Nutrition and Food Systems - E-consultation on an Issues Note proposed by the HLPE Steering Committee
At its 42nd session in October 2015, the CFS decided that the HLPE will prepare a report on Nutrition and Food Systems, expected to be presented at CFS 44 in October 2017.
To prepare this report elaboration process, the HLPE is launching an e-consultation to seek feedbacks, views and comments on the following issues’ Note on Nutrition and Food Systems proposed by the HLPE Steering Committee.
Please note that in parallel to this consultation, the HLPE is calling for expression of interests of experts for joining the Project Team as a leader and/or as a member. The call for candidature is open until 30 January 2016; visit the HLPE website www.fao.org/cfs/cfs-hlpe for more details.
HLPE Steering Committee Issues Note on Nutrition and Food Systems
In view of the implementation of the decisions of the International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2), of the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – particularly Goals 2 and 13, and in consideration of the recognized compelling need to foster a solid scientific and technical background in support of the CFS workstream on nutrition, there is an imperative need to examine the links between nutrition and food systems.
There is a diversity of food systems and growing evidence of the health and nutrition implications of different food systems. The overarching issue in this report shall be to assess the influence of various types of food systems on diets, nutrition and health. It shall consider food chains from farm to fork and all the sustainability challenges of food systems (in the economic, social and environmental dimensions) and how they relate to nutrition. This calls for a report grounded on a multidisciplinary approach, and on a critical synthesis of the existing research and major reports, building upon multiple sources of evidence, not only academic but also experiential knowledge.
Malnutrition is a global issue. The nutrition focus shall include malnutrition in all its forms, including under nutrition, over nutrition and micro nutrient deficiencies. In addition, the report shall examine issues across the human life cycle (including esp. pregnant, lactating women, children, and elderly), including marginalized and vulnerable populations.
This is a complex issue and the report shall examine the multidimensionality of food systems and nutrition and the root causes of malnutrition. By doing so, it shall improve the capacity to follow-up transitions and evolutions through the provision of a conceptual framework that might be used in the future.
There is a need for a multifaceted approach, including a need to understand the internal and external (e.g. socio-demographic, environmental, and global changes such as climate change) drivers of the evolution of food systems as well as the drivers of consumer’s choices, given the heterogeneity of consumers. In addition to assessing what is new, the report provides an opportunity to examine what is promising – either as a continuation or revitalization of existing and long-standing food system.
The HLPE report would address the following issues from global to regional and local levels:
- How and why do diets change?
- What are the links between diets, consumption and consumer habits and food systems?
- How do changes in food systems affect changes of diets, and therefore health and nutritional outcomes?
- What are the determinants of the changes in consumption?
- How do the dynamics of food systems drive consumption patterns?
- How to shape and to address pathways to healthy nutrition?
- What is the role of public policy in promoting healthy, nutritious and culturally appropriate food for all?
- How to build on the diversity of the existing food systems?
- What is in practice the range of actionable solutions from farm to fork that enable better nutritional outcomes of food systems?
- What action should different stakeholders, including governments, civil society and the private sector, take?
The report shall present a concise and focused review of the evidence-base depicting the critical relationships between food systems and nutrition, elaborate on concrete solutions to ensure that food systems deliver better nutritional outcomes, in order to propose concrete actions elicited from all stakeholder groups – farmers, processors, retailers, consumers, governments and other public actors – to reduce the triple burden of malnutrition.
Темы
- Прочитано 118 комментарии
Not doubts substantial progress has been made globally towards combating hunger and malnutrition. Nevertheless, consumption of energy dense-processed foods is on the increase especially in developing countries with the attendance effects on the rising rates of overweight and obesity globally, and the slow progress in the reduction of micronutrient malnutrition \in many developing countries. Encouraging food consumption variety is emphatically germane in this context as most households in developing countries are poor and subsist on monotonous diets of poor nutritional quality. Given that the livelihoods of the majority of people in these regions are connected to agriculture, this review, again, presents the opportunity to raise the fundamental question of whether an agricultural development pathway that prioritizes transformation of the food systems for improved food consumption diversity could provide new avenues for addressing the persistent food insecurity, malnutrition and related health ills especially in developing countries. This is therefore the right time to re-examine how environmentally sustainable are the agricultural production practices, as well as food processing, distribution and consumption choices being made by various actors in the food systems, locally, nationally, at the region and worldwide. Against this background, there is the need to examine the land use system, land tenure security, governance of land and natural resources and the roles of institutions involved in its management, the legal frameworks and other socioeconomic concerns in relation to sustainable food production. How not to marginalize the livelihood plights of vulnerable populations should be of great concerns in this regards. This is germane especially in Africa’s setting where lands are mostly informally administered with grabbing easier for some “powerful elements”. Involvement of the civil societies/NGO cannot be overemphasized in this matter. This is also the time re-echo the need to promote sustainable production of indigenous, healthy and nutritious foods that are almost disappearing from the food baskets as they will enriched the baskets of food choices and biodiversity. The determinants of, and incentives to be provided to stimulate farmers’ willingness to grow such crops/foods as well as adopt sustainable farm production practice must be examined. While the need to promote sustainable food consumption choices and practices are very critical, what constitutes an “acceptable index of healthy diets/foods” from sustainable development point of view would remain a task to be pursued. Studies that seek to uncover the underlying reasons for dietary changes and willingness to consume sustainably as well as the roles of food industries and development appropriate regulations are also very critical issues.
