Forum global sur la sécurité alimentaire et la nutrition (Forum FSN)

Author of submission (name, surname, position, organization)

Naira Harutyuyan, PhD, Lecturer, Yerevan Haybusak University, Yerevan, Armenia

Title of your example

Sustainable School Feeding in Armenia

Theme

School food and nutrition programs linked to the agricultural sector

Date, location and geographic scope of your example (regional, sub-regional, national, local)

• Location: Armenia
• Date: started in 2010. There are plans to scaleup it to a national program by 2030
• Geographical scope: regional and national. It started as a regional program for three marzes/regions (Syunik, Vayots Dzor and Ararat) out of total ten in Armenia, currently aiming to become a nationwide program because of a success.  

Main responsible entity(ies) for the implementation of your example

• Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Armenia is an initiative partner (Armenia). It is a State executive body, which develops and implements state policy of the Government of Armenia in the sphere of education and science. Main activities: Development of long-term and medium-term public education development programs, their monitoring and evaluation. Development and organization of the implementation of programs of international cooperation in the field of education. Implementation of the budget process in the field of Education and Science
• Social and Industrial Food Services Institute (SIFI), non-governmental organization, is the lead applicant (Russia). SIFI works on the research of different problems concerned to feeding in different industries, development and implementation of comprehensive (social) feeding systems, with respect to industrial specification and questions of food products quality and safety, development of different concepts, programs, standards and methodologies. SIFI is actively cooperating with international organizations to carry out activities on food security on behalf of the Russian Federation, which will remain at the core of the multilateral politics in the foreseeable perspective and continue to play a prominent role in shaping international agenda.
•  World Food Programme (WFP) is an initiative partner that provides operational and technical support to the program (Italy). WFP is the food-assistance branch of the United Nations and the world's largest humanitarian organization addressing hunger and promoting food security 

Key objectives and implementation approach of your example (approximately 600 words)

The Sustainable School Feeding Programme objective are:

• to provide nutrition balanced feeding for primary school children in most vulnerable and food insecure regions in Armenia;
• to increase marketing opportunities at national level with cost-effective local purchases;
• to improve data collection on attendance and enrolment in the country in order to optimize the costing structure of the school feeding programmes.
• to support the design of a sustainable and affordable national school feeding policy and programme embedded in national priorities and budgets.

Funding and technical assistance of your example (approximately 200 words)

• As of September 2017, 96% of the requirement are confirmed with funds from :

• The Russian Federation: USD 28.5 million (94% of the requirement).
• The Government of Armenia: USD 0.18 million (0.6% of the requirement).
• Private donors: USD 0.13 million (0.4% of the requirement).
• Multilateral donor assistance: USD 0.1 million (0.3% of the requirement).
• Other sources: USD 0.24 million (0.7% of the requirement).

• WFP and NGO Social and Industrial Food Services Institute (SIFI) provide operational and technical assistance to the Government to establish the foundations for a sustainable home-grown national school feeding programme.

Key stakeholders involved. Describe the cross-sectoral coordination mechanism of your example, if any (approximately 300 words)

• Ministry of Education
• Local Authorities
• School administration
• the World Food Programme (WFP)
• The Russian Federation as a main donor that provided financial assistance
• Local food suppliers
• Local people working as employees
• Parents

How your example addresses food security and nutrition challenges. Describe linkages to social protection policies / school food programs / sustainable food systems (approximately 600 words)

After the global crisis of 2008, Armenia has experienced significant recession and suffered decline in GDP and rise of food and fuel prices. As a result, 50 percent of families had to buy cheaper products and cut their food consumption; 25 percent of families had to buy their food on credit and ask relatives for help; 5 percent of families limited the amount consumed by their adult members to allow small children to eat. Furthermore, more than 10 percent of students started to skip school more often, due to the need to work at home and help their parents. This resulted in food emergency, especially for schoolchildren in the remote regions and budgetary pressure on safety net expenditure. The urgency was matured to prevent food and nutrition crisis of children through implementation of school feeding programme.

In 2010, the World Food Programme with the financial support of the Russian Federation launched “Development of Sustainable School Feeding” Programme to assist the government of Armenia to mitigate economic crisis impacts on children by enhancing their food and nutrition status through school meals. The program entailed initial transition period of three years to assist schoolchildren in the three most vulnerable and food insecure marzes/regions: Syunik, Vayots Dzor and Ararat.  During the pilot period, the project did not cover all schools in the target regions, but prioritized those in the most food insecure areas within these regions which were characterised by high levels of unemployment and food insecure populations. In case of success the programme was supposed to be enlarged into other regions and further to involve senior school students as well.  Thus, in 2014, a gradual handover of the programme started to the Armenian Government that took responsibility to ensure the base funding of school feeding with estimated cost of AMD140 per student per day to provide 280 kcal/day. Today, the national school feeding programme covers the provinces of Tavush, Vayots Dzor, Syunik and Ararat, providing school meals to 29000 primary children amounting to about one third of the total number of primary school students in the country.  Next in the row are the provinces of Shirak and Aragatsotn.

The programme also entails renovation of school kitchen infrastructure, developing of local agriculture and food processing and job creation. Proposed project will fully align with the Governmental efforts on provision of locally produced food for school feeding in the proposed regions. 

During the transition period two models of school meals were introduced: 1) Hot meal for schools that meet standards; and 2) School milk, snacks or fruit bars for schools that did not have the minimum facilities required for the provision of hot meals until they could upgrade their kitchen facilities. In general, school students receive six to eight different food items that make up nutritious and tasty meals. During the 2016 Global Child Nutrition Forum in Yerevan, the participant of the Forum from all over the world had a chance to visit some of the schools and taste themselves the school meals. Schools also conduct various initiatives such as interactive games with children to train them on healthy eating and hygiene.

The program also targeted strengthening governmental capacity to develop a national school meals policy. In 2013 the Government of Armenia adopted the Strategy of Sustainable School Feeding elaborated under the programme.  

