المنتدى العالمي المعني بالأمن الغذائي والتغذية

Dear colleagues,

First and foremost many thanks for the opportunity to comment on this important document. The International Fertilizer Industry Association (IFA) is grateful for the level of openness and straightforward outcomes of these consultations.

We are also keen on thanking the organizers of the July 11th meeting in Geneva for facilitating private sector actors participation in the ICN2 process.

As an input industry, the fertilizer industry is aware of its contribution towards food and nutrition security. However, a systemic approach is required as no single actor be it government or private sector can singlehandedly tackle the challenge of undernutrition and of micronutrient deficiencies.

Therefore we are pleased with section 3.1 on Food Systems which takes a value chain approach to undernutrition. The section mentions micronutrient fertilization as a solution for undernutrition. We emphasize that these practices have been demonstrated to work and these models can and should be scaled up and tailored to fit other hidden hunger hotspots.

Micronutrient fertilization is a simple, affordable and sustainable solution to eradicate deficiencies globally, in particular in the case of zinc, selenium and iodine. This makes it a viable program which can be tailored to regional and national needs and implemented worldwide. Partnerships already exist in some countries. For example, the HarvestZinc initiative explores and tests fertilizer use to improve zinc concentration in various staple food crops such as wheat and rice in India, Brazil and China.

Scientific experiments show that zinc, selenium and iodine are the nutrients that can be most effectively provided to humans via micronutrient fertilization.

- In Finland commercial fertilizers nationwide are enriched with selenium to help mitigate the risk of human heart and cancer diseases.

- In Turkey, fertilizers are enriched with zinc to increase wheat, potato and fruit yields, as well as to improve the zinc nutrition status of its citizens.

- In Chile and Australia research has been conducted with iodine added to fertilizers in tomatoes and lettuce to mitigate risks of increased salt uptake.

In addition, Section 2.1 on Enabling Environments eloquently captures the need for frameworks for public-private partnerships in the area of nutrition. The private sector being referenced throughout the document is in our view a positive indicator of the increased synergies between private sector, governments and multilateral organizations.

Thanks and best regards,

Maria Antip

Policy Analyst

IFA

Dear FSN Forum members,

I want to say that document on ICN2 Framework for Action is a good attempt to capture all the areas of nutrition. However, the section3 that talks about education and social transfers need some beefing up. Education itself cannot produce the desirable behavioural change that could improve consumption of adequate diets. What I believe we need is emphasis on nutrition education and communication. One of the main gaps between adequate nutrition and agriculture is appropriate communication of nutrition information to farmers, households and the farming communities. Farmers need to know that fruits and vegetable are not meant to be sold but should also be consumed by their households. The positive impact of eating fruits and vegetables need to be demonstrated for effectiveness. Malnutrition indices are highest in rural communities and these are the same communities that produce the food. Nutrition education goes beyond impacting knowledge but passing the  information in a manner that will produce behavioural change.

Similarly social transfers should be carried out alongside nutrition education particularly during disasters and famine.

Prof Ignatius Onimawo PhD

Dear FSN colleagues,

I submit comments for your consideration in developing the next version of the draft framework relating to Question 3.2 Social Protection and 3.3 Health and wish to highlight the role of forests and trees.

3.2 Social Protection

Most of the community forestry work which gives communities long-term control over assets is a form of social protection. The functioning of forest foods as famine foods is a form of social protection.  Village saving funds – put together by e.g. thousands of forest protection committees in India and community forestry user groups and used for health-related emergencies, deaths, and other community support activities  ­– are another form of social protection. 

