Review of agri-food value chain interventions aimed at enhancing consumption of nutritious food by the poor
Leveraging Agriculture for Nutrition in South Asia (LANSA) published a papersdesk review and analysis on India (PDF) and Pakistan (PDF) that serve as a guide to an understanding of the agri-food value chain landscape in these countries. Efforts to give a pro-nutrition focus to agriculture to address the problem of undernutrition in developing countries have predominantly focused on boosting production and/or consumption of nutritious foods by farm households. While this is clearly appropriate in countries where a large proportion of the poor have agriculture as their main source of livelihood, as in South Asia, it is increasingly recognised that a majority of the poor derive some or all of their food through markets. These might include individuals in producer households that are not self-sufficient in food for some or all of the year, rural non-farm and landless households and urban households. The working papers will serve as a guide to understand how agriculture can play a more effective role in improving nutrition in countries with a high burden of hidden hunger and where an increasing proportion of the poor sources its food from the market. There is a need to understand how linkages between the farm and the consumer can be made to work for nutrition goals.