Healthy Diets from Sustainable Food Systems

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10568/69160

This Bioversity International Initiative studies how agricultural and tree biodiversity can be better used within food production systems through:

  1. Rural to urban agri-food chains — we investigate how agri-food value chains serve as a vehicle to connect producers who are often in rural areas, with consumers in peri-urban and urban areas; and
  2. Local agri-food systems — we analyze how a whole-diet approach can contribute to improved nutrition and health among low-income urban and rural consumers.

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Recent Submissions

Now showing 1 - 20 of 255
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    Born to eat wild: an integrated conservation approach to secure wild food plants for food security and nutrition
    (Journal Article, 2020-10) Borelli, Teresa; Hunter, Danny; Powell, Bronwen; Ulian, Tiziana; Mattana, Efisio; Termote, Céline; Pawera, Lukas; Beltrame, Daniela M.O.; Penafiel, Daniela; Tan, Ayfer; Taylor, Mary; Engels, Johannes M.M.
    Overlooked in national reports and in conservation programs, wild food plants (WFPs) have been a vital component of food and nutrition security for centuries. Recently, several countries have reported on the widespread and regular consumption of WFPs, particularly by rural and indigenous communities but also in urban contexts. They are reported as critical for livelihood resilience and for providing essential micronutrients to people enduring food shortages or other emergency situations. However, threats derived from changes in land use and climate, overexploitation and urbanization are reducing the availability of these biological resources in the wild and contributing to the loss of traditional knowledge associated with their use. Meanwhile, few policy measures are in place explicitly targeting their conservation and sustainable use. This can be partially attributed to a lack of scientific evidence and awareness among policymakers and relevant stakeholders of the untapped potential of WFPs, accompanied by market and non‐market barriers limiting their use. This paper reviews recent efforts being undertaken in several countries to build evidence of the importance of WFPs, while providing examples of cross‐sectoral cooperation and multi‐stakeholder approaches that are contributing to advance their conservation and sustainable use. An integrated conservation approach is proposed contributing to secure their availability for future generations.
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    Compendium of indicators for food system assessment
    (Book, 2020-07) Kennedy, Gina; Rota Nodari, Giulia; Trijsburg, Laura; Talsma, Elise F.; Haan, Stef de; Evans, Bob; Hernández, Ronald; Achterbosch, Thom
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    Start me up! Food biodiversity and youth-led innovations
    (Book Chapter, 2020-05) Gee, Eliot; Lee, Hyunju
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    The ABC of mainstreaming biodiversity for food and nutrition: concepts, theory and practice
    (Book Chapter, 2020-05) Gee, Eliot; Borelli, Teresa; Moura de Oliveira Beltrame, Daniela; Neves Soares Oliveira, Camila; Coradin, Lídio; Wasike, Victor W.; Manjella, Aurillia; Samarasinghe, Gamini W.L.; Güner, Birgül; Tan, Ayfer; Özbek, Kürşad; Tuğrul Ay, Saadet; Karabak, Sevinç; Aysar Güzelsoy, Nurcan; Hunter, Danny
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    Evidence for the role of biodiversity in supporting healthy, diverse diets and nutrition
    (Book Chapter, 2020-05) Hattersley, Libby; Cogill, Bruce; Hunter, Danny; Kennedy, Gina
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    Biodiversity, food and nutrition: A new agenda for sustainable food systems
    (Book, 2020-05) Hunter, Danny; Borelli, Teresa; Gee, Eliot
    This book examines the challenges and impacts of poor diets and nutrition from current food systems and the potential contribution of biodiversity and ecosystem services in addressing these problems. It also presents a multi-country, cross-sectoral analysis of initiatives that have promoted local food biodiversity in four countries: Brazil, Kenya, Turkey and Sri Lanka.
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    Basic nutrition concepts & nutrition indicators:Training manual for project management unit members
    (Training Material, 2018) Ekesa, Beatrice; Nabuuma, Deborah; Namukose, Samalie; Upenytho, George
    This training guide is intended to build capacity of Project management Team to transfer knowledge on basic concepts regarding appropriate dietary patterns and use of existing farming systems for better household nutrition. In referring to this manual, the Project management team will be able to transfer the information gained to community level field extension workers. The expected impact is that enhanced knowledge of the links between agriculture, nutrition and health, formation and/or upgrading of existing home gardens into comprehensive gardens as well as proper dietary and health practices will eventually lead to enhanced nutrition and health status.
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    Basic nutrition concepts & nutrition indicators:Training manual for field extension service providers
    (Training Material, 2019) Ekesa, Beatrice; Nabuuma, Deborah; Namukose, Samalie; Upenytho, George
    This training guide is intended to build capacity of community level resource persons to transfer knowledge on basic concepts regarding appropriate dietery patterns and use of existing Basic Nutrition Concepts &Nutrition Indicators for better household nutrition. In reffering to this manual,the community resource persons will be able to draft action plans to transfer the information gained to community members.The expected impact is that enhanced knowledge of the links between agriculture,nutrition and health,formation and/or upgrading of existing home gardens into comprehensive gardens as well as proper dietary and health practices will eventually lead to enhanced nutrition and health status.
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    Promoting (pro) vitamin A-rich bananas: A chronology
    (Report, 2020-04) Fongar, Andrea; Nabuuma, Deborah; Ekesa, Beatrice
    Micronutrient deficiencies remain the largest nutritional problem worldwide, with globally over 2 billion people affected. Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) remains a widespread and major public health concern in Africa and South-East Asia. VAD prevalence in Eastern Africa significantly exceeds the WHO threshold of 30%, indicating a severe public health and nutrition problem for the region (Burundi 46%; DRC 64%; Tanzania 43%; Uganda 39%). Besides its role in healthy vision, vitamin A is important for several physiological processes within the human body, including foetal development, immune response, and growth and therefore, is crucial for maternal and child wellbeing and survival. Among the numerous strategies that have been employed in the fight against VAD, reports indicate that food-based strategies are the most sustainable, especially among rural communities who depend on agriculture for both food and income. Thus, this HarvestPlus-supported 14-year-long project, entitled, Addressing micronutrient deficiencies in sub-Saharan Africa through Musa-based foods’ has defined strategies and fast-track deployment mechanisms that increase access to and consumption of high-micronutrient Musa-based foods for micronutrient-deficient populations in sub-Saharan Africa, with a focus on Burundi, Eastern DRC, Tanzania and Uganda. HarvestPlus improves nutrition and public health by developing and promoting new and/or more nutritious varieties