The School Feeding Programme has a local food purchase approach and emphasizes nutrition, social protection and links with smallholder farmers. This enables to enhance the overall food security status on the country level. Thus, the long-term advantages of the project include increase of access to education, improvement of health and nutrition of school-age children as well as improvement of social and economic development of the country.

Overall, the intended nationalization of the project will help more children to exercise their rights to nutrition, health and education, which contributes directly to at least nine Sustainable Development Goals and is also aligned with the priorities of the 2014–2025 Armenia Development Strategy — human capital development and improvement of social protection. The Programme complements to the achievement of the UN World Food Programme Strategic Goal 4 - Reduce chronic hunger and malnutrition - and Strategic Goal 5 - Increase the capacity of countries to reduce hunger, including through hand-over strategies and local purchase. Moreover, the National School Feeding program complements governmental reforms in sphere of school programs, which makes the whole program an integral part of a wider social protection policy.

What are the elements needed for the practice to be institutionally, socially, economically and environmentally resilient and/or sustainable? (approximately 500 words)

• Stepby-step design incorporating a transition period of the project started as a pilot with a limited geographical coverage (3 marzes out of 10) and a prospect of scalingup to other marzes in case of pilot success and capacity building for handing-over to the Government to administer further.
• Handover and financial sustainability were envisaged by the incremental implementation plan with preparatory initial period (2013) when the project was implemented by WFP, implementation period (20142021) with participation of the Government with limited support from external donors and independent implementation in the long-term perspective by the Government using the internal resources of the Government budget and the resources of internal donors.

• Political commitment on highest governmental level from the very beginning of the project was a key for getting the things started, ensuring the success of implementation and safeguarding the sustainability of the programme.

• National school feeding policy that was designed and is in the process of further development with national food security priorities and budget allocations.
• Stakeholder cooperation: the program brought together school directors, local authorities, parents, local farmers and national authorities. More active involvement of parent councils was highlighted. Parents' visits to schools became more frequent, keeping children's needs in focus and strengthening parentschool relations. Their closer ties with the project resulted in improved community contributions, which enabled the purchase of additional food items such as meat once or twice a month, and for the purchase of complementary non-food items. Communities contributed with cash, food and voluntary work contributing to better implementation of school meals. Contributing to the sustainability of the project, school gardens cultivated with support from parents and the wider community complemented the children's diets with vegetables and fruit, enriching and diversifying school meals.
• Replication: national and international. The program formed the basis for nationalization.  The Armenian experience can be regarded as an interesting practice to be studies for replicating nationally, regionally and globally, particularly in former Soviet countries that share a common context and struggle with common issues.

The impact of your example on national policies and people’s lives. What indicators have been used to measure it? (approximately 400 words)

• As of September 2017, the WFP handed-over the implementation of School Feeding Program in four marzes/regions: Syunik, Vayots Dzor, Ararat and Tavush to the Government of Armenia. As a result, about 29,000 schoolchildren get school meals are under the direct management of the Government in these four marzes.
• Currently, 89,000 schoolchildren of 1-4 grades in 900 selected schools every day have got hot meals, such as a variety of soups, cereals, pasta, pilafs, salads, cheese and other vitamin rich food in all the provinces of Armenia.  About 30% of the total number of primary school students benefit from school feeding under the governmental support in four marzes.  The remaining 60,000 are supported by WFP in six marzes.

• School meals (hot meals, milk or fortified fruit bars) are provided five days a week over the 180-day school year.  The daily food ration comprises of wheat flour, buckwheat, rice, pasta, vegetable oil, pulses with total of 700 kcal/day. Foods are used on an alternating or rotational basis to ensure nutritional variety. The base daily diet of the limited school milk pilot project (outside hot meal model) included 160 ml of hot milk and 60g of biscuits or buns. To ensure diversity of the diet, children will be provided with alternative food items including milk with cocoa, kefir, yogurt and juice.

• The programme included a food-for-work component that  provided family food (take-home) entitlements to 1,700 for school kitchen women helpers who were involved in the daily preparation of the meals and received a family food ration (estimated for five members per family) as compensation for their work preparing the meals. This measure ceased in 2014 when the porgramme was handed over to the Armenian Government that launched the use of cash or vouchers to pay for the kitchen helpers.

• Financial burden: a sum of AMD 140 from the state budget is daily allocated for each child. AMD 120 are allocated for food,  AMD 10 to pay kitchen helpers’ salaries, and AMD10 for other costs including implementation of sanitary norms, utility expenses and transportation.
• According to estimates, the resultant return of USD 7.1 for each dollar invested in school feeding in Armenia is significantly higher than the global average of USD 5.5.
• Shift to cash transfers enabled local retailers to increase their sales up to 10%.
• Job creation for school feed program for local people: cookers, farmers, creation of school canteen network.
• School directors enlarged the impact by developing school gardens to provide fresh vegetable and fruits. Some schools plan to build greenhouses for enhancing the sustainability of fresh food supply chain of their school feeding systems.
• On December 27, 2012 the Government of Armenia adopted the Concept of Sustainable School Feeding Program developed by the Ministry of Education of Armenia with the support of Russian experts (Governmental decision of 27 December 2012 № 52). In accordance with the Concept the Government of Armenia for the first time in modern history provides for in the budget about 3 million USD for the school feeding programme budgeting in 2013 – 2016. 
• The Sustainable School Feeding Development Strategy and Action plan were developed and adopted by the Government of Armenia Governmental decision of 22 August 2013 № 33.
• A national Inter-Ministerial Committee has been established to coordinate school feeding. At the beginning, it was chaired by the Deputy Minister of Education and set up of the senior officials and technical staff from the Ministries of Education and Science, Labour and Social Affairs, and Agriculture. In December 2013, the initial coordination body was replaced by a School Feeding Inter-Ministerial Committee (SFIMC) including the representatives of the Ministries of Education and Science, Territorial Management, Healthcare, and Agriculture, along with WFP and SIFI.
• According to the statement of the Minister of Education of Armenia, there are expectations to scale-up the program to cover all the marzes and include senior school children as well. Thus, the program will enlarge both horizontally and vertically.

