Nutrition sensitivity with regard food value chains is constrained by the lack of diversification due to land limitations and lack of diversity of seeds. Ever increasing populations coupled with unsustainable methods of farming make huge parcels of land to become unproductive to support plant growth and pressure mount in terms of demand for limited arable land. This constrains diversification. The second point on lack of seed diversity has increasingly worsened over the past years with the reinforcement of commercial agriculture which builds dependence on external seeds supplied by commercial entities. These seeds are hybrid in nature and therefore have to be bought every season. With the poverty levels among the rural farming households; they become dependent, lose food production sovereignity and can only bank on hybrids supplied by commercial entities. Further, due to the use of chemicals in the production, these can have adverse effects on human nutrition endangered by GMOs and residual chemical elements which compromises the quality of food.
Mr. Jeston Lunda