Marie T. Ruel discusses value chains for improving nutrition and food safety. Value chains can help address problems along the production, storage, processing, distribution and consumption of foods. They allow for coordination across different actors to identify opportunities to enhance nutrient content and prevent losses. While progress has been made in certain areas, more research is still needed on implementing nutrition-sensitive value chains at scale and measuring their impact and cost-effectiveness.

1. Maintaining and Improving Nutritional
Value and Food Safety along the Value
Chain
Marie T. Ruel
International Food Policy Research Institute
Photo: A.de Brauw

2. The Challenges and Opportunities
• Persistent problems of malnutrition – 1 in 3 people
affected: deficiencies in energy, micronutrients,
overweight/obesity
• Ambitious SDGs– which require “business as un-usual”
• Recognition of need to work multisectorally, but HOW?
• Changing pressures on food systems: population and
income growth, climate change, urbanization, globalization
of diets, competition for natural resources
“Food systems are not delivering healthy diets” (Global Panel
on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition)

3. Income Can Help Reduce Stunting
10% increase
in GDP leads
to 6%
reduction in
stunting
Source: Ruel and Alderman; Lancet 2013

4. But it Also Increases Ovwt/Obesity
Source: Ruel and Alderman; Lancet 2013
10% increase in GDP
leads to 7% increase in
women’s ovwt/obesity

5. Food Systems and Diet Quality & Safety
Source: Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition (2014)

6. Urbanization
Changing age profiles
Migration
Technology
Infrastructure
Social networks
Traditions
Social norms
Religion & rituals
Social stratification
Gender
Leadership
Livelihoods & Income
Markets
Trade
Natural resource capital
Ecosystem services
Climate adaptation &
resiliency
Food Environments
Food access
(location within environments,
physical proximity)
Food affordability
(point of purchase, willingness to pay)
Food acceptability & preferences
(branding, cultural and nationalistic
preference /standards)
Information & guidelines
(education, messaging)
Composition, quality & safety
Nutrition & Health
outcomes
Political, Programme, and Institutional Actions
Economic
impacts
Social equity
impacts
Consumer
Behaviors
Choosing where and
what food to
acquire, prepare,
cook, store and eat
Diets
Quantity
Quality
Diversity
Safety
AVAILABILITY ACCESS UTILIZATION
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS
Environmental
impacts
Food Systems, Diets and Nutrition
Biophysical &
Environmental
Drivers
Innovation &
Research Drivers
Sociocultural
Drivers
Political & Economic
Drivers
Demographic
Drivers
Retail, marketing
& advertising
Processing & Packaging
Storage, Exchange
& Distribution
Production Systems
Value Chain Processes/ Actors
Farmers, agribusiness, land &
plantation owners, fisheries, financial
entities
Transporters, agribusiness,
traders
Packing plants, food industry, SMEs
Retailers, markets, food outlets,
distributors, restaurants,
wholesalers
Source: Jessica Fanzo

7. Value Chains Can Help Food Systems
Deliver on Diets and Nutrition
Value chains refer to the full range of activities that are required to
bring a food product from conception, through the different phases of
production, to delivery to final consumers and disposal after use
They are designed to ADD VALUE (usually economic) and can address:
Production constraints: processing, storage, information,
prices, markets, natural resources, yields
 Consumption constraints: preferences, information,
affordability/prices
They can also address nutrient losses, contamination: aflatoxin,
contamination/ spoilage at different stages of VC; identify
opportunities to restore/add nutrients /prevent losses

8. Why Value Chains for Nutrition?
• VCs require/promote coordination among multiple actors at all
levels (multi-actor/multi-sectoral) - from farm to fork –
• VCs are solution-oriented: can be used to identify where
changes are needed (e.g. select VC actors can be targeted to
increase incentives and capacities for delivering improved
nutrition & food safety
• VCs focus on adding “ value”: provide opportunities for adding
not only economic value along the chain, but also other v for as
nutrition, food safety, environmental sustainability
• VCs are versatile: can be tailed to address different problems
(e.g. malnutrition in all its forms, diets, food safety), contexts,
needs, in an integrated way

9. Inputs into production
Food production
Food storage and processing
Food distribution and transport
Food retail and labeling
MORE NUTRITIOUS & SAFER
FOODS AVAILABLE
What Is a Nutrition-Sensitive VC?
Nutritious &
safe diets
consumed
Producer – Value Chain
Develop, test, evaluate
solutions to bottlenecks
to enhance nutrition and
food safety along the
value chain
Characterize diets, market
access, and constraints to
consumption of nutritious
and safe foods
Develop and test, evaluate
solutions to improve
knowledge, awareness, and
demand for nutritious and
safe foods
Identify production and
market constraints to
ensuring nutritious
content and safety of food
Supply Side
Demand Side

10. Value Chains Come in Many Different
Forms
Types of value
chains
Actors
Traditional Traditional traders Smallholder
farmers
Consumers
Modern Domestic &
multinational
manufacturers
Commercial farms Modern
supermarkets
And everything in between!