3.3 Health

The role of forests and trees outside forests in the health and health systems of local communities

I believe the draft should recognize and reflect the fact that local communities often work outside the formal employment sector and may be physically distant from official healthcare structures and facilities.  They therefore make greater use of forest products as a source of natural medicines and nutrient-rich, health-enhancing foods.  In this regard, please see FAO Forestry publication 1995 “Medicinal plants for conservation and health care”, the foreword of which states the following:

“The World Health Organization estimated that 80% of the population of developing countries rely on traditional medicines, mostly plant drugs, for their primary health care needs. Also, modern pharmacopoeia still contain at least 25% drugs derived from plants and many others which are synthetic analogues built on prototype compounds isolated from plants. Demand for medicinal plants is increasing in both developing and developed countries, and surprisingly, the bulk of the material traded is still from wild harvested sources on forest lands and only a very small number of species are cultivated…”

In addition, you may wish to consider the following amendments to the draft framework of action:

Paragraph 3.3.4 Nutrition education for behaviour change

• … “There is also a role for behaviour change interventions to use locally sourced nutritious foods, reduce waste …
• …”Nutrition information given to farming households can inform better decisions about food grown and how to grow them …” is almost a repetition of “People need clear and accurate information to be able to make healthy choices” You may consider deleting either one or combining them as follows: “nutrition information given to farming households should be clear and accurate so that better decisions about food grown...”
• …”Households food gardens, including agroforestry, in both rural and urban areas can be a vital complement to commercial food production with great potential …”
• …”Health, agriculture, forestry, and education ministries should coordinate their advice …”

Some documentation to support the above amendments includes:

1. The Moringa olefeira tree is an example of a forest product with documented health benefits on which there are many peer-reviewed articles regarding its use as a medicinal plant by local communities in Africa and Asia (view hyperlink).
2. The FAO document “ Towards food security and improved nutrition, increasing the contribution of forests and trees”, produced after the May 2013 International Conference on Forests for Food Security and Nutrition hosted at FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy, states:

“ … Greater attention on forests and trees outside forests would therefore strengthen the four pillars of food security (access, availability, use and stability) while facilitating consumption of nutritionally adequate diets (in terms of quantity, variety, diversity and nutrient content) …”’;

Under the section Economic, social and health benefits:

“...The rich diversity of medicinal plants found in forests is important for the wellbeing of millions of forest-dependent people and forms the basis of many health products now produced globally…”

… Foods obtained from forests and trees outside forests – in the form of leaves, seeds, nuts, honey, fruits, mushrooms, insects and wild animals – have been important in rural diets for thousands of years. Forest and tree foods often have very high nutritional value. Many forest animals are rich in readily absorbed iron, zinc and vitamin B12 as well as proteins and fat, and forests also provide diverse leafy vegetables, fruits, nuts and other plant foods important for the intake of vitamin A, iron, folate, niacin and calcium, readily absorbed iron, zinc and vitamin B12 as well as proteins and fat, and forests also provide diverse leafy vegetables, fruits, nuts and other plant foods important for the intake of vitamin A, iron, folate, niacin and calcium. In Burkina Faso, for example, where tree foods constitute 30 percent of rural diets, it has been reported that 100 grams of a fruit from the baobab tree contains 100 percent of a child’s recommended daily allowance of iron and potassium, 92 percent of a child’s recommended daily allowance of copper, and 40 percent of a child’s recommended daily allowance of calcium.

First of all I would like to congratulate the team for compiling such comprehensive document. 

Al though all parts of the documents are interconnected and support one another, I am more interested in food system part. In third world countries like Afghanistan subsistant agriculture makes the backbone of economy of the communities, particularly at rural terians. Thus food system plays key role in improving household nutrition.

In general food system part is developed well, however it needs more improvement in terms of better organizing and classifying the relavent information and steps in food system and suply chain. Clear recomedation is required for each step. In additiont to that, capacity development as a key part of improving nutrition sensitive food system is missing in the document.

Balance between political commetment and enhancing local cpacity to support societies help themselves is crucial. It will work smoothly when there is political will and it is supported by regional and national capabilities to enhance local and community level capacity for better nutrition outcome.

Support for technichal guidlines and developement of local technical guidelines are needed to be mentioned as well.

Nutrition education as key step in food system to make food system nutrition freindly is weak in the section. Although there is a separate section of Nutrition Education, which is very much appart from food system and suply chain. However, the real connection of nutrition education to food system and esence of integrated nutrition education in food system is poor that could be improved.

Quite relevent to food system, food safty is not well connected to food system in the document to reflect requirement of food safty in the relvent steps of food system. Food safty part is over occupied by AMR with long list of recomendations. At least a balance, to indicate same importance of food safty in food system is vital.