Farmers' efforts are focused to maximize the production. After famers and trader spay less efforts to retention the quality and quantity of their product. It happen due to the least interest because after harvesting famers and traders just looking for their profits.
Nutrition and Food system demand the equal attention on pre-harvest and post-harvest phases which help to provide the quality food to hunger people. At farm gate post-harvest & better processing (not industrialization) can cope the present situation and give a pave to meet the future challenges of population. It also helps to minimize the poverty among farming community.
Changing diets also mean changing perceptions about 'cheap' food. High carbohydrate and sugar-based diets may fill bellies and be cheaply available at point of sale, yet are strongly associated with obesity and diabetes.
They are 'cheap' because they are easily produced, moved around and stored for long periods before consumption. There are large profits made on their re-processing and sale, satisfying human cravings and meeting short-term hunger needs.
Yet cheap is a relative term. Why are we still not including the healthcare costs of non-communicable diseases caused by bad diets into the overall costs of production and consumption? In the USA for example, the total value of the agriculture industry is $374 billion p.a., yet the healthcare cost of diabetes is around $500 billion (Harvard & WEF)
The emphasis in agriculture is still way too much on the production end - producing more of such food types has become a mantra - often even including state subsidies to do so, yet ignoring the real costs entailed. This is without even considering the considerable environmental and societal costs of their production systems compared to alternatives.
We need to re-think and re-imagine our entire agri-food systems, their real costs and their drivers, not just our diets.
The issues paper is broad and concise. As others have pointed out, it is an enormous task to review all the evidence (there is no suggestion of collecting new evidence). The issues paper rightly emphasizes the need to identify the drivers of change in food systems and consumer behaviours. I agree with this approach and although the issues paper does not name drivers i believe urbanization to be one driver that needs to be looked at. Food policy (or the absence of) is another.
The issues paper does not take a normative position with respect to types and characteristics of food systems. Many comments so far take strong normative positions, and there is no doubt that the HLPE Report on Nutrition and Food Systems will be normative, because it must determine actions to be taken to produce better nutritional outcomes.
It is likely that a typology of food systems might be needed, using a broad range of evidence sources, and an assessment of their effectiveness in terms of nutritional outcomes, again evidence-based.
My own view is that dietary diversity is a key factor in good nutritional outcomes and I believe this is supported by evidence. As noted in a previous comment, i am not comfortable with the term "over-nutrition", as it does not accurately describe some conditions which are really forms of malnutrition.
Much needed in this time when nutrition is increasingly being equated with pharmaceutic supplements and powders, ready to eat fortified foods, and genetically modified plants. Improving the diets of low-income populations is virtually never on the development agenda any more.
Well thought through and well worded list of the issues that need to be addressed.
It is a great opportunity for me to be invited to make my humble contribution to this global topic of nutrition and food system and the link to diet, health and food security.
Food system is an age long proceedure and strategies of developing infrastructure and technology of bringing food to the table of various communitities from the inception of human creation.
The scripture attested to the role of man in tendering the garden of Aden as the first habitat of man in creation.Since then diverse food system has come into exixtence both for plant food and the animal food all for making food of plant and animal origin available for the human race
Food system of plant and animal food varied socioculturally from one region of the globe to another and it is largely defined by culture inheritance dietary preference and the climate
By and large various food systems had improved from the traditional primitive and small scale holdings, to sophisticated systems due to improved technology which commands expansion in acrage and population for crops and livestock respectively
The improvement in themselves are the off shoot of consumers demand, appreciation of health benefit and globaldecline in availability of food. Diet is of multiracial diversity which can stimulate demand and improvement in a given food system when the community make a higher demands and recognise the benefit of including such food from the system in their menu
When food system changes either by the loss of the native tranfered technology, or through skillfuf integration of recent innovation, the demand for food produced by such system may be lost to the community or be exanded in output.
