Hi Rebecca,
I think the Human Nutrition conversation category has significant merit. The lack of protein is especially troublesome in much of the least developed world. Having a place to discuss specifics would be of great benefit!
3 Likes
Hi all, just wanted to share this open-access literature review that compiles 44 peer reviewed publications pertaining to “Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture” (NSA).
NSA might be defined by several different types of interventions, including women’s empowerment, biofortification, irrigation, supply-chains, etc. Perhaps the section of this paper most relevant for many of ECHO’s network members starts on page 131, section 3.1.2 “Homestead food production types of programs.”
On an individual scale, it’s easy to be discouraged when it comes to this sort of work. While it is hard to change an individual’s behavior, I’m struck by the ways that production diversity consistently translates into dietary diversity, and why home gardens are so critical in this effort. An opening paragraph in this study reads: “Overall, they find evidence that agricultural development programs that promote production diversity, micronutrient-rich crops (including biofortified crops), dairy, or small animal rearing can improve the production and consumption of targeted commodities, and some evidence that such improvements lead to increases in dietary diversity at the household and sometimes the maternal and child level.”
Protein has been mentioned already, and of course is very important. Are there key micronutrients of concern in the communities you work with, that you are aware of?
4 Likes
Could not agree more this is a very important topic to discuss about. Zinc and iron deficiency are some concerns too. Wish to join the discussion
1 Like
Putting my name here so I get pinged.
@Kate_Daley thanks for the story to accompany
as small thoughts, I would suggest that reintroduction of vegetables starts with plants have have known benefits, used as medicine. Its not a big jump to say X controls my blood sugar and its “free to me.” and other plant uses following.
Use that foot in the door to remind people of their grandma and grandpa’s generation. The nostalgia and desire to return I think is a powerful tool. We’ve also seen in our area breastfeeding vs commercial replacer has an incredibly powerful comparison – makes me angry the greed we see playing out. I would say its a related microcosom.
1 Like
Hi Joel, In Cuba there is widespread use of natural medicine - doctors write scripts for chemicals or flowers! The problem principally is that Cubans are by preferance carnivores and don’t think vegetables are really food.
Kate Daley Cuba Beyond the Beaches Tours www.realcubaonline.com Real Cuba Jaguey
Tel in Cuba 53-22-659320
One strategy that often works when presenting a new idea is to start with what people already do and go from there. So what kinds of plants do Cubans use in the dishes they make? We lived in the Dominican Republic for 9 nine years and ate standard Dominican lunches most days. Typically there were salads of tomatoes and cabbage or lettuce, with a little grated carrot in there. In terms of the seasonings, the women who usually made our midday meal were open to including garlic chives as part of the seasoning. Throwing leafy greens into a meat sauce was also not a hard sell.
I also lived and worked in Haiti for seven years, “full time” and for about four years coming and going between the DR and Haiti. Haiti was easy because family already eat a diversity of greens. There it was a matter of intensifying the production and presenting a few additional options. Moringa was easy to promote in Haiti because it has gotten a lot of press internationally and they already used it occasionally as medicine/food. We were living in the DR when we heard that Fidel Castro was promoting moringa in Cuba and that made it wildly popular for a while in the DR.
Do people have a cow or a goat or a few sheep that they raise as a source of income for emergencies? Most of the leaves that are super nutritious for people are also super helpful with animal production. Cows, goats and sheep can benefit from eating things like moringa. Offspring often develop more rapidly and therefore reach market weights more quickly when their mothers are eating highly nutritious leaves. This is not a guaranteed connection between agriculture and human nutrition, but it is a way to validate the ways that people already feed themselves while offering small but significant and persistent improvements.
1 Like
Thanks, Rebecca, for this topic. It’s an excellent discussion. And thank you for the .pdf article. There is also this article by #Cecilia Gonzalez about linkages between agriculture and nutrition:
1 Like
Excellent blog post. Agriculture and nutrition imply so much!