Akbar Shahristani

Friends,

At this stage I wish to comment on Section 5 and particularly on the tentative proposal to create an Inter-Governmental Panel on Nutrition (IPN) that would report to the UN General Assembly.

Over the years, one of the great institutional weaknesses at the international level has been the treatment of matters relating to food security and hunger eradication on the one side and nutrition on the other as largely different subjects. The cause for this separation has more to do with the first subject has been seen as lying within the purview of Ministries of Agriculture and the second as falling under Ministries of Health. At the international level, this dichotomy is reflected in the respective mandates of FAO and WHO.

One of the really good things about ICN 1 and 2 is that there has been a genuine recognition of the need to bring many disciplines together to tackle nutritional problems whether they relate to hunger, mineral and trace element deficiencies or overweight/obesity. We are also seeing in the draft Plan of Action welcome attention being given to the environmental dimensions of food production and consumption.

It seems a step backwards, therefore to recommend, albeit tentatively, the creation of IPN when we already have the High-Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE) reporting to the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) which, in turn, reports to UN ECOSOC.

Would it not be more consistent with the spirit of the Plan of Action to propose a widening of the agencies sponsoring the CFS (FAO, IFAD, WFP) to include also WHO and probably UNICEF, and to open its discussions more explicitly to Ministers of Health rather than mainly Ministers of Agriculture? This would conserve within the UN system the unity of approach to food security and nutrition that is evident in the Plan of Action and any successful practical interventions. It could give added weight to the CFS and especially to the HLPE. To create the IPN runs the risk of having two bodies within the UN system dealing with nutrition-related issues in the broadest sense, competing for scarce resources, reporting to different bodies within the UN system and possibly becoming rivalrous.

I would not have suggested this a few years ago, but the reformed CFS is now proving its worth and the HLPE is producing some high quality reports. Let’s build on this rather than be tempted to create yet another body.

Andrew MacMillan 

Hello everyone,

This document is very comprehensive and I say a big well done to all involved.

I was particulary drawn to the session that mentioned that schools are an excellent setting for promoting healthy eating. However, the teaching of food and nutrition knowledge in our schools is gradually eroding. In most schools around the world, it is offered as an elective/optional subject. Yet this singular issue if given the needed enabling environment have a double advantage of  breaking the intergenerational cycle of malnutrition as 25% of total human growth occurs during the adolescence stage. If properly targeted, girls can take advantage of this growth spurs to catch up on their growth before the reproductive  stage. In addition, behaviours are being formed during adolescence- when properly nutured, good dietary habits are formed, thus, reducing the global cost of  non-communicable dieseases later on in the life cycle.

Thank you

Ayodele Gbemileke

Chapter 3 under health. When talking about MIYCN, programs are only focusing on the mother and the child forgeting that the mother comes from a social system where there are many key decsision makers who dtermine the infant feeding practises to be adopted. Include grandmothers and fathers for the success of the MIYCN programmes.

Under anaemia, my experience is that alot of iron/folate supplements are given to the pregnant mothers. The issue of utilisation has not been addressed properly. some health workers just give out the supplements without clear information on utilisation  and therefore the mothers may not utilise the supplements. Best ways of addressing utilisation shuold be explored.

In health education, as we plan to target schools, it is also worhty noting that in some areas, schools going may not be a prioirity for the children. Include also sunday schools, duksis/ madrasas if we target children.

Thank you

Congratulations for the initiative!

I think the framework is comprehensive, evidence-based and inclusive. Coming from a institute that supports poor livestock keepers, I especially liked the positive mention of animal source food for the under-nourished, reference to the importance of research, and the thorough treatment of food safety and antimicrobial resistance. Getting more food will not help poor people if that food makes them sick.

As for many framework documents, many of the statements were very broad: this makes for good policy but a strategy is also needed with specific actions and targets. In some cases, the statistics quoted went beyond the evidence (for example, correlational data cannot be used to impute causation). It is important to apply an evidence lens, even to advocacy statements.

I would like to have seen more emphasis on the smallscale farmers, processors and sellers (many of them women) who are providing more than 80% of the nutrition rich food in developing countries. 

El documento me parece muy interesante, interdisciplinar y claro con relación a la diagnosis de la realidad y los futuros camiños que se puede adoptar en el enfrentamiento de los muchos problemas de malnutrición con los cuales hemos convivido en los distintos paises. Mis aportes se van en terminos de pensar especialmente los items 2 - Mecanismos institucionales para mejorar la nutrición, los subitems 2.1 Entornos favorables, 2.2 Mejor gobernanza en favor de la nutrición, especialmente a lo que se refiere a la creación de "Políticas coherentes aprobadas por los gobiernos con metas explícitas y estrategias ". 

Me gustaría tener sus ojos voltados para el tema de Alimentación Escolar. Es una politica que demanda de la sociedad, la sensibilidad, voluntad politica y los aportes técnicos para su institucionalización. 

Los programas de alimentación  escolar son considerados herramientas de protección social y son recomendados como uno de los componentes claves de las acciones de seguridad alimentaria y nutricional y de educación, en especial para reducir a la evasión escolar, garantizar el aprendizaje y rendimiento escolar, prevenir la desnutrición y obesidad, romper el ciclo del hambre, y, además de todo, promover el acceso y la adopción de hábitos alimentarios saludables. 

Es un tema transversal, que además de involucrar las diversas áreas de actuación politica, como educación, agricultura, ambiente, desarrollo social, demanda la articulación y participación de los gobiernos, parlamentarios, sociedad civil, organismos no governamentales y organizaciones internacionales de cada país.  

Actualmente, coordino un proyecto en nivel de Latinoamerica y Caribe que actúa desde el año de 2009 contribuyendo en el desarrollo de políticas públicas locales de alimentación escolar enfocadas en el derecho humano a la alimentación, a la oferta de alimentación adecuada, sana, sistemática, universal y sostenible. 

Tiene por referencia la experiencia de alimentación escolar desarrollada en Brasil,  por el “Programa Nacional de Alimentação Escolar” (PNAE), que es implementado por el Fundo Nacional de Desenvolvimento da Educação (FNDE)/ Ministério da Educação, hace más de 50 años. El programa de Brasil es una excelente referencia para los países porque es antiguo como política social, es grande, es universal, sistemático, basado en marcos legales que orientan su calidad y estrategia y se organiza a partir de una metodología que le permite alcanzar a casi 45 millones de estudiantes al día, respectando la diversidad local. En este medio siglo de existencia, el PNAE ha ampliado sus objetivos para abarcar desde el suministro de alimentos hasta la educación alimentaria y nutricional.

El objetivo general del proyecto es fortalecer los programas de alimentación escolar por medio de acciones y actividades desarrolladas a nivel regional y nacional. Es ejecutado en 13 países de América Latina y Caribe - Antígua e Barbuda, Bolívia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Nicarágua, Paraguay, Peru e República Dominicana y Santa Lucia, promoviendo la coordinación intra-gubernamental, la intersectorialidad de las políticas, la capacitación de los actores involucrados, la cultura de la educación alimentaria y nutricional y la compra directa de la agricultura familiar para la alimentación escolar.

El proyecto trabaja directamente con las instituciones gubernamentales, como Ministerios de Educación, Salud y Agricultura. La visión más amplia del tema y algunos cambios se han promovido a partir de esta intersectorialidad y de la formación/capacitación técnica que los técnicos de los ministerios reciben por parte del proyecto, tomando como referencia los muchos temas que dicen respecto a la alimentación escolar.    

La estrategia de intervención del proyecto está enfocada en:

A . Fortalecimiento y articulación de las políticas de alimentación escolar, con énfasis en la promoción de debates, reflexiones y documentos que institucionalicen las políticas locales de alimentación escolar, a partir del apoyo y de la participación de ministros, vice-ministros, secretarios, sociedad civil, comunidad escolar, consejeros y parlamentares;

B. Desarrollo y fortalecimiento de capacidades humanas para la ejecución de las políticas locales, teniendo como principal eje la capacitación de las personas que están, de alguna manera, involucradas en el escenario de la política de alimentación escolar, como: gestores, administradores, técnicos, nutricionistas, profesores, coordinadores locales de educación, entre otros.

