Глобальный форум по продовольственной безопасности и питанию (Форум FSN)

Этот участник внес свой вклад в:

    • The HLPE Project Team and Steering Committee-

      Firstly, apologies in advance if some of my comments are addressed in the 118-page document. The following suggestions are offered by someone who has studied and promoted agro-ecology for improved nutrition since the 1970’s .

      Overall comment

      The technical case is well made for the importance of agroecology in the past, present, and future. However, it is less clear how useful the document is in enhancing food security and nutrition (security?). There are too few examples of genuine and sustained impact from promoting agroecology for improved nutritional outcomes within a field programme/outreach framework. The “what is easy. The “how” is hard.

      Recommendations

      Suggestion-The report needs to acknowledge that all 9 of these headings are currently being addressed. These are not new issues. Readers would benefit from an analysis of the issues identified, especially from an implementation standpoint as to what works and what doesn’t.

      1. INCREASE INVESTMENT IN SMALL AND MEDIUM SIZED AGRICULTURAL AND FOOD ENTERPRISES

      “ States, local governments and the private sector should review the current policy and investment climate that in many contexts favours economies of scale associated with larger farm and business sizes to consider the public advantages attainable through maintaining smaller, more labor intensive units that have positive social impacts and fewer negative environmental externalities. Specifically they should:”

      Suggestion-Links to addressing nutritional challenges are not clearly stated.

      Add (d) Encourage agro- enterprises to invest in profitable products that address specific dietary gaps. i.e. micronutrient dense foods.

      2. Chapter 2 presents a typology of innovations.

      The authors may want to make sure that this section is not more ideological than actionable and practical. Not clear if this chapter is aimed more at satisfying the "needs" of the funders and partners than those of the small farmers themselves.

      Many decades ago a small farmer summed up her family’s farming system… “We grow whatever we can, where ever we can, whenever we can, with what we have.” As a field practitioner, this is the definition of “smart” farming and her statement should be the key message from this report.

      2.3.6 Permaculture. Brief description of permaculture: Permaculture can be defined as an alternative agriculture movement based on designing productive systems where structural and functional patterns of nature are the main guiding principles (Baldwin, 2005).

      There are tens of millions  of farming households practicing “permaculture” today that would question the term “alternative.” Forest-like polycultures have been a mainstream agricultural system for centuries. Permaculture has been documented since at least 1945( Pelzer), 1954 (Terra.)

      2.3.7 Nutrition-sensitive agriculture (NSA)

      Suggestions

      1.Clear examples are needed for successful links between promoting agro-ecological interventions and nutrition sensitive agriculture. (A key theme of the report).

      2. Homestead food production. Many studies show that food grown around a dwelling might have been the first agricultural activity. Often homestead gardens are highly diverse and their structure and function reflect the essential needs of the household.

      The report mentions outreach projects that have an explicit focus on “direct transfer agricultural inputs.” In reviewing some of the references, they describe small-scale pilot -type one-off projects funded by external agencies that used a strategy of transferring external agro-inputs to create change. Is there evidence these “successes” had a sustained impact once donor personnel and external inputs were withdrawn? Why is it assumed that external inputs, especially seeds and livestock, are essential?

      3. Nutrition sensitive value chains. This section needs to be expanded. Given the importance of market driven supply chains in providing nutritious foods, six sentences is not enough. Examples of how dietary gaps can be a driver for adding value to supply chains need to be included.

      3. Existing examples of structural changes by government institutions to mainstream NSA into the existing policy, plans, and programmes should be added.

      5. LEVERAGE PUBLIC PROGRAMS TO FOSTER SUSTAINABLE FOOD SYSTEMS FOR FSN

      States and local authorities should:

      b) Integrate nutrition sensitive agriculture into sustainable agricultural development policies and programmes, including for example the promotion of home gardens with micronutrient-rich legumes, vegetables and tubers, small livestock such as poultry, or programmes with an explicit focus on nutrition education and gender equity.

      Suggestion- Consider adding Example- Rwanda. The ministry of agriculture has just begun implementing its multi- year plan (PSTA 4) that contains specific line items for nutrition sensitive agriculture. The government has also adopted national guidelines for (1) Nutrition sensitive agriculture and (2) Kitchen gardens. Both emphasize starting from existing household agro-ecological practices as the basis for innovations and interventions.

      Missing. The role of public private partnerships. The current and future role of the commercial sector is under represented. Through personal experience, national and international commercial interests support sustainable agriculture. The marketplace works. If commercial buyers need products produced “organically” or” sustainably” small growers will respond if profitable.

      Missing. Feed the Future Initiative is not included for this report. Why? Since 2010 the US Government has spent 100’s of millions of dollars on research through innovation labs, outreach through SPRING and TOPS and multiple field projects linking agriculture investments to nutritional outcomes. One would assume there are multiple lessons on what works and what doesn’t on promoting sustainable agriculture that would benefit our community of practice. Strongly urge a review be included.

      9. ADDRESS SOCIAL INEQUALITIES ESPECIALLY IN RESPECT OF GENDER AND YOUNG PEOPLE, UNDERLINING NUTRITIONAL ASPECTS OF FOOD SYSTEMS

      b) “Develop interventions that provide strategies and tools to deliver nutrition sensitive agriculture,including homestead food production systems, aquaculture, dairy, small livestock rearing, crop diversity and value chains for nutritious foods”

      Suggestion- Instead of “develop” (which may imply that nothing exists now) use build on or expand on interventions. The following are just a few of the many tools already in use for multiple decades in the outreach community of practice.

      The UNICEF Home Gardens Handbook: Promoting Mixed Gardens in the Humid Tropics, UNICEF

      Nutrition Improvement Through Mixed Gardening- A Training Manual, USAID/Peace Crops

      Low-Cost Farming in the Humid Tropics: An Illustrated Guidebook, Island Press

      Dry Season Gardening for Improving Child Nutrition, UNICEF

      Gardening for Food in the Semi-Arid Tropics, WHO/UNICEF

      Mixed gardens: Gardening on Coral Atoll UNICEF/Fiji

      African Gardens and Orchards, Technical Center for Agriculture and Rural Co-operation

      Agriculture, Food and Nutrition in the Pacific Islands, University of the South Pacific

      Improving Nutrition Through Home Gardening, United Nations FAO