1 Like
The farming passes to the eaters and the nutrition of those eaters is what gives motivation to farmers. I see the two aspects integrally linked. Good idea and I am waiting to see what others might share.
I have been working with “Mother Child Nutrition” in northern Cameroun. Also researching the Sao kingdom and what they ate to become so incredibly big people.
Marian in Garoua north Cameroun
3 Likes
I’d like to be in on this converstiaon in the future.
I work with a community of smallholder farmers in the high Andes of southern Ecuador. They say La salud es el mejor negocio.” Health is the best business. They intend their crops for local consumption to insure a strong and healthy community. They have a nutrition education program in the elementary schools that they call “Niños Saludables y Futuro Saludable” Healthy Children, Healthy Future. The purpose is to continue the traditional foods based on amaranth, quinua, potatoes, and others, as well as developing new recipes for the community. Farming for the enrichment of diets for local wellbeing.
2 Likes
What a great motto, Alan! ‘Health is the best business’. If the community would be interested in sharing any of their print resources through ECHOcommunity to benefit others, we’d be honored to consider how we could facilitate that. Thanks for sharing your experience! Do other network members have thoughts on Human Nutrition mindsets that can contribute to the conversation?
1 Like
Hello Friends. I wanted to share this recent publication from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. The research is led by an organization ECHO has had the privilege of partnering with, the Mayan Health Alliance. You may already be aware of their excellent work.
https://www-sciencedirect-com.libezproxy2.syr.edu/science/article/pii/S2212267221002306
Making the links between human nutrition and agriculture may seem intuitive and obvious, but I’ve found that in practice it’s not always so simple. I’d love to hear anyone’s reflections on this research.
In this project they compared two groups of families where children were experiencing stunting. The first group received a “standard care” intervention, provided by the Guatemalan government, which included supplementation, home nutrition visits, and nutrition education. The second group received the same, but also received home garden training.
In comparing the two groups the family that received the garden training had improved dietary diversity and decreased food security (the findings were not statistically significant).
This made me wonder if any ECHO community members are using measurements to assess diet within the communities they work with. If so, what are they?
3 Likes
A fantastic issue for discussion and one that Food Plant Solutions (who I represent) is focused on. From our experience we have found that there is often a disconnect between nutrition and agriculture. Ask any agronomist what the nutritional value of the food plants they grow is, and most (if not all), will not be able to answer you. Likewise, ask a nutrition specialist how to sustainably grow nutritious plants and often they may not be able to answer you. Contrary to popular belief, there is a wealth of edible food plants in the world, over 32,000. Each country has hundred, (some have thousands) of edible plants know to grow there. And yet, worldwide we only eat a small portion of these.
We create educational materials that identify local food plants for a country or region that are high in the most beneficial nutrients (Iron, Zinc, Protein, Vit A, Vit C) and we include starchy staples. Our materials explain how to grow these plants, what parts are edible, photos, how to use the parts and nutritional information. We also include information on sustainable and ecologically sound growing practices.
Food Plant Solutions never sends people to a country, instead linking in with existing providers - they best know their communities and how to empower them. Changing diet is difficult and it’s a world-wide issue. We have found through our program partners that most parents want what is best for their children. And most will be doing what they think is best. Using our materials, in-country organisations explain what nutritious food is, why human bodies need it (and how they use it) and then what to grow and eat that will meet nutritional needs. Our materials are science based (our information comes from Bruce French’s Edible Plants of the World Database), and all materials are written in plain English. There are various levels of materials that are suited to varying degrees of literacy.
This approach is gradual but is proven to work, Many people now want quick fixes to everything; a supplement (as an example) for things missing from the diet. That only provides a short-term answer. What happens when the supplement is ceased, has the participants learnt anything that will enable them and their families to prosper in years to come? Our approach is long-term and sustainable.
All our materials are available free from our website www.foodplantsolutions.org or of course through ECHO.
3 Likes
I’m not sure how I missed this important discussion. I’m Stacia Nordin, a Registered Dietitian working on environment, culture, and agriculture through permaculture design in Malawi since 1997. I met ECHO in 2013 because of nutrition.