C. Perfeccionamiento de las condiciones físicas de las escuelas, estimulando la mejoría de la calidad de los espacios de preparación, almacenamiento y distribución de los alimentos a los estudiantes;

D. Generación y difusión de conocimiento e información por medio de estudios, sistematizaciones de experiencias y publicaciones de materiales técnicos y didácticos al respecto de la temática;

E. Consolidación de una red de información, de construcción de conocimientos e de integración de personas que discutan e promuevan el tema Alimentación Escolar en la Región. 

La alimentación en la escuela es una estrategia de enfrentamiento del hambre y de la desnutrición, incluso del bajo peso, obesidad, malos hábitos alimenticios, falta de conocimientos sobre los alimentos y sus consecuencias para la vida humana, el precio de los alimentos, la falta de agua potable,  la necesidad de su uso de una manera racional y sostenible, falta de alimentos, producción y comercialización de alimentos y otros temas relacionados con la vida social.

Para avanzar en esa perspectiva, es importante considerar la estrategia de educación alimentaria y nutricional de los estudiantes en la escuela.

Del punto de vista pedagógico, para que el proceso de educación alimentaria sea efectivo y alcance los resultados, algunas reflexiones y acciones son fundamentales para fortalecer la inserción del tema alimentación escolar en la práctica cotidiana de la escuela, entre ellas:

a)      La alimentación  escolar debe estar presente todos los días lectivos en la escuela con calidad con calidad y adecuación nutricional;

b)      Los temas y debates sobre alimentación deben garantizar que todas las dimensiones de esa acción humana sean abordadas: la dimensión económica, social, cultural, religiosa, psicológica, pedagógica, nutricional, artística, gastronómica, entre otras, dinamizando así el currículo escolar;

c)      Es importante que el tema alimentación componga el currículo de las escuelas, direccionando actividades entre los docentes y demás profesionales en la escuela, promoviendo actividades integradoras de la acción escolar;

d)      Las prácticas de educación alimentaria y nutricional no solamente acontecen en las clases. Esa educación debe acontecer en los varios niveles de la política en varios ámbitos de los sistemas de enseñanza. E por lo tanto, deben alcanzar además de los estudiantes, los profesores, profesores, cocineras, agricultores familiares, nutricionistas, coordinadores pedagógicos y también los padres y madres de familia.

Hemos logrado muchos cambios en las politicas de alimentación escolar de los países, especialmente en sus aspectos normativos, de capacitaciones de los actores claves, de calidad, de cobertura, de oportunidades de educación alimentaria por medio de huertos escolares y, sobre todo, en el cambio de paradigma de alimentación escolar para todos - no como politicas direccionada solo a los vulnerables, si no como politica de garantizar el derecho humano a la alimentación adecuada a toda la poblacion escolar. 

Thank you for the opportunity to contribute with comments on the draft FFA. The Tetra Laval Food for Development Office would like to comment as follows:

3.1 Food Systems

The FFA does not single out specific food commodities but rather describes groups of foods (animal-sourced foods, vegetables, fruits etc). FAO published an excellent and very comprehensive report on “Milk and Dairy Products in Human Nutrition” (FAO, 2013 http://www.fao.org/docrep/018/i3396e/i3396e.pdf) that is worth mentioning. It concludes that milk production and dairy industry development, including production driven by small holder dairy farmers, offer huge opportunities to provide good nutrition, create jobs, daily incomes and reduce food losses. Below are some quotes from the report:

Milk and dairy products play a key role in healthy human nutrition and development throughout life, but especially in childhood.

Milk is an efficient vehicle for delivering several critical micronutrients and improving growth of young children.

Animal milk, rich in bio-available nutrients, delivered to young children, may prevent micronutrient deficiencies and stunted growth. Evidence also shows that milk programming can stimulate local production and simultaneously address malnutrition and poverty.

Milk is a nutritious food and can make a major contribution to household food security and income.

A daily 200 ml glass of milk provides a 5-year-old child with: 21 percent of protein requirements; 8 percent calories; Key micro-nutrients

Dairying provides regular income from the sale of milk surplus for daily household and farm needs

Cattle can thrive on plant matter inedible to humans

In several cases the FFA document indicates that small scale production has to be small scale all through the value chain. This is not true and in many cases inhibits development. Small scale production can efficiently be linked to industrial scale processing and marketing. Below are some suggestions where this can be clarified.

