems determine the quantity, quality, diversity
and nutrition content of the foods available for
consumption.
Food systems vary depending on the location, country
and typology and hence addressing nutrition should take
into consideration the farming and cropping system in
order to be able to influence the food to be produced

6. Conceptual framework cont.
The issue of supply and demand; markets and trade
are important in determining what is produced .
The market demand dictates what is produced
Farmers are increasingly producing for specific
markets
Hence the issue of value chain from the demand
side of consumers is worth noting
As indicated, the food supply chain has always
been discussed from the supply side.

7. Enhancing the Nutrient content of specific foods
The most common means of improving nutrition quality of
foods is through fortification.
Fortified products must reach micronutrient deficient
consumers through existing or newly established distribution
channels.
The paper states that fortification is generally inexpensive and
highly cost-effective
An example given is salt iodization that can reach 80 – 90% of
the target population at a cost of approx. $0.05/person/year.
The paper, however, states that the cost of reaching the
remaining population, often in remote areas, will be higher
This hard to reach population in most cases are the relatively
poor and are hard hit by malnutrition

8. Enhancing nutrient content cont.
Biofortification which is process of breeding
nutrients into food crops, provides a
sustainable, long term strategy for delivering
micronutrients to rural population in the developing
world.
The paper states that Biofortified foods;
 Once developed the micronutrient planting material
can be available for farmers to grow for many years.
 Helps in increasing the adequacy of micronutrient
intakes among individuals throughout the life cycle
 But cannot deliver as high levels of minerals and
vitamins pet day as supplements and industrially
fortified food.

9. Enhancing nutrient content cont.
 There is also the issue of retention of the
micronutrients after processing or cooking that
still needs attention
 The issues of legal frameworks to enhance the
adoption and use of transgenic crops still need
to be dealt with in many countries
 Political , social and cultural buy-ins
 Should be acceptable by consumers
 Apart from providing the required nutrients the
Biofortified food should be marketable.

10. Enhancing nutrient status cont.
A casa of OFSP in Uganda before 2007. The
VITAA partnership
Partners included; farmers, women groups,
extension, Ngo’s, cultural leaders (e.g.. the
Queen of Buganda), the medical school
(“Mwanamugimu” clinic), research (NARO,
PRAPACE (ASARECA), CIP),the politicians

11. The role of Gender food and nutrition
The roles of men, women and youth is very
important in ensuring that the food
grown, prepared, processed and consumed has the
required nutrients.
Decision making at different levels
Control of resources (land and finances
Who does what at what time
Multiple roles of women
Youth migration from Rural areas to Urban town
Labour saving technologies at different stages
Education of Men, women and youth

12. The role of Gender cont.
The paper notes that :
1) households that earn less but spend more time in food
preparation which gives more nutritious food
2) Maternal employment is associated with high infant or child
mortality and undernutrition because working women cannot
make time available to care for the children
3) Reports by World bank and WHO show strong relationship
between income and health care.
 It is important to note that women who are not employed and
stay home to work on farm have a lot of chores and may not
have the time as indicated in 1 above (example)

13. Policies in relation to food and nutrition
A nutrition policy can be defined as “governmental guidelines
and objectives pertaining to public food supply and nutrition
including recommendations for healthy diet and changes in
food habits to ensure healthy diet.
The policies would depend on the nature of nutrition area of
emphasis.
For example in sub-Saharan Africa the emphasis would be
stunting, kwashiorkor, Vit A and iron deficiency; while in some
developed countries obesity would be the problem
Whatever the case it is important to ensure that nutrition is an
integral part of the national policy for it to be implemented
effectively.

14. Challenges related to nutrition policy
There are challenges to make nutrition an integral
part of the national policy;
 The complexity of cross –sectional coordination
 The lack of awareness of senior decision makers of
the scale of the nutrition problem and economic
consequences
 The lack of social pressure and advocacy
 The limited financial resources
 The limited availability of qualified staff to
adequately address the problem

15. Food safety and agriculture associated diseases
This concern is quite important
Zoonosis (at least 61% of all human pathogens
are zoonotic i.e. transmitted between animals
and man). e.g.
 Tapeworms
 Brucellosis
 TB
Diseases associated with poor processing or
preparation resulting in food poisoning e.g..
aflatoxins

16. Next steps for research
Policy research that would come up with
recommendations of cost effective methods for
enhancing the nutrition of different foods
targeting different consumers /markets
Research institutions to intensify the research to
enhance the nutrition quality of different crops
more specifically the staples which most people
depend on

17. Nutritious Diet
This refers to consumption of a variety of safe foods
of sufficient quantity and quality in appropriate
combinations; or
A combination of foods that can give a balanced diet
(with all the nutritional requirement)?
Examples:
1) “IRIO” from Kenya
 Potato
 Beans and/or peas
 Greens (local-pumpkin leaves)
 maize

18. Thank You