Leveraging Agriculture to Improve Nutrition: Challenges and Opportunities Shenggen Fan Director General International Food Policy Research Institute SFNCC International Conference on Food and Nutrition, Beijing, Sept. 10, 2011
1. Leveraging Agriculture to Improve Nutrition: Challenges and
Opportunities
Shenggen FanDirector General
International Food Policy Research Institute
SFNCC International Conference on Food and Nutrition, Beijing,
Sept. 10, 2011
2. Key Messages
Global nutrition faces many challenges.
2. Agriculture presents a key opportunity for improving
nutrition.
3. Agenda for nutrition security must take advantage of the
linkages between sectors.
3. Global hunger remains unacceptably high
Number of undernourished (1969-71 to 2010)
Source: FAO 2010
4. Asia has more than half of worlds hungry
Undernourishment in 2010, by region (in millions)
Source: FAO 2010
5. Two billion+ suffer from micronutrient deficiencies
Iron deficiency anemia
Africa and South Asia have the highest prevalence.
In some parts of India, 90 percent of girls suffer from this
deficiency.
Vitamin A deficiency
163 million are vitamin A deficient in developing countries.
44.4 percent of children in South Asia alone suffer from this
deficiency.
Iodine deficiency
1.7 billion people worldwide are affected by iodine deficiency, and
1.3 billion of them are in Asia.
Source: UNSCN 6th Report & Bharati et al 2009
6. Agriculture: Opportunity to improve nutrition
7. Economic growth has significant impacts on nutrition
Projected reduction in child malnutrition rate with 2.5% annual
growth in income per capita (1990s-2015)
Source: Haddad et al. 2003
8. Growth impacts depend on countrys economic status
Proportion of undernourished (% of population)
Annual GDP per capita (constant 2000 US$)
Source: Ecker et al. 2010
Note: Nonlinear relationship between growth and
nutrition
9. Agricultural growth is crucial for nutrition in developing
countries
Proportion of undernourished (% of population)
Annual agriculture value added per worker (constant 2000 US$)
Source: Ecker et al. 2010
10. Agriculture-led growth is more pro-nutrition than
non-agriculture-led growth
Note: Relationship exists in the long-term but not short-term
Source: Headey. 2010
11. (Sub)Sectoral growth patterns and conditional factors
matter
Agriculture is often considered as homogenous -> diversity
of subsectors is ignored
12. Same growth rate could lead to different nutritional
outcomes due to diverse growth patterns and conditional
factors,including:
