To lead productive lives we need good nutrition, and good nutrition starts with what we eat. Food systems have great potential to make diverse and nutritious food available and affordable to all. To do that, however, there is a need to strengthen the focus not only on what food is produced, but also how food is produced, processed, distributed, marketed and delivered to consumers, the series of activities that together comprise a value chain. A value chain approach is emerging as a useful way to analyse and navigate the complexity of the food system to improve food security and nutrition outcomes. Such an approach can help to identify entry points for policy interventions, investment decisions and capacity development. Although the traditional focus of value chain development has been on increasing economic value, nutrition-sensitive value chains (NSVCs) leverage opportunities to enhance nutrition value as well, increasing supply and demand for safe and diverse food, and adding nutrition value, or minimizing nutrition losses.

In 2015,  the Rome-based Agencies (RBAs)—including FAO, IFAD, WFP and Bioversity International set up a working group on the topic of nutrition-sensitive value chains. This brief aims to disseminate the activities undertaken and the way forward of the RBAs working group on sustainable food value chains for nutrition.