Paragraph 3-4 (page 7)

Instead of only stressing the need to “Enhance the efficiency of traditional food value chains” (probably meaning informal chains, marketing of unprocessed foods) it should be mentioned that for perishable foods (e.g. milk) there is a need to transform informal chains into formal. Also small holder farmers need to be integrated into industrial/formal value chains and get a secure access to market, reduce the losses and improve their incomes. While it is true that “modern food processing and retailing facilities increased availability and access to animal source foods”, it is also true that modern food processing (aseptic packaging of milk for example) does not necessarily need modern retail to reach consumers. With long life products, also the traditional trade can market milk and other sensitive foods.

Page 8

In the list of WHO recommendations of what diets should ensure, the last bullet says: “Adequate intake of animal source foods is guaranteed in children under five”. Why only to children under five? Why not “to all”?  These recommendations are probably a quote from another document, but in this FFA it should be concluded that we all need access to animal source foods because of its high nutritional value.

Page 9, paragraph 4

“Greater post-harvest food processing at community level” is mentioned as a solution to reduce relative prices or the time it takes to obtain or prepare more nutritious food. This statement is not true for all foods. Small-scale processing at community level is in many cases not viable and does not always result in good quality. Communities and small scale producers could also be linked to market through efficient, professional and more large scale processors with developed market channels to reach consumers.

Priority actions, page 10-11

Add to bullet five: Strengthen facilities for local food production and processing, especially for nutrient-rich foods. Link small holder farmers to industrial/formal value chains

3.1.2 Sustainable healthy diets

In the discussions about environmental impact of food production, it is now more and more acknowledged that also nutritional content has to be a factor in the assessments of environmental and climate impact of food production. The study “Nutrient density of beverages in relation to climate impact” is the first to estimate the composite nutrient density, expressed as percentage of Nordic Nutrition Recommendations (NNR) for 21 essential nutrients, in relation to cost in GHG emissions of the production from a life cycle perspective, expressed in grams of CO2-equivalents, using an index called the Nutrient Density to Climate Impact (NDCI) index. The NDCI index was calculated for milk, soft drink, orange juice, beer, wine, bottled carbonated water, soy drink, and oat drink”. The study showed that due to a very high-nutrient density, the NDCI index for milk was substantially higher (0.54) than for the other beverages. Results in its entirety were published in the scientific journal Food and Nutrition Research 23 August, 2010 on www.foodandnutritionresearch.net

It could be added under “Priority actions” that “Nutrient density should be taken into account when assessing environmental and climate impact of food production”

3.2 Social Protection

School feeding is a proven way of stimulating local food production and processing as well as a way to improve children’s nutrient intake. However, it is important to remember that not all foods are suitable for small scale local supplies. Domestic production is usually a requirement from governments but food supplies from the closest village are not necessarily the best solution for all foods. In the school feeding paragraph on page 14, “small farmers” should be replaced by “farmers and food processors”.  

School feeding should have more weight in this document as an effective tool to address malnutrition and at the same time encourage good eating habits, improve health and school performance and at the same time create a market for high quality, nutritious, locally produced and processed foods.

3.3 Health

School feeding could be mentioned as a way to address both wasting and stunting, just like it is already mentioned under actions to address anaemia in women of reproductive age.

3.3.4 Nutrition education for behavior change

The recommendation to “advice so that farming communities make healthier food produce available, e.g., by procuring food from small farmer cooperatives for dietary diverse school feeding programmes” again presumes that direct sales to local schools is the preferred model for supplies to school feeding programmes. Again, this may work for certain produce but is hard to monitor and does not work for milk for example. Milk is a very common nutritional component of school feeding programmes and needs to be processed and packed before distributed to schools. This cannot be done on a community level without great challenges in distribution. Small producers can be effectively integrated in industrial value chains with the right support from the public and private sectors.

4.4 International trade and investment

Why is not “animal sourced foods” mentioned in the third paragraph as an example of healthy foods?