1. Research on Agriculture for Improved Nutrition
• Background
• Potential for agricultural change to improve nutrition and...
• Increasing interest in agriculture-nutrition but...
• Evidence base poor - 2 systematic reviews (Masset et
al, 2011, Girard et al, 2012) reveal little evidence of impact & a
need for more & better designed research
• Need to determine pattern, design & direction of current
research to inform future funding
• DFID commission:
• Mapping and gap analysis of current and planned research
• Leverhulme Centre for Integrative Research on Agriculture and
Health (LCIRAH)
• Centre for Sustainable International Development (CSID) at
University of Aberdeen
• Report submitted August 2012

2. Methodology/ Research Process
• Conceptual framework linking agriculture, food
and nutrition
• Template for data collection & inclusion criteria
• List of relevant organisations to contact (n=135)
• Final list of eligible projects (n=151)
• Completion of template – project team &/or
researchers
• Mapping and gap analysis.
• Information collected between April and August
2012.
• Overseen by Expert Panel

3. Conceptual Framework
Research chain for agriculture and nutrition
Developed to Policy & Governance
Political & Economic Context, e.g. fragile/ stable state, humanitarian situation
define pathways Agricultural Impacts/ outcomes Indirect impacts/
by which interventions/ practices related to nutrition intervening factors
agriculture may NUTRITIONAL STATUS
Agricultural inputs Health/ education
contribute to e.g. crops/ animal/ (anthropometry and biomarkers)
status & wellbeing
nutrition directly fish breeding,
technology, fertilisers,
and indirectly irrigation farmers, agricultural workers, (pregnant)
Climate & Environment
women, children, infants, populations in
fragile states/humanitarian crises, urban
consumers, other high risk groups
Helpful for Agricultural Health care &
characterizing practices e.g. cropping/
horticultural/ fish/ animal Food consumption &
education e.g.
national investment in
individual raising practices, input use, intake e.g. household food services, household
time allocation expenditure, food
research projects consumption & dietary
practices
diversity; individual food &
as well as nutrient intake & dietary
diversity; infant & young child
identifying gaps in Food value chain
feeding practices Economic outcome
e.g. storage,
the research processing,
e.g. household
Food environment income, national
overall distribution, retailing
availability, nutrient quality, growth
affordability, acceptability
Culture, Gender & Equity

4. Realigning Agriculture for Improved Nutrition (RAIN)
Policy & Governance: Yes - aims to produce coordination between agriculture & health sectors & shared goal of nutrition
Agricultural Impacts/ outcomes Indirect impacts/
interventions/ practices related to nutrition intervening factors
Agricultural inputs NUTRITIONAL STATUS Health/ education status
Vegetable seeds & small Target: children < 2, pregnant/lactating & wellbeing Child health
animals provided at the women in one district in Zambia. Aims to (health card, vaccination
beginning then farmers are reduce prevalence of chronic malnutrition status, de-worming, vitamin A,
Political & Economic Context: No
supported to generate their among young children & improve nutritional incidence of child illness) &
own inputs later on . status of pregnant & lactating women. maternal health, e.g. BMI
Climate & Environment: No
Measures: Prevalence of stunting <5 yrs
(HAZ scores), prevalence of wasting (WAZ,
WHZ)
Agricultural Health care &
practices Establish education Use of health
smallholder model farmers Food consumption & services, maternal knowledge
(SMFs) - homestead intake Aims to improve of HIV, child feeding, health
gardening, small-scale animal seeking and nutrition
consumption (diversity &
husbandry.
quantity) of nutritious foods.
Measures: Household Hunger
Scale & Household Dietary
Food value chain Diversity Score, IYCF in first 2
yrs Economic outcome
Linkages to markets & Maternal involvement in
potentially to micro- income-earning work,
finance services Food environment remuneration for work, use of
Aims to improve availability loans for agricultural purposes
of and access to sufficient
quality foods. Not clear how
measured.
Culture, Gender & Equity: Yes - aims for improved gender equality awareness & practices

5. Sustainable Production of Underutilized Vegetables to Enhance Rural Food Security
Policy & Governance: No
Climate & Environment: Yes – looking at the impact of crop diversification on the environment
Agricultural Impacts/ outcomes Indirect impacts/
interventions/ practices related to nutrition intervening factors
Agricultural inputs NUTRITIONAL STATUS Health/ education status
Selecting & evaluating different & wellbeing
indigenous /underutilised Not measured
No
vegetables , including for
Political & Economic Context: No
nutritional quality
Agricultural Health care &
practices Conducting on- education
farm experiments of different Food consumption & No
indigenous /underutilised intake
vegetables
Not measured
Food value chain Economic outcome
Detailed value-chain Looking at the economic
analyses for promising empowerment of women
species, e.g. testing Food environment
packaging technologies & Measures: indigenous
determining market potential /underutilised vegetables
use, distribution & nutritional
quality.
Culture, Gender & Equity: Yes - project is about economic empowerment of women

6. Mapping: overview of project funding &
organisational arrangements
• Significant majority (133/ 151) part of larger
programme or funding initiative (e.g. CGIAR
A4NH)
• Multiple funders reported (46 in total), but
dominated by 5 (BMGF, CIDA, IDRC, USAID, DFID)
• One third (n=57) led by CGIAR centres
• Lead organisations international or North
America/ Europe
• Almost all included LMIC organisation as a
partner

7. Mapping: overview of project types & focus
• Sub-Saharan Africa focus of 93/151. South
Asia next with 36.
• Emphasis on women and children (‘1000
days’) & rural poor/ farmers
• Very few projects targeted urban populations
or men as a specific group

8. Category Theme Number of projects
Agricultural production of nutritious* foods Biofortification (crop breeding) 17
Agricultural development/technology 15
Traditional/indigenous/local foods 11
Home gardening/homestead production 11
Aquacultural technology development 7
Other 6
Agrobiodiversity 5
Total 66
Value chains Of nutritious* foods 12
Specific to biofortification 10
Not specified 2
Total 24
Agricultural growth/ development more broadly 21
Multi-sectoral nutrition projects that include agriculture 7
Reducing/ understanding impact of aflatoxin contamination 4
Policy, research, data and methodology Governance/capacity building/policy analysis 6
Development of methodology 4
Collection/analysis of datasets 5
Total 15
Other/ not known 14
Grand total 151

9. Gap analysis: conclusions
• Whole research chain – research that considers the full pathway of change
from agricultural inputs, practices, value chains, food environment to nutrition
outcomes; a significant number of projects do not consider the value chain
• Indirect effect of changes in agriculture on nutrition, through income and
economic growth and associated changes in health and investments in health
and education services
• Effects of agricultural policy on nutrition as mediated through the value chain
• Governance, policy processes and political economy as it relates to the
development of agriculture-for-nutrition policies and programmes, the ability
to implement them (and scale up) and for them to achieve their stated goals
once implemented.
• The way research on agriculture and nutrition is conducted, such as the
development of methodologies and appropriate metrics
• Consumers as a broader target group, notably rural workers and non-rural
populations
• The rural and urban poor at risk from nutrition-related non-communicable
diseases
• Cost-effectiveness