IFAD showcases progress in nutritional outcomes and agro development in West and Central Africa

15 Dec 2023 --- The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) highlights the progress it has made in the past five years in “nutrition mainstreaming” — encouraging the informed inclusion of nutrition considerations into policies, strategies, investments and actions that rely on agri-food systems to enable healthy diets for all people.

Nutrition Insight sits down with Bernard Hien, IFAD West and Central Africa regional director, to discuss the organization’s achievements and upcoming projects.

“IFAD’s approach to improving food systems for healthy diets that are affordable and accessible consists initially in promoting investments that ensure the production and transformation of more nutritious and diversified agricultural products,” Hien tells us.

“We recognize that improvements in food production and processing for nutrition will have a deeper and more sustainable impact when they are supported with interventions that build nutrition knowledge at all levels of the food system.” 

These should focus on “promoting demand for more nutritious products in the markets and by producers, promoting behavior changes of rural populations in terms of improved eating habits — always in respect of local preferences, recipes and customs — and targeting all household members along the life cycle.”

Bernard Mwinyel Hien, the Regional Director of the West and Central AfricaDivision of IFAD (Image Credit: IFAD).Mainstreaming nutrition 
Last week, alongside governments, partners and other stakeholders, IFAD organized a three-day workshop discussing optimizing agriculture and nutrition in the context of food systems in West and Central Africa.

“Africa remains the continent with the highest population of undernourished individuals, affecting almost 20% of the population (more than 256 million people). Nutrition is at the forefront of IFAD’s Strategic Framework 2016-2025, specifically under Strategic Objective One — Increase poor rural people’s productive capacities,” says Hien. 

He outlines that IFAD is accelerating efforts to mainstream nutrition into its rural development initiatives through its commitments to increase the target of nutrition-sensitive projects at design to 60%, add a nutrition impact indicator to the Results Management Framework (aiming to provide 11 million people with improved nutrition) and mobilize unrestricted complementary contributions for nutrition.

“IFAD’s comparative advantage is that it specifically targets the poor and most vulnerable households in rural areas (including women, children, youth — adolescent girls — and indigenous peoples). Effective targeting of these nutritionally vulnerable groups is essential for achieving nutrition results while leaving no one behind.”

Gender and nutrition 
Hien explains that IFAD projects are designed through a nutrition- and gender-sensitive lens, helping rural people improve their diets by growing and consuming diverse, nutritious, safe and affordable foods. 

“To combat malnutrition, we combine our solid technical knowledge with investments in nutrition- and gender-sensitive agriculture through unique food-based approaches. We finance nutritional education and support actions that reshape food systems and improve nutrition security.”

“We also pay special attention to the role of women and adolescent girls, who make up a large percentage of the workforce in agriculture and are the safeguards of nutritious diets at household level. Empowering women by improving their knowledge on nutrition, as well as promoting maternal nutrition and nutrition of adolescent girls, dietary intake and hygiene behaviors, can reduce undernutrition for entire generations,” he continues. 

Gender-sensitive agricultural projects can help ensure women have more control over resources and that both rural men and women understand the important role that they play in supporting good nutrition.

“Climate change exacerbates the already vast burden of malnutrition and undermines current efforts to reduce hunger and promote nutrition,” cautions Hien. “As a result, IFAD has increased its commitment to providing resources for nutrition-related issues and is mainstreaming nutrition, gender and climate change actions across all its programs and projects.” 

Family farming development in Niger
Emphasizing the need to support women and youth in processing and marketing nutritious products, Hien provides an example of the successful IFAD Family Farming Development Programme (ProDAF) project implemented in Niger. 

“Since 2016, ProDAF has helped reduce the proportion of children under five years old in the program regions suffering from acute malnutrition from 18% to 14.8% – equivalent to 58,000 children. ProDAF increases sustainable productivity and production through better access to water and improved seeds and land management practices. Over 11,000 hectares have been restored in three years, and 75,065 hectares are under assisted natural regeneration.”

Small-holder farmers in the town of Gouraye in southwestern Mauritania’s semi-arid Guidimaka Region (Image Credit: IFAD/Ibrahima Kebe Diallo).The regional director highlights that with more than 4,500 households now having guaranteed access to water for crop irrigation, yields have increased by an average of 20% — up 52% for irrigated crops and 42% for millet. The program has supported the setting up of granaries to ensure food availability for women and vulnerable households during shortages.

“In addition, households have received 2,568 goat-rearing packages to improve children’s nutrition through goat milk consumption. The 73 nutritional improvement and recovery centers set up in the intervention zone facilitate the management of practical sessions for the care of malnourished children and food demonstrations,” he adds. 

Market linkages and value chains
Hien points out that market linkages and value chains can play a critical role in determining the availability, affordability and quality of food, and some of the projects reviewed invest in nutrition-sensitive value chains. 

“This is the case of Rural Development — Climate Change Adaptation and Agribusiness Support Programme in the Savannah Belt in Nigeria and the Inclusive Value Chain Development Project in Mauritania.” 

“In these projects the approach aims to enhance both the supply and the demand for nutritious food through education, as well as to add nutritional value and minimize food and nutrient loss at different points in the selected value chains to improve the availability, affordability and quality of nutritious food — all within the context of a changing climate.”

He argues that value chains are selected based on market potential, climate resilience and nutrition potential. “For example, the baobab fruit is one of the most nutritious fruits in the world, with around five times the amount of vitamin C of oranges and more than twice the amount of calcium in milk. Its leaves are also very rich in protein and iron. Goat milk and associated products also offer well-documented nutritional benefits.” 

Rising overweight and obesity rates 
During the workshop, experts and practitioners discussed the growing prevalence of overweight and obesity, contributing to the rise of non-communicable diseases in West and Central Africa. 

“Overweight and obesity rates across low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are approaching levels found in higher-income countries,” Hien says. He outlines that in the next 15 years, the overall annual cost of overweight and obesity in LMICs is expected to reach US$ 7 trillion.

“IFAD’s strategic framework states that ‘agricultural productivity growth alone is not sufficient to generate improved nutritional outcomes.’ To ensure the connection between increased incomes, production and better nutrition, including prevention and reduction of overweight and obesity, IFAD’s entry points in West and Central Africa include four intervention areas.”

Among these intervention areas is private sector involvement: “It is important that we integrate obesity and overweight more systematically into IFAD’s investment design, particularly in countries that are seeing a fast rise in the number of people affected.” 

“We must direct financing for the transformation of food systems towards encouraging the production and consumption of healthy food. One of the ways we can do this is by creating stronger partnerships with the private sector, whose work on food systems is significant.”

The second intervention area is food diversity. Hien explains: “The consumption of highly processed, pre-prepared and fast foods is increasing and contributing to diet-related conditions. We must continue to encourage the diversification of food production in the IFAD-supported programs, for example, through supporting policies that incentivize the production of fruits and vegetables.” 

The third is the importance of data: “To successfully target overweight and obesity, we need data that is ample and current. In this way, we will be able to properly evaluate the effectiveness of our interventions to limit overweight and obesity and provide evidence for policymakers.”

The last area of intervention Hien points to are government, civil society and partnership. 

“It is important for governments and all stakeholders to work together to discourage and reverse the rise in overweight and obesity by making more space in the market for healthier foods. We must act now and work together to adapt our strategies and efforts to this new reality and support rural communities by making the choice of healthier foods and regular physical activities the easiest choice,” Hien emphasizes. 

By Milana Nikolova