Key lessons (positive and negative) that can be learned from your example and how gaps, obstacles and any other adverse conditions were addressed (approximately 600 words)

Success factors and lessons learned

• When integrating school feeding programs into national policy, the costs and uncertainty of programme success are the most important considerations. Diversification of funding from variety of sources can reduce risks and fear of failure at the beginning of the project. Hence, a pool of expertise and commitment (financial or in-kind) can reduce risk perception and increase the political willingness to start and get deeper in case of success. With this respect, even though the food purchase is the main cost driver in the school feeding programme, the Donor assistance is crucial and effective when it mitigates the heavy burden of high fixed cost related with initial stage of program such as renovation of facilities and installation of new equipment. Indeed, a key precondition for implementation of the program in schools was the existence of kitchens in proper state and maintenance of sanitary norms. The school feeding programme succeeded in development of basic documents in field of school feeding and modernization of feeding in educational institutions based on modern technologies of production and delivery of food.
• Ownership and control of those who are engaged it the program on daily basis is important for school feeding programme success. The project leadership by the Armenian Government appeared to be limited. Although the School Feeding Inter-Ministerial Committee has contributed to the development of a National School Feeding Strategy, it was not involved in hands-on school feeding activities. This limited its capacity to independently implement and monitor a national school feeding programme. Moreover, at the provincial level, in some cases local authorities also were not directly involved in the day-to-day operationalizing of school feeding activities even though the organization of school meals is under the control of councils of provinces. At the same time, head teachers play a major role in the implementation of school feeding activities at school level, in close cooperation with parent-teacher committees. All head teachers met by the evaluation team showed a high level of dedication to feeding schoolchildren but some of them claimed that it was an additional burden to their regular duties.
• An important lesson learned was to create a well-designed handover strategy for shifting from the international assistance to the nationally-owned school feeding program implementation with ensured sustained progress and quality in line with the country context and constraints. In the Armenian case, the first handover was done too early and expeditiously which required WFP to cover gaps in capacity and build support to the national school feeding programme throughout the year. The transition from donor implementer to government ownership is a complex process that takes many years to complete. A rapid exit from external assistance without the adequate mechanism in place can result in either the failure of the national school feeding programme or its poor quality. A long-term strategy with thoughtful transitional model is important for enhancing government capacity to finance and manage the programme. There would be a need for comprehensive trainings, the renovation of key infrastructure and furnishing the schools with modern kitchen equipment, the creation of synergies among partners, and proper monitoring assistance even beyond the transition stage to ensure a durable quality. Hence, the school feeding programme continues to be supported by WFP over the next few years before the government takes over full responsibility for school feeding activities.
• Stage-by-stage approach can be an effective strategy to follow when introducing a school feed program with a perspective of making it a large-scale nation-wide initiative. The transitional/pilot projects help to identify the drawbacks and benefits of preliminary plans, make adjustments and improve the immunity of the program operations and scale-up in the long-run.  Moreover, the success of the transition/pilot project strengthens the political will to take-over the program and find the ways of budget funding for the school feeding.  In the Armenian case the success of transition period and the lessoned learned from the failures reinforced the plans to expand the program not only vertically to other regions but also horizontally, by including the senior school students into the school meal program. But the financial sustainability may remain the key challenge for the scale-up.
• According to the plan from the National School Feeding Strategy, starting in 2016 the ‘Sustainable School Feeding Project’ will be scaled up and implemented by the Government with limited support from external donors. Considering the country’s recent economic situation and trends, and the demonstrated limited financial capacity of the Government regarding school feeding activities, there is a high uncertainty regarding the feasibility and sustainability of this plan up to 2021.

Further actions for improvement

• The key element of the school feeding program is the establishment of the school feeding operational mechanism as an interconnected system that impacts the development of agricultural and industrial complex, small business, health and education in food insecure countries. It is quite important that the donor and government assistance programs promote establishing sustainable national systems of local agricultural food production in quantity, variety and quality necessary for vulnerable population security. In the Armenian case, most of the food was purchased internationally in the donor country. The only exception was dried fruit, which was purchased locally for the production of fruit bars by a local Armenian company. Based on the this experience, a need was observed to introduce donor assistance reforms that would put more effort for promoting more local product use in their programs rather than importing the products. The school feed procurement projects need to incorporate more emphasis on integrating the local food systems throughout the whole food chain. Even though some attempts are done, they are not sufficient.  The donor assistance programs, especially the large ones, need to be better tailored with local development plans and modify their purchasing guidelines, for example, by imposing quotas for purchasing local products in their large-scale long-run projects, instead of importing them, especially in the case when the products are available locally. On the condition of long-term contracts local production capacities could be developed to provide sufficient volumes locally. This will reduce import and increase food security system nationwide.
• Regulations and/or guidelines can help to promote procurement from local small/holder farmers. For example, in Brazil, the School Feeding Law stipulates mandatory to use at least 30% of federal funds for the purchase of food from smallholder farmers. Smallholder farmers have very limited capacity to participate in catering bids, thus remaining, outside the procurement system. The school feed programs that have created local demand for food, can play important platform for settling and spreading the practice of pro-smallholder procurement on a small-scale. Among the key challenges in the efforts to increase locally grown component is the task of balancing the cost-efficient procurement with smallholder farmer involvement, and this is where the donor support can direct its efforts.