I have caught up on a year of your posts and connect with so many - its a whole food system that needs to shift - not just the raising or processing or eating - all of it!
I cringe when I hear ‘Nutrition-Sensitive Agriculture’ and think - Absolutely NOT! Agriculture is the primary source of our nutrition and should not be relegated to something merely sensitive. Sensitive sounds secondary. The Lancet’s health centric research approach took us in a wrong direction when they divided up nutrition into specific and sensitive. It’s ok for research but not ok for life. We need language and actions that put nutrition central to our agriculture and food systems. What we say, and how we frame things, does matter.
For me the heart of the matter is mindset. I am disappointed at the way organisations promote their own species in foreign lands instead of celebrating and raising the status of indigenous foods. I am also dismayed about bio-fortification and fortification; seeds do not need to change - people and systems need to change. Organizations keep developing approaches that avoid the root causes of the issues instead of working on the issues.
Sure, it isn’t easy, it takes working closely with people, starting with them where they are (as Mark raises), but the excitement on health food systems for people, environment and economy is infectious and does grow. Joel touches on this with the point on nostalgia.
I"m heartened at the strategies I read in your posts on improving eating habits and the Rotary example I’d never heard of. I got on their site and downloaded resources and contacted them already. My work is most like yours and I can’t believe we’ve not yet met!
I have a few hats as a Dietitian and Permaculturists.
Our Permaculture home is open to anyone to visit and we regularly get groups coming to learn about sustainable design. We wrote a book with the World Food Programme titled the Sustainable Nutrition Manual which is in its second edition. It focuses on learning about why to eat healthy and then how to eat healthy using sustainable design. There are 600 foods highlighted in the books (Plants, trees, fungi, animals, and insects).
http://www.NeverEndingFood.org/Sustainable-Nutrition-Manual
I currently work with University of Illinois on the Feed the Future Strengthening Agricultural and Nutrition Extension activity - we are just wrapping up 5 years of work. We maintain a dropbox of resources from our work as well as what we’ve collected along our learning journey: USAID-funded Feed the Future Malawi Strengthening Agricultural & Nutrition Extension (SANE) Agriculture Extension Resources (inclusive of Nutrition, Environment, Gender and COVID-19),
Looking forward to interacting with you all!
5 Likes
Stacia, I am delighted to meet you.
Karalyn Hingston, great to hear from you here!
Thank you for your post, Stacia. I am new to this field, but very interested in learning. I currently have a project underway with Food Plant Solutions for Togo, so that is how Karalyn and I are acquainted! We met by God’s grace, and through His plan, I am sure.
I would be delighted to check out the book you referenced, the Sustainable Nutrition Manual. And I will check out your Dropbox resources. Thank you so much!
1 Like
I’m not sure how I missed this important discussion. I’m Stacia Nordin, a Registered Dietitian working on environment, culture, and agriculture through permaculture design in Malawi since 1997. I met ECHO in 2013 because of nutrition.
I have caught up on a year of your posts and connect with so many - its a whole food system that needs to shift - not just the raising or processing or eating - all of it!
I cringe when I hear ‘Nutrition-Sensitive Agriculture’ and think - Absolutely NOT! Agriculture is the primary source of our nutrition and should not be relegated to something merely sensitive. Sensitive sounds secondary. The Lancet’s health centric research approach took us in a wrong direction when they divided up nutrition into specific and sensitive. It’s ok for research but not ok for life. We need language and actions that put nutrition central to our agriculture and food systems. What we say, and how we frame things, does matter.
For me the heart of the matter is mindset. I am disappointed at the way organisations promote their own species in foreign lands instead of celebrating and raising the status of indigenous foods. I am also dismayed about bio-fortification and fortification; seeds do not need to change - people and systems need to change. Organizations keep developing approaches that avoid the root causes of the issues instead of working on the issues.
Sure, it isn’t easy, it takes working closely with people, starting with them where they are (as Mark raises), but the excitement on health food systems for people, environment and economy is infectious and does grow. Joel touches on this with the point on nostalgia.
I"m heartened at the strategies I read in your posts on improving eating habits and the Rotary example I’d never heard of. I got on their site and downloaded resources and contacted them already. My work is most like yours and I can’t believe we’ve not yet met!
I have a few hats as a Dietitian and Permaculturists.
Our Permaculture home is open to anyone to visit and we regularly get groups coming to learn about sustainable design. We wrote a book with the World Food Programme titled the Sustainable Nutrition Manual which is in its second edition. It focuses on learning about why to eat healthy and then how to eat healthy using sustainable design. There are 600 foods highlighted in the books (Plants, trees, fungi, animals, and insects).
http://www.NeverEndingFood.org/Sustainable-Nutrition-Manual
I currently work with University of Illinois on the Feed the Future Strengthening Agricultural and Nutrition Extension activity - we are just wrapping up 5 years of work. We maintain a dropbox of resources from our work as well as what we’ve collected along our learning journey: USAID-funded Feed the Future Malawi Strengthening Agricultural & Nutrition Extension (SANE) Agriculture Extension Resources (inclusive of Nutrition, Environment, Gender and COVID-19),
Looking forward to interacting with you all!
3 Likes
Dear Stacia, I completely concur with your statement, particularly the paragraph about being dismayed at those who bring in seeds from the outside without taking the Indigenous seeds seriously. I also am wary of biofortification when native seeds can provide sufficient nutrition as they are.
1 Like
I am a missionary agriculturalist working in South Sudan. If you are working with permaculture designs you need to connect with Roland Bunch in Malawi. I am planning a trip to Malawi myself to work with Roland. There are few people who understand how to maximize a permaculture design for a given environment and so you see little adoption/diffusion in Africa. Roland has been able to achieve remarkable adoption/diffusion. FMNR has many limitations but Roland’s systems of perennial legume intercropping or green manure cover cropping do not have these limitations and is suitable for widespread application. There are a lot of socio-economic factors that must be addressed that create barriers to rapid development or prosperity. High-value crops are key to increasing income and broadening the diet. Higher income leads to more time to study nutrition and make more wise life choices that reduce risks. I commonly teach the local people to try to include as many of the edible weeds in the diet (even dried in the shade for year-round consumption) and try to take as many of the vegetables to the market as possible to increase income and then later in a few years there are more options due to income savings and reinvestment. I could help you with some designs for permaculture that are most likely to have broad application. I did a great deal of research on alley cropping and living fences and also am researching tiered vegetable production (differential use of light resources) and planting at higher density at the edges of beds (reorienting taller vegetables to a slight angle) and capturing more light between beds.
I think we need to take into consideration taste. Studies show that people are more healthy and eat more fruits and vegetables when they find they look appealing and they like the taste. I used to work for a Buy Local initiative and the people I worked with were a little “nuts”. They told me that they expected people to eat out of the freezer in the winter than buy something imported from another country. Can you imagine a child having more healthy eating habits if it has some choices or if he only has the thawed things from the freezer option? I don’t think it makes too much difference where we take important vegetables as long as they fit the climate. People have been moving around the vegetables and fruits for thousands of years, even very long distances and even across the oceans and so most things produced have no connection to being of local origin. What you think is a local vegetable may not be a local vegetable from that location of origin and many species are naturalized from other areas at some point in the past or at some point in the past a culture brought in a highly selected form and it degraded to the local weed. Amaranth is a blessing to all who need a complete protein and trying to grow a vegetable in a rainfed environment. Just because the amaranth is not native does not mean that another local native vegetable is better. There is nothing more “biofortification” about a native plant in general than a plant brought from another location. Everything must be evaluated on very specific criteria that probably has little to do with origin but sometimes a local weedy species that is related may give some indication of how the more highly selected vegetable will perform. However then you may have problems of that being a host for a disease that may be problematic or cross polinate and cause drift in maintaining a good seed line.
1 Like