DISCUSSION No. 145 • FSN Forum digest No. 1324

Sustainable Farming Systems for Food and Nutrition Security

until 10 November 2017

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Dear Members,

The discussion Sustainable Farming Systems for Food and Nutrition Security keeps attracting insightful comments, which we would like to share below together with feedback from Alan Dangour and Aliza Pradhan, co-facilitators of this exchange.

Let us join them in encouraging you to take advantage of the last two days of discussion to share further experiences on reflect on the linkages between agriculture, nutrition and the environment.

The discussion also provides opportunity to highlight experiences and on-going research from low- and middle-income countries.

The full versions of the comments received so far are available on the FSN Forum website, where you will also find the introduction to the discussion and the guiding questions.

As always, comments are welcome in either English, French or Spanish.

We look forward to keep learning from you.

Your FSN Forum team

Alan Dangour, co-facilitator of the discussion

Monday marked the opening of the 23rd Conference of the Parties in Bonn, Germany (so called COP23) which is the United Nations’ annual meeting on climate change. A major theme of the conference this year will be the role that the agriculture sector has in meeting globally-agreed greenhouse gas emission targets. It is therefore really exciting to see such an active forum discussion board, read your thoughts and learn about all the interesting research underway.

Over the past week I have been particularly struck by contributions that have identified the importance of agriculture as a provider of eco-system services that support efforts to reduce the environmental impacts of farming. But many contributors have also noted the sometimes negative impacts of agricultural policies that don’t directly consider environmental impacts on issues such as land use, women’s empowerment and nutrition outcomes.

Several contributors have provided interesting lists of actions in agriculture (both technologies and interventions/policies) that are thought to benefit environmental outcomes. But how strong is the evidence for these technologies and policies? Do we really have the data to press policy makers to be making the right decisions that benefit both the planet and populations? Finally, our discussions have largely been about small-scale farming activities. While small-holder and subsistence farmers are among the most vulnerable populations on earth, does their impact on the environment outweigh the role of big agri-business? Should we in fact be focusing much more on the role that big business has to play in this critical issue?

We’ve only got a few days left on this forum so please send in your thoughts quickly! Thanks to you all for your superb contributions so far.

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Aliza Pradhan, co-facilitator of the discussion

Thank you Takele Teshome, for your contribution. Rightly said about importance of proper land use planning and cropping pattern as well as creating nutrition awareness and building linkages among different stakeholders towards achieving food and nutritional security.

Regarding sustainability of nutrition awareness programs, I would like to share one example from our study. Besides having workshops and meetings, we are also conducting training programs to build capacity of local men and women (Known as "Community Hunger Fighters") on nutrition related messages such as balanced diet, importance of hygiene and sanitation, nutritive value of different foods, food requirement at different stages of life cycle as well as different ways of linking agriculture to nutrition, knowledge of entitlements on agriculture, food and nutrition in the area, so that they diffuse the message within and outside the community. We also have nutrition garden interventions in schools and ICDS centres where different groups of vegetables are grown and the produce is going towards the Mid Day Meal.

Thanks. Aliza

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CONTRIBUTIONS RECEIVED

Daramola Tolu, Nigeria

Darmola shares some information from West Africa stating that interventions aimed at supporting smallholders often come in form of cash, which can be easily diverted or misappropriated. In addition, government interventions are often tied to empowering specific individuals and monetizing benefits. As a solution, she suggests leasing land to locals at much reduced rates thereby encouraging cooperation within communities.

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Vethaiya Balasubramanian, Freelance Consultant, India

Vethaiya stresses the importance of rice for the Asia region as it supports 140 million farmers, employs 300 million people in rice value chain activities and is the staple food for 60% of the continent's population. However, climate change and the fragmentation of rice farms after each generation pose serious challenges to the viability of rice farming in Asia. He feels that governments play an important role for addressing these climatic and socio-economic constraints.

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Nitya Rao, School of International Development and LANSA, India

Nitya shares insights from the city of Koraput, India informing us that women control the choice of crops and the output contributing to the diversity of diets but also sell small quantities in the local markets. This model is however coming under pressure from corporate interventions such as the rapid spread of eucalyptus plantations for the paper industry.

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Aminata Fatmata Kandeh, Agro Fish farm, Sierra Leone

Aminata mentions a series of challenges faced by smallholder farmers such as lacking infrastructure, little investment and insufficient agricultural education.

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T.P. Rajendran, Reasearch and Information System for Developing Countries, India

T.P. reflects on some of the changes caused by commercial agriculture based on mono cropping, which has supplanted the traditional integrated farming practices employed by Indian farmers for centuries.

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Barnali Chakraborty, Research and Evaluation Division of BRAC and LANSA, Bangladesh

Barnali shares information on a study carried out in the north-eastern part of Bangladesh, affected by floods for six month a year. The inhabitants rely on rice farming but can hardy carry out this because of these long term floods.

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Priya Rampal, MS Swaminathan Research Foundation, India

Priya focuses on the role of the government in promoting food and nutrition security amongst the population, highlighting, for instance, the role of the Public Distribution System (PDS).

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