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In the last few years, there has been heightened interest in leveraging agriculture to maximize nutrition impact. Many development institutions have published guidance notes about linking agriculture and nutrition, mainly intended to assist programme planners to understand and implement the linkages. Several other institutions have released public statements of their own approach to maximize nutrition impact through agricultural programmes. Development institutions have also sponsored literature reviews, community dialogue and research programmes to investigate the best strategies based on evidence and experience.
This synthesis aims to provide an updated and complete list of current guidance, institutional strategies and other publications released by international development institutions and inter-agency UN bodies on maximizing nutrition impact through agriculture, and provides a summary of the key messages currently available. The purpose of this paper is to provide accessible information on what the international development community is saying on this topic, to underscore key points of emerging consensus and to expose differences that may be potentially confusing to implementers or which offer opportunities for further refinement of guidance and strategies. The main audience is country-level policy-makers and programme planners; a secondary audience is the international development community, which has an opportunity to amplify key messages that have been voiced independently by separate institutions. In alignment with the Rome Principles (2009), this synthesis helps to foster strategic coordination among institutions and to strive for comprehensive, sustainable agricultural, food security, nutrition and rural development programmes.