11. High demand, weak supply High demand, ample supply
Low demand , weak supply Low demand, ample supply
Demand
Supply
+
- +
Possible interventions:
• Improved business and regulatory
environment (food safety)
• Upgrades in technologies
• Improved mechanisms for coordination
between chain actors
Possible interventions:
• Innovation in production technologies
• Innovation in the formulation of inputs for
production (improved input access?)
• Organization of producers to supply higher
volumes
• Facilitate expansion of market outlets
Possible interventions:
• Social marketing to stimulate demand
• Subsidies for consumption
• Adjustments in the regulatory
framework
• Support for marketing by retailers
• Public purchasing programs
Possible interventions:
• Social marketing to stimulate demand
• Subsidies for consumption
• Building capacities for primary production
• Producer organization
• Incentives for risk taking by processers and
retailers
Typology of VC for Nutrition Interventions
Source: Gelli et al. IFPRI DP 2015
-
+-

12. Production Inputs Processing
• Seed subsidies
• Investment in R&D
• Gov’ incentives for diversifying
farm production
• Scale-up of extension services
• Crop insurance
• Access to credit
• Improved storage facilities
• Investment in technology
• Improved testing for aflatoxin
exposure
• Investment in roads and infrstructure
• Zoning laws to improve access to healthier foods
• Farm-to-school programs
• Subsidies for healthier food/taxes on sugar, fat
• Improved Food labeling
• Bans on advertising for children
• Social marketing and other
Interventions to improve
consumer knowledge and
awareness about nutrition, health,
food safety
• Training of actors along the VC on
healthy diets
• Mandatory food fortification
• Trans fat bans
• Salt, sugar targets/standards
• Private sector partnerships
to improve processed food
quality
Examples of Points of Intervention along the VC to
Address all Forms of Malnutrition
Maximize “nutrition entering”; Minimize “nutrition exiting”
Source: Downs & Fanzo, 2016
Post Harvest
Distribution,
marketing, retail
Consumption

13. Women: Key Leverage Point for
Improving Nutrition through Agriculture
Source: Sundberg, Birx, Ruel; BMGF Learning Session; January 2014
Women’s empowerment, health, nutrition, and time

14. Progress So Far
• On-going work on VCs for nutritious (and safe) foods (e.g.
dairy (milk, yogurt), chicken (eggs), vegetables, fruit,
pulses); aflatoxin (post-harvest); homegrown school
feeding programs, P4P: e.g. CGIAR and partners, FtF,
Gender, Agriculture and Assets Project (GAAP), WFP, IFAD,
FAO, many NGOs, others
• Biofortification: HarvestPlus now in delivery phase
• Public/private partnerships around VCs for nutrition: e.g.,
GAIN Market Place for Nutritious Foods, certification of
complementary foods
• Policies: e.g., tax on sweetened beverages, fat; legislation
to reduce salt, sugar, saturated fat in processed foods

15. Where do we Go from Here?
• Lots of conceptual work on food systems and nutrition, lots
of big reports!
• Useful guidance documents, on-line courses on
multisectoral work, value chains for nutrition/gender/food
safety, how to make agriculture and food systems more
nutrition-sensitive (FAO, WB, SPRING/USAID, NGOs, etc.)
• Emerging new communities of practice, partnerships,
networks
• Too little credible research, shared learning,
documentation and publication of lessons learned on
implementation, impact and cost – Is it all worth it?

16. Key Messages
Value chain for nutrition and food safety offer a great
opportunity to leverage food systems to reduce
malnutrition in all its forms
Value chains can help address constraints to supply
and intake of healthy foods and help create
“an enabling environment for healthier choices”
A lot is happening, but learning is too slow and scattered;
we need to focus more on strategic implementation,
impact and cost-effectiveness research