Sources and/ or additional background material (please provide weblinks when possible or send the material to [email protected])

1) WFP hands over the implementation of the School Feeding Program in Tavush province to the Government of Armenia. URL: http://www.un.am/en/news/625

2) Meal Deal: Education minister calls for continuation, expansion of school feeding program in Armenia. URL: https://www.armenianow.com/en/society/education/2016/05/25/armenia-educ…

3) Food Security and the School Feeding System: experience of the Russian Federation. URL: http://old.minfin.ru/en/financial_affairs/Dev_Assis/concept_rus/index.p…

Автор, предоставивший информацию (имя, фамилия, должность, организация)

Кадыркулов Нурлан Маратович, Генеральный менеджер, ОсОО «ЭкоАгро»

Заголовок вашего примера

Разработка и эффективность применения органических удобрений при возделывании сельскохозяйственных культур в Кыргызстане

Тематика

• Устойчивые продовольственные системы для обеспечения улучшения питания;

Дата, место и географический охват вашего примера (региональный, субрегиональный, национальный, местный)

С 2014 года по настоящее время.

Место производства: Чуйская область.

Охват: Чуйская область, Жалал-Абадская область и Ошская область

Основной(-ые) ответственный(-ые) субъект(-ы) для реализации вашего примера

ОсОО «ЭкоАгро»

Основные цели и подход к реализации вашего примера

 - Продовольственная безопасность Кыргызской Республики и далее в масштабах региона. Переработка отходов животноводства.

 - Разработка, производство и внедрение органических удобрений

 - Повышение и восстановление плодородия, борьба с эрозией почвы

 - Обеспечение населения экологически чистой продукцией

Компания «ЭкоАгро» основана в 2014 году, занимается производством и реализацией органических удобрений, под зарегистрированной торговой маркой «Bio+», производится по новейшим технологиям.

Удобрения, производимые нашей компанией под торговой маркой «Bio+» являются 100% органическими, где содержатся необходимые для растений и почв микро и макро элементы, что способствует восстановлению плодородного слоя почвы.

Наша продукция сертифицирована и отмечена дипломами и наградами отраслевых международных выставок. Продукция фасуется в удобную для потребителя и транспортировку тару, разного объема.

Здоровье человека напрямую зависит от качества сельскохозяйственных продуктов, которые, в свою очередь, зависят от биологически чистой почвы.

— Мы производим БИО удобрения для  выращивания органической продукции как  в теплицах так и в полевых условиях.

— Мы внедряем новейшие БИО технологии и пропагандируем здоровое питание.

— Мы предлагаем здоровое питание. Качество продукции должно быть ВЫСОКОГО качества.

— Все наши продукты подвергаются постоянному контролю, цель которого – гарантировать их полезность и стабильные полезные характеристики.

Основой нашего проекта является принцип социальной ответственности перед обществом и будущими поколениями.

Финансирование и техническая поддержка в вашем примере

Финансирование осуществляется из средств акционеров ОсОО «ЭкоАгро».

В разработке био удобрения принимали участие и внесли свой вклад местные и иностранные профессора и консультанты в области сельского хозяйства.

Основные вовлечённые заинтересованные стороны. Опишите межсекторальный механизм координации вашего примера, если таковой имел место

Тесно сотрудничаем с Департаментом химизации и защиты растений при Министерстве сельского хозяйства и мелиорации Кыргызской Республики

Фермеры Кыргызской Республики были вовлечены при проведении полевых испытаний с применением наших био удобрений, при возделывании различных сельскохозяйственных культур.

Как ваш пример касается проблем продовольственной безопасности и питания? Опишите взаимосвязь с мерами политики по социальной защите / программами школьного питания / устойчивыми продовольственными системами 

            Наш проект направлен именно для решения проблем продовольственной безопасности региона, путем применения органических удобрений при выращивании сельскохозяйственных культур, которые позволяют улучшить урожайность и получить экологически чистые, здоровые продукты, без содержания нитратов и других опасных  веществ и повышения урожайности.

             Проведенная научно-исследовательская работа под руководством заведующего лабораторией биотехнологии растений Кыргызского национального аграрного университета Загурского А.В. и сотрудников лаборатории, а также совместно с работниками компании «ЭкоАгро» с привлечением местных и иностранных профессоров и консультантов в области сельского хозяйства позволили получить эффективные органические удобрения, такие как биогумус, жидкие, сухие сыпучие и гранулированные удобрения, полученные путем переработки навоза КРС и птичьего помета, которые показали положительное влияние их на урожай и качество производимой продукции в различных регионах Кыргызстана.

             В рамках нашего проекта был проведен анализ состояния плодородия почвы сельскохозяйственных угодий Кыргызстана, и по подсчетам специалистов установлено, что 88% признаны деградированными и подверженными опустыниванию, на которых невозможно получение полноценных урожаев сельскохозяйственных культур высокого качества. Эту проблему можно решить путем перехода на органическое земледелие, обеспечив фермеров высокоэффективными и недорогими органическими удобрениями.

              В настоящее время многие фермеры в качестве органического удобрения используют не переработанный навоз, что связано с необходимостью внесения его в большом количестве. При этом происходит засорение полей семенами сорных растений и патогенной микрофлорой, вызывающие заболевание растений, кроме того питательные вещества в навозе малодоступны для растения.

Не возможно говорить о качественном продукте если многие с/з продукты содержат в себе превышаемое выше нормы,  количество нитратов.

Какие элементы необходимы для того, чтобы практика была институционально, социально, экономически и экологически надежна и/или устойчива? 

Экология начинается с самих себя.  

Поддержка и понимание населения о качественном продукте.

 Здоровый народ-здоровое питание, не пустой лозунг.

Поддержка со стороны Государственных органов о важности здорового питания.

Качественный продукт не может быть получен из продуктов с высоким содержанием нитратов. Экологически чистое удобрение и есть основа для получения, чистого, безвредного, полезного продукта, отсюда и требования ко многим продуктам а также к детскому питанию.

Также начиная с 2014 по 2017 год, компания ЭкоАгро провела порядка 50 семинаров на темы: что такое органическое сельское хозяйство, как вырастить экологическую чистую продукцию, что такое компост и как его приготовить, методы применения органических удобрений. (многие семинары проводились в полевых условия с демонстрацией на местах)

Влияние вашего примера на национальную политику и жизнь людей. Какие индикаторы использовались для оценки? 

       Фермеры Кыргызстана, где проводись полевые испытания и были проведены обучающиеся семинары, отмечают важность продолжения данной темы.

Как уже отмечалось, многие почвы теряют гумусный (плодородный) слой, в итоге происходит истощение почв, смываются необходимые элементы для роста растений, подверженность растений к разного вида болезням, что влечёт за собой понижение урожайности и имеет место быть низкое качество сельхоз продуктов.

Нет анализа рынка и понимания, какой именно продукт и в каком колличестве следует засевать в том или ином году,

 нет чёткой стратегии по сбыту выращенной продукции,

в какие рынки сбывать,

 в какие торговые сети поставлять,

 не проработан вопрос по каким требованиям необходимо поставлять продукцию, вопрос тары  упаковки,

по перечню необходимых документов нужна консультацию непосредственно фермерам и поставщикам.

Общая ценовая политика.

 Это только немногие насущные проблемы.

Компанией ЭкоАгро, прорабатывается вопрос о централизации всех указанных вопросов для более эффективной работы, что в итоге может дать повышение качества сельского хозяйства и роста благосостояния фермеров.

Индикаторами можно считать:

Основная часть сбывающейся продукции реализуется на рынках в других странах но не в крупных торговых сетях.

Присутствуют большие риски по сбыту продукции, в виду не владения информацией по ценам, по качеству, по упаковке, насыщенности того или иного  региона, по тем или иным продуктам.

Это только не большая часть требуемых решения вопросов.

Для частичного, решения этих вопросов,  нами была проведана научно-исследовательская работа по разработке и использованию органических удобрений при возделывании сельскохозяйственных культур в Кыргызстане, позволила получить новые виды органических удобрений и установить положительное влияние их на урожай и качество производимой продукции в различных регионах Кыргызстана.

          Таким образом, наш продукт позволяет получить экологически чистые и  качественные сельскохозяйственные продукты, без содержания опасных веществ, нитратов, поднимает плодородность почвы, вследствие чего повышается  уровень продовольственной безопасности страны, улучшается уровень здоровья всего населения Республики и региона.

Выращенный эко Продукт имеет все шансы быть востребованным на многих рынках, повышается уровень жизни фермеров, повышаются требования к качеству продуктов.

Основные уроки (положительные и отрицательные), которые могут быть извлечены из вашего примера, а также каким образом устраняются пробелы, препятствия и любые другие неблагоприятные условия 

               Разработанные и прошедшие испытание в лаборатории биотехнологии Кыргызском Национальном аграрном университете органические удобрения в виде биогумуса, жидких, сухих сыпучих и гранулированных удобрений были переданы в различные регионы Республики с целью определения эффективности их применения на различных сельскохозяйственных культурах. Так, в Ошской области Кара-Суйского района в результате применения всех видов органических удобрений при возделывании кукурузы, картофеля, редьки, капусты, томатов, бахчевых культур, были получены прибавки урожая в среднем от 15% до 20%.

              В Жалал-Абадской области, Сузакского района на полях по выращиванию клубники после применения жидких органических удобрений значительно улучшился рост и развитие растений, что способствовало получению прибавки урожая до 17%.

          В фермерских хозяйствах Сокулукского района Чуйской области применение органических удобрений в виде жидких и сухих сыпучих удобрений на посевах капусты, кукурузы дали положительные результаты в росте и в развитие растений и повышение урожая от 16% до 22%. Цветоводы Сокулукского района также использовали эти удобрения, которые позволили получить отростки более зеленые и крепкие. В хозяйстве фермера Мусаева Азамата (село Кызыл-Туу), при выращивании клубники были применены жидкие и гранулированные органические удобрения, которые позволили получить прибавку урожая до 30%.  В полевых опытах хозяйства Кыргызского научно-исследовательского института земледелия при внесении жидких органических удобрения на посевах сахарной свеклы была получена прибавка урожая от 21% до 33%. Возделывание сахарной свеклы в Жайылском районе у фермера Туйбаева Таалай на площади 2,0 га был получен урожай 450 ц/га в результате применения сухих органических удобрений, а на контрольном участке 380 ц/га. Таком образом прибавка урожая составило 70 ц/га или на 18% больше чем на варианте без внесения удобрений.

              Таким образом, исследования органических удобрений на различных культурах в разных регионах Кыргызстана, позволили установить положительное влияние на рост и развитие сельскохозяйственных культур, а также  повышение их урожайности и качества продукции. Исследования и полевые опыты проводились начиная с 2014 по 2017 год.

 Необходимо централизованное решение всех вопросов.

Понимание важности повышения плодородия почвы, качества продуктов, повышение урожайности, сбыт, ценовая политика итак далее.

Источники и / или дополнительные справочные материалы 

Дополнительные информации, подробные фотографии Вы можете найти на нашем сайте http://ecoagro.kg

Тел:+996556522522

Author of submission (name, surname, position, organization)

Giuseppe Ruocco, Director General DGISAN - Ministry of Health; Denise Giacomini, Medical doctor, DGISAN - Ministry of Health DGISAN; Elena Sturchio, Res. INAIL/DIT; Elena Carrano Nutritionist, DGISAN- Ministry of Health

Title of your example

“Food waste, consumer attitudes and behaviour: a project exploring the reasons linked to consumer-related food waste, involving Italian schools”

Theme

☒School food and nutrition programs linked to the agricultural sector

Date, location and geographic scope of your example (regional, sub-regional, national, local)

Date: 2016- 2017

National level study in Italy

Main responsible entity(ies) for the implementation of your example

Ministry of Health, INAIL/DIT

Key objectives and implementation approach of your example

Reducing the amount of wasted food is a key element in developing programs of global environmental and ethical and sustainable food system production. There is a substantial lack in the knowledge of the reasons linked to waste food at households. The aim of the  Project is to focus on the consumption food waste for exploring the reasons of food waste on family level in order to overcome food wasting behavior and point out options to design prevention measures by the responsible involvement in analysis and possible solutions of the students of the “pre University” level, at the same time to point out the need of respecting nutritional rules to not “waste their health”.

The learning methodology consist of a non-formal and informal education, that offers an experiential learning which aims to achieve knowledge "experimenting."

The knowledge is shared in a "horizontal" and “multidirectional” relationship among teachers, educators, experts and firstly students, that develop critical attitude of thought and an active participation. Furthermore, the SPAIC project, as well as called in Italy, adopts the "nudging" methodology, also called "gentle push" that can offer a way to behave properly (a kindly suggested model not be not be refused a priori as taxation authority), and therefore effective and culturally acquirable.

In fact, behavioural economist Richard Thaler and legal scholar Cass R. Sunstein outlined the potential for more innovative and less coercive government interventions to shape people’s behaviour. A central premise behind nudge theory is that people frequently behave in a way that is difficult to predict and not in their own best interest.

Employing behavioural insights as a prognosticator of human behavioural responses makes it possible to shape behaviours, by changing the” choice architecture” of those people. These changes may prompt people to make better decisions about health, wealth and happiness, in their own declared interest.

Thaler and Sunstein provide a flexible definition of what a nudge is: “A nudge, as we will use the term, is an aspect of the choice architecture that alters people’s behaviour in a predictable way without forbidding any options or significantly changing their economic incentives.

To count as a mere nudge, the intervention must be cheap and easy to avoid. Nudges are not mandates.

Nudges can be implemented by a wide range of actors, come in a wide range of forms and seek to achieve a wide range of outcomes. The choice architects are therefore supposed to rearrange the physical and social environment in order to make people change behaviour, a kind of soft paternalism that does not include coercion, a benignly intentioned manipulation meant to improve the direction of peoples’ choices while maintaining freedom of choice.

Nudge previously has been examined in individual studies for its capacities to positively influence behaviours including decreasing tobacco-use, increasing physical activity and encouraging financial planning instead we’ve decided to use this model in a” wellness based” study on the Food Waste.

The Project principally consists of two steps:

1) provide scientific information on "Food waste" that occurs at all stages of the food life cycle

 2) disseminate good behavior model, in efficient and effective way, regarding the issue about food waste and respect of related nutrition rules, among classmates, youngsters and families, in a prevention perspective of the contribution to food waste at households (and the related territory) and at the same time forming a specific conscience of the important role that new generations “have to” play in this field.

Funding and technical assistance of your example

Funging of Ministry of Health and technical assistance and expertise of INAIL DIT involving Research Organization (CRF), and three Italian high schools.

Key stakeholders involved. Describe the cross-sectoral coordination mechanism of your example, if any.

INAIL/DIT and Ministry of Health/DGISAN are carrying out a Project “Food waste, consumer attitudes and behavior”, involving Research Organization (CRF), and three Italian high schools.

How your example addresses food security and nutrition challenges. Describe linkages to social protection policies / school food programs / sustainable food systems. 

The learning methodology consist of a non-formal and informal education, that offers an experiential learning which aims to achieve knowledge "experimenting." The knowledge is shared in a "horizontal" and “multidirectional” relationship among teachers, educators, experts and firstly students, that develop critical attitude of thought and an active participation. Furthermore, the SPAIC project adopts the "nudging" methodology, also called "gentle push" that can offer a way to behave properly (a kindly suggested model not be not be refused a priori as taxation authority), and therefore effective and culturally acquirable.

Three high schools from Latium region were selected, characterized by different socioeconomic status and fields of education: a private school of art situated in the center of Rome, a Cinematographic high school with a less central location and a biotechnology school in Rome province. We chose different schools to study whether the difference in localization and socioeconomic status has a reflection on habits about food waste (shopping, leftovers, food preservation….) as well as on perception of individual responsibility towards food waste.

In each school, the activity consists of two steps. In the first step, an analytical review of the specific lifestyles and behaviour of consumer that identify the causes that lead to the production of waste, was performed to transfer the scientific knowledge to a pre-selected group of students involved in the proposed corrective action. In particular, starting from the evidence that the attitudes and behaviour can significantly affect the amount of food directly and indirectly wasted, scientific literature was reviewed to extrapolate the guidelines for achieving the chosen goals, including specific surveys on social media and on the corrective actions already adopted in other case studies.

After a consultation phase between experts, researchers and professors for the planning of activities, the active involvement of 250 students of Classes 3 and 4th "high school" followed.

First, data about food waste habits and the perception of one’s responsibility about it were collected with self-report questionnaires, filled in by both adolescents and their families, as a baseline study.

Lessons regarding food waste impacts on the environment, on loss of resources, on its cause were given to the students, in order to raise awareness of a selected group of students (30 students for each school). Working groups are formed involving students chosen among about 250 of them, considering their "specific" excellence and mainly their interest to the theme, according to teachers involved in the project.

Teachers and researchers proceeded to organize training activities on food waste, correlating it to the concept of sustainability and underlining its negative economic, environmental and social impacts. The learning methodology consists of both nonformal and informal education, that offers an experiential learning which aims to achieve knowledge "experimenting." The knowledge is shared in a "horizontal" and “multidirectional” relationship among teachers, educators, experts and firstly students, that develop critical attitude of thought and an active participation, through a lifelong learning methodology. The project is planned according to the interests, perceptions and curiosity of the students, focusing on their insights to design useful "products", that transform the idea into concrete social utility tools, according to the European conception of Science useful to the progress and growth.

During a brainstorming phase, students, teachers and experts, defined objectives, the strategies and the method to be adopted to realise new multimedia viable products to induce correct behaviours regarding food waste. In addition, it is expected to use the WEB as a tool for promotion of strategies and initiatives conducted by the pilot school in the area on food waste in relation to the specificity of their living environment, as a replicable model of education by the schools.

What are the elements needed for the practice to be institutionally, socially, economically and environmentally resilient and/or sustainable? 

Reducing the amount of wasted food is a key element in developing programs of global environmental, ethical and sustainable food system production. Food waste occurs at all stages of the food production, starting from harvesting, through manufacturing and distributing and finally consumption, but the largest contribution to food waste occurs surprisingly at home in the developed countries.

Food waste generation that occurs in large scale retail distribution and at home, is mostly avoidable because large quantities of produced food are discarded when it is still edible. As a cause of negative economic, environmental and social effects, food waste is considered to be one of the priority sustainability issues that needs to be addressed. In developed countries, consumers are one of the biggest sources and they are directly/indirectly responsible of food waste. To successfully reduce consumer-related food waste, it is necessary to have a clear understanding of the factors influencing food waste-related consumer perceptions and behaviours.

The impact of your example on national policies and people’s lives. What indicators have been used to measure it? 

In the second step, the objective was to create effective communication products for dissemination of good behavioral practices within the family and territory, enhanced by peer tutoring activities directed to younger class-mates for food waste reduction and environmental and health risk prevention.

These products may be then widespread through the media channels supported by the researchers. To encourage the students to be aware of their capabilities and achieve effective communication product, the support of expert researchers in the field of "nudging - gentle push" or a psycho-behavioural model it was necessary.

The model drives the consumers to adopt best practices and good behaviour in daily life.

In fact, the application of the model aims to change behaviour for reducing food waste and its impacts both on people’s health and on the environment, and it consists of two different kind of nudges: a nudge that involves physical/environmental factors and a nudge based on motivational/emotional factors.

The environmental nudge consists in the creation of a space inside the school where students may consume meals prepared at home (the lack of a such dedicated space seems to encourage students to buy food at the school bar or from a vending machine placed inside the school that offers foods that are mostly unhealthy and not environmental friendly).

The motivational/emotional based nudge consist of meetings with a motivator, a person who works with the students at an emotional and creative level to inspire them about their potential to be active participants in choices that are relevant for them and for the whole environment.

These meeting are designed to make students able to thrust in their capabilities to make important changes in their lives.

Finally, the dissemination of results will be carried out through the drafting of a final document, and a public presentation of the final results, where students will be the protagonists and actors of the event as well as recipients of the educational process.

Key lessons (positive and negative) that can be learned from your example and how gaps, obstacles and any other adverse conditions were addressed. 

The Project has the purpose of raising awareness among young people (a preoccupational category/pre-University studies) and to educate them and to induce correct behaviors regarding wasted food and to become testimonials and possibly “cult” multimedia spreader of correct information and behavior.

To date, 9 out of 18 months of experimentation are conducted, the Project SPAIC is in progress but has already achieved relevant results.

We apply a “nudge” approach for enabling and encouraging change in students, families and people in order to overcome food wasting behavior.

We have not yet objective evidence about results of this model. We have instead just a qualitative analysis from which it seems that the students are very pleased and motivated by both proposals. The purpose of using the Nudge model, in particular the emotional based nudge helped students finding the motivation and the inspiration for the creation of a “product” that can be shaped as they decide, for the purpose of training others to understand the importance of personal actions in global food waste (peer education). Each school is working on a different product chosen by the students according to the specific school orientation and interest.

From a preliminary qualitative assessment of questionnaires of 30 questions, filled by the students at the beginning of the project, they would seem to have a low sense of responsibility for their own waste.

However most of the students showed a clear willingness to be informed about environmental negative impacts of food waste.

Every action of the Project requires the synergistic involvement of the main "actors" (students, teachers, experts and families) called to dialogue and contribute to common goals.

Following training and emotional meetings, students are producing social – network interactive products or video, for their class mates and youngsters with the intent to disseminate good practices on food waste in environmental and health risk prevention perspective.

Some of the products realized by students, to date, include leftover food recipes, amusing street interviews, a photo exhibition, the creation of a learning unit on food waste and a script for a short film. After this initial stage there will be other evaluation phases of the project, in order to collect and analyse more data on the development of the project and on the efficacy of the nudge model.

In conclusion the Project allows to provide education and information about food waste field and health to high school students, and to test by smart indicators the perception of teenagers on this issue. Among the main final purposes of the research we want to evaluate whether the Nudge model can be helpful in this type of study.

Furthermore we want to understand if the two different nudges used here had some efficacy by comparing the results. At intermediate stage of the project we evaluated that the active involvement of young people in products realization, should be acquired as a standard methodology in order to trigger their inherent ability to innovate in the world of work.

Sources and/ or additional background material 

References

[1] Van der Heijden J. and Kosters M.,2015. From mechanism to virtue: evaluating

Nudge-theory. RegNet Working Paper, No 80, Regulatory Institutions Network.

[2] Thaler R. and Sunstein C. , 2009. Nudge (revised edition). London: Penguin.

[3] Vallgarda S., 2012, A new and better way to improve health?, Health policy 104,

200-203.

[4] Missbach B. and Konig J., 2016. Middle choice preference and snack choice: The

role of self-regulatory resources to nudge healthier food choice, Food Quality and

Preference 53, 127-131.

[5] Arno A. and Thomas S.,2016. The efficacy of nudge theory strategies in

influencing adult dietary behaviour: a systematic review and meta analysis. BMC

Public Health 16:676.

Author of submission (name, surname, position, organization)

Igor Spiroski, MD, PhD, Head of Department of Physiology and Monitoring of Nutrition, Institute of Public Health of the Republic of Macedonia

Title of your example

Regulation of kindergartens and school meals

Theme

School food and nutrition programs

Date, location and geographic scope of your example (regional, sub-regional, national, local)

National program started in 2014

Main responsible entity(ies) for the implementation of your example

Ministry of Social Policy, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health

Key objectives and implementation approach of your example

In the last few years, few important documents and legal provisions re­lated to nutrition have been adopted in Macedonia. Ministry of Health (MoH) and the Institute of Public Health have prepared and adopted first ever Food based dietary guidelines in the country. Ministry of Social Policy in cooperation with MoH has put in place The standards for nutrition in kindergartens, in the form of a bylaw. Ministry of education in cooperation with MoH has adopted the Standards for nutrition of primary school chil­dren, in 2014, in the form of bylaw. Comprehensive media campaign has been launched in the country that aimed to raise awareness about acceptance of healthy nutrition and to stress the importance of healthy lifestyles in prevention of early occurrence of NCDs. The overall objective of the process was to reduce dietary health risk factors for in school settings.

Funding and technical assistance of your example.

No particular funding related to the legal provisions adopted. The funding from the ministries to the schools and kindergartens that subsidize the price of school meal remained unchanged.

Key stakeholders involved. Describe the cross-sectoral coordination mechanism of your example, if any. 

The standards were prepared by the working group consisting participants from Ministry of Health (Institute of Public Health), Food and Veterinary Agency, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Social Policy, as well as the participant from the National Inspection Council. The commission for monitoring and evaluation was established and it is also cross-sectoral.

How your example addresses food security and nutrition challenges. Describe linkages to social protection policies / school food programs / sustainable food systems. 

This process addresses nutrition challenges related to malnutrition in children. Data from Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative show that prevalence of obesity in school children in Macedonia is increasing, so this process is only one piece in the puzzle of integrated food policy that has to be implemented.

What are the elements needed for the practice to be institutionally, socially, economically and environmentally resilient and/or sustainable? 

Beside this measure there should be integrated food policy in the country. Food and nutrition action plan is in its final draft and the Government should adopt it and start more comprehensive approach by providing healthier school food environment. This needs commitment and resources allocated for the process. This measure will be success, only if it is a part of a wider food and nutrition policy process in the country.

The impact of your example on national policies and people’s lives. What indicators have been used to measure it? 

The evaluation process is in progress. Two indicators are principal ones and that is the adherence of the macro and micronutrient content of the meals to the bylaws regulating them and the nutritional status of the children covered by this regulations.

Key lessons (positive and negative) that can be learned from your example and how gaps, obstacles and any other adverse conditions were addressed.

The dominant obstacle in implementation is the communication with food caterers that provide meals in schools since. In the case of kindergartens the school kitchens are owned by the kindergartens, so the process of reformulation of the meals was much smoother and the results were better. In schools, the meals are prepared by the catering companies and there is no sufficient knowledge as well as willingness in them to implement reformulation. Other obstacle is divided responsibilities for school procurement and school environment shaping by the local and central governments. The ongoing process of communication will include counseling with food caterers provided by the health, education and agriculture ministries as well as separate communication with local governments.

Sources and/ or additional background material 

Social Marketing Interventions for  Healthy Eating    Georgian Case  

Georgia's Association Agreement and Comprehensive Trade Agreements (DFCTA), which entered into force from July 1, 2016, pays special attention to food safety and food security issues. The problem has come to the attention of the state. Normative acts and other programs have been developed. Georgia's Health Strategy (2015 - 2020) emphasizes that the information about dietary habits of Georgian population is very small. However, the data indicate that the habit of feeding the Georgian population needs a thorough correction.    Food security and healthy eating   are priority direction according the requirement of  Georgia's Association Agreement with Europe.   Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and World Health Organization (WHO) specify that food security is the right of everyone to have access to the sufficient amount of safe and nutritious food for an active and healthy life. In order to ensure effective implementation of the recognized food security principles at the national level governments must ensure development of food policy, inclusion of international norms of food security and adequate nutrition in the national legislation , their enforcement, and promotion. According the  National Nutration  Study  in Georgia  2016,  there is no integrated government policy on healthy nutrition at schools. A lot of schools in Georgia (especially in the regions) have no school lunches.  Schools with diners select caterers through tenders. Unfortunately, no official documents and standards regulate pupils’ nutrition at schools. Therefore, school administration and/or caterers participating in tenders have no guidelines for organizing children’s nutrition at schools. the Ministry of Education should integrate the principles of healthy lifestyle in school programs.  It is  significant   to collaborate  with the healthcare agencies and experts   to ensure  the development of nutrition standards for schools, focus on raising the schoolchildren’s awareness and implementation of continuous programs. Thus, schoolchildren will be able to make healthy food choices themselves.

The  survey is going on in the schools of Georgia  regarding  healthy  eating , which will reveal  the challenges and perspectives of  healthy eating behavior changes  among the children and adults.

 Inadequate awareness and education on the importance of healthy nutrition prevents social marketing campaigns in Georgia. Public catering facilities located in school and higher institutions should work well with healthy food standards.  There is   no nutritional and healthy food monitoring system.   About 95% of the Georgian population receives more calories than the recommended food and agriculture. From 17 September 2017 new initiatives of the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia   held in the schools of the country. According to the demand of social marketing , selling unhealthy food in school buffets will be prohibited the products that are harmful harmful for health will be banned in the school cafeterias.Chips, fizzy drink and jellies to be restricted in Tbilisi Schools.

 For promoting  healthy eating   social marketing campaign in Georgia   To encourage delivering healthy food, fruits, vegetables and other organic products at the schools all key state institutions, business , civil society and mass media should unite. The Center of Marketing Research of Tbilisi State University will actively participate in the monitoring processes .

 Charita Jashi

Professor of Tbilisi State University, Georgia  

In drylands under arid and semiarid climates, globally there is problems of (1) food security and (2) malnutrition. The soils in these climates are under severe threats. These soils are low in organic matter, low soil fertility, and low water holding capacity etc. Sustainable soil management practices, which decrease soil degradation and increase soil fertility, increase nutrients, use efficiency, increase water use efficiency could reduce the problems of food security and malnutrition.  Any good practice, which increase the following, are important in these areas:

1. Increase in soil organic matter
2. increase in soil organic carbon
3. increase in soil biodiversity
4. increase in beneficial soil microorganism
5. increase in water use efficiency
6. increase nutrients use efficiency
7. increase in below and above plant biomass
8. increase leaf area index and crop growth rate
9. increase in crop yield & its quality
10. increase in growers income and decrease in costs of production etc.

Dr. Amanullah

Associate Professor of Agronomy

The University of Agriculture Peshawar