I would like to bring some local examples from African communities, where native food produced by some ancient food system are no longer found in many communities of Africa today or in most cases are extinct.
Cetain food recipes of good health benefit that arose from their system of planting, harvesting, and processing that are generational health recipee are in extintion in many countries, for example the food system and food recipe from Balsam plant, moringa. varieties venonia amygelina Ewuro IN YORUBA RACE OF nIGERIA0 qUAIL AND QUAIL EGG PRODUCTION ARE FAST LOOSING RECOGNITION BY THE LARGER PROPOTION OF THE nIGERIA COMMUNITY, IT IS OBVIOUS THEREFORE THAT THE DYNAMIC OF OF FOOD SYSTEM GLOBALLY IS RESPONSIBLE FOR TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER, DEVELOPMENT OF INNOVATIVE PRODUCTS, AND WIDER ACCEPTABILITY ACROSS THE GLOBE, SO WE NEED TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS DYNAMICS TOSHAPE GLOBAL PATH WAY TO HEALTH AND NUTRITION BY ENCOURAGING FOOD RECIPE IMPORTS AND EXPORT GLOBALLY EVEN IF THE SYSTEM IS ALIEN TO OTHER REGIONS OF THE WORLD, BUT GOVERNMENT MUST PUT ON GROUND STANDARD, SAFETY REGULATIONS AND HACCP if food system and diet peculiar to a regiom must be widely consumed.
This is why Government must must back up regulatory bodies with laws and specified penalties for contravention.
The world population will record an increase of 3 billion by the year 2050 barely 34 years to this time and the effect of climate change coming as flood draught and emerging insurgences globally make the discussion on this topic a preventive strategy to improve world food security
Thank you for giving me this opportunity to contribute to this topic.
Dr Stephen Adejoro is an international Independent Animal food security consultant and a co founder of the Livestock Industry Foundation for Africa
Comments on the CSM submission to the e-consultation on the HLPE Report on Food Systems & Nutrition
I am happy to see that the CSM submission embodies three crucial aspects of what is needed to alleviate world’s hunger in a holistic manner. These are, the necessity of paying due attention to the variations in one’s food needs with respect to one’s whole life-span, the importance of food culture, and the inequity inherent in the commercialisation of food supply. Moreover, it is heartening to see that it regards eating something more than mere intake of chemicals derived from some animal, flowering plant, fancy algae or a fungus (Truffles exempted). It is high-time that we stopped thinking about eating as akin to putting petrol, engine oil and water to some engine, and what affects its performance as a thing that can be fixed by some learned bio-mechanic. Call it ‘medicalisation’, if you will.
I cannot agree more on that reductive research has indeed blinded us to what we gain by eating as civilised beings by drowning us in data rather than serving to enhance the taste, smell, colour, texture, temperature, etc., experienced when we eat, not to mention the pleasures of companionship one may recall from family meals even when they are far from being cordon bleu cuisine.
I applaud the explicit emphasis on the integrity and impartiality of the panel, which in my experience, has never received this degree of attention. Its importance needs no further justification.
However, I think two points could have been given a greater priority, viz., the qualitative and the quantitative balance of our environment, without which no yielder system (see my previous comments on this forum on 27th January) could exist.
My point of departure is simple, viz., humans are as much a part of our environment as fleas, whales or giant redwoods. The possibility of their continued existence depends on the possibility of their procuring certain resources and the existence of certain physical conditions like appropriate temperature, levels of radiation, etc.
Those resources may be of biological origin, or mineral like water, Oxygen, etc. But their availability or accessibility is finite.
In addition to the purely physical mechanisms like heat dissipation by convection, rainfall, etc., biological evolution has introduced means to recycle those resources and to buffer the extremes of those physical conditions, which enables life to continue on earth.
The first part of that means seems to have been evolved to curtail resource depletion due to the proliferation of photosynthesising life forms by introducing death due to degeneration brought about by asexual reproduction. This led to the need to evolve life forms that could subsist on the dead, viz. saprophytism.
Gradually, predation in its inclusive sense seems to have emerged to supplement the activity of the saprophytes in recycling the necessary mineral resources, and to enhance the felicity of the local physical conditions or climate. After this emergence of the herbivores, imbalance between their birth and death rates set the scene for the emergence of carnivores, and then omnivores.
So, it is reasonable to suggest that the possibility of our continued existence depends on the possibility of adequately recycling the biological and mineral resources on which existence of all life depends, and the appropriate distribution of life on earth required to enhance the salubrity of the climate.
Leaving aside the adverse natural phenomena, recycling of resources and climate buffering depends on the qualitative and the quantitative equilibrium among the living species. Its qualitative dimension involves bio-diversity, while its quantitative counterpart reflects the population of each species including man.
Therefore, I find it difficult to envision any approach to our current problem succeeding, unless we are willing to give the highest priority to halting human population growth and to strict environmental protection, and its regeneration. I think a Huxlean ‘Brave New World’ is as appealing as a ‘nuclear winter’, for both entail formication of mankind, i.e., turning man into a programmed living object like an ant.
I agree that it is vital to view people’s ability to procure food as something that should never be governed only by commercial considerations. However, I am a little uncertain about the possibility of achieving some worthwhile results by declaring that everyone has a right to an adequate amount of appropriate food.
Perhaps, it may be politically possible to get most nations to sign such a declaration, but although signing of signatures could be an impressive sight, it could hardly quench the fire gnawing at millions of hungry bellies, unless one has the means of proclaiming that right.
The need to satisfy hunger is urgent and uncontroversial. So, I am firmly convinced that the only way to make right to food manifest itself in some tangible form, is to expand small farming as submitted, halt commercial industrialisation of food supply, and most importantly, replace the multi-national monoliths of food by cooperatives.
Of course, all this will remain mere words if the post-2015 agenda is aimed at traditional ‘development’, which is the cause of present misery in many areas of life. Perhaps, it is still not too late to integrate the post 2015 agenda into a logically cohesive whole that would benefit most of the deprived among us even though such a move may ruffle a few political feathers, and tug at many a bunch of expert whiskers.
Cheers!
Lal Manavado.
Estimados Srs. HLPE,
Agradezco por tomarme en cuenta, con respecto a la consulta electrónica sobre la nota propuesta, ya publiqué, a la vez adjunto en la presente.
El trabajo es parte de la ejecución de la tesis de Maestría, cuyos objetivos son:
OBJETIVO GENERAL
Determinar el equilibrio racional y sostenible del recurso Anchoveta en consumo humano indirecto (CHI) y con el desarrollo de consumo humano directo (CHD) para lograr la nutrición efectiva en todos los distritos del país, generando más empleo y más rentabilidad para el Perú.
OBJETIVOS ESPECÍFICOS
- Lograr la diversificación productiva del sector pesquero anchovetero, obteniendo de esta forma productos conservados fáciles de transportar hasta en zonas agrestes y ser consumidos sin complicaciones de preparación.
- Con la diversificación productiva logramos ampliar el parque industrial anchovetero, incrementando nuevos actores empresariales, generando más empleo y mejora de la rentabilidad nacional.
Con este trabajo se contribuye dentro de los "Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible", con los objetivos 1, 2, 3, 8, 9 y 14.
Espero ser útil en estos proyectos.
Que Dios bendiga a todo el equipo CFS-HLPE.
Atentamente,
Ing. Max Julio Maguiña Maza
Dear Colleagues,
Greetings from Grameen Development Society (GDS) in Bangladesh.
We have the honor to you that Grameen Development Society (GDS) is a non Government Voluntary human development Organization. This Organization has been conducting various socio-economic development activities such as Water Supply & sanitation, Environment & Climate Change, Education, Health, awareness, legal aid, and protection to the persecuted women and children are worth mentioning.
As such if we get enlistment enrollment from you we will be able to
speed up and extend and development our effort.
Under the circumstances we pray and hope that you would be kind enough to enlist enrollment our organization as member and oblige thereby.
Thanks & regards,
Mr.Zahid Hossain Khan
Executive Director
GDS - Grameen Development Society
"Khan Villa"
West Kawnia, Jail Bagan
Barisal- 8200, BANGLADESH
Phone- 088 0431 217 6528
Fax- 088 0431 2174905
Mobile- 088 017169 52749
skype-gdsbslbd
[email protected], bsl[email protected]
В настоящее время это мероприятие закрыто. Пожалуйста, свяжитесь с [email protected] для получения любой дополнительной информации.