Nutrition and health sensitive landscapesCéline Termote, PhD23/09/2013

Nutrition: who?

Need to put the PEOPLE living in the

landscape central

Importance of local knowledge and

perceptions:• varieties/breeds + forest/wild foods, NTFPs,

• landscape and forest management

Food systems in indigenous communities

are sometimes closely linked to cultural,

social or political systems

e.g. ‘Lilwa’ socio-cultural organisation of the

Mbole, Tshopo District, DRCongo; all

interventions in the Mbole society should be

based on an understanding of this socio-

cultural institution (Kalala Nkudi, 1979)

Nutrition: whole of diet approach

• Triple burden of malnutrition

=> Whole of Diet approach

• in addition to the important

staple crops, local populations

need a diverse diet composed

of cereals, tubers, roots,

legumes, fruits, vegetables,

nuts, meet/fish, insects, etc. to

fully fulfill the multiple

requirements in macro and

micro nutrients for good

nutrition and a healthy life.

Ecosystem

species

genetic

Proteins

Vitamins

Minerals

Carbohydrates

lipids

Anti-nutrients

Anti-oxidants

Pharmacologically

active substances

Nutrition: whole of diet approach

Bioversity is working towards the development of an APPROACH and tools:

• to document the availability and knowledge on local food biodiversity (crop diversity,

wild and NUS species included) on an individual, community and landscape level in different

agro-ecologial, socio-economic and cultural contexts from a food systems perspective

• to study food composition and actual and potential consumption of these foods;

• to assess seasonality, abundance, accessibility, affordability, cultural acceptability,

sufficiency and safety of these foods for rural as well as urban consumers;

• linear programming using local food composition data and food prices as an

innovative tool to screen local biodiversity with regard to its potential to optimize diet quality

and reduce cost of diet

• to identify determinants, barriers and opportunities with regard to healthy local food

consumption and dietary diversity

• to evaluate best practices and implementation strategies for promotion of improved

production, marketing and use of agricultural and wild biodiversity

Individual choices

Nutrition and

health

outcomes

Nutrient interactions

Morbidity

Water

&

sanitation

….

Accessibility

Culture

Role of wild, neglected and underutilized foods in reducing the cost of a nutritionally adequate diet in the eastern region of Baringo District, Kenya

Project in collaboration with Save the Children UK and

the Museums of Kenya

Objective: Documenting the role of wild and

underutilized foods in reducing the cost of a nutritionally

adequate diet for children aged 6 to 24 months and

women

Methodology:

• Ethnobotanical surveys to inventory wild and NUS species

• Market price assessments and seasonality

• Culturally acceptable average food consumption frequencies and portion sizes

• Selection of 5 wild NUS species for modeling in Cost of Diet analysis

• Cost of Diet lineair programming to assess the cost of a locally appropriate,

culturally acceptable, cost-optimized, nutritious diet in dry and wet season.

Analysis with and without wild NUS foods.

http://www.bioversityinternational.org/index.php?id=19&no_cache=1&user_bioversitypublications_pi1[showUid]=7177

Role of wild, neglected and underutilized foods in reducing the cost of a nutritionally adequate diet in the eastern region of Baringo District, Kenya

• Without wild foods:

•modeled (optimized) diets were deficient in Fe for all

age groups (women and children) during dry season

•for infants aged 6 to 8 months: Vit. B6 and Ca

deficient during dry season, Fe and Zn deficient the

whole year

• Including all 5 selected wild plant foods in the modeled

diet (at a supposed zero cost), could substantially lower

the cost of the diets (up to 64% for some age groups) and

contributed to meet FAO/WHO recommended nutrient

intakes

• Berchemia discolor had the highest impact on the cost

of the diet and on meeting recommended nutrient intakes

for Fe

• With or without wild foods, it was not possible to meet all

recommended nutrient intakes in all seasons for children

aged 6 to 12 months

Balanites aegyptiaca

Berchemia discolor

Ximenia americana

Ziziphus mauritiana

Solanum nigrum

http://www.bioversityinternational.org/index.php?id=19&no_cache=1&user_bioversitypublications_pi1[showUid]=7177

Nutrition along the value chain: Benin

Assessing the role of market participation on

species diversity grown, sold and consumed and its

implications for diets, food security and nutrition

among rural households

Investigating the current and potential role of local

biodiversity in meeting nutritional requirements for

complementary foods of infants and young children

9

BiodiversityGood nutrition

and health

Cultural Identitiy Food taboos

Income

KnowledgeBarriers

Incentives

Value chains

Markets

Values

Morbidityhousing

Water and sanitation

Nutrient interactions

Anti-nutrients

Etc…

Policies

Can the consumer demand for nutritious and healthy

foods stimulate biodiversity conservation ?

Sustainable Diets: Metrics and Policy

Need to improve quality and environmental

sustainability of the diet =>

Key determinants for a sustainable diet

Sustainable diets are those diets with low

environmental impacts which contribute to

food and nutrition security and to healthy life

for present and future generations.

Metrics: Sustainable Diet Score and Suite of

Indicators to reflect the multiple dimensions of a

healthy and sustainable diet.

Innovative strategies for accessible, safe, sustainable and resilient food systems which

ensure environmental integrity, economic self-reliance and social well-being need to be developed and implemented

www.bioversityinternational.org

Thank you

Nutrition and Marketing Diversity Programme

Céline Termote; c.termote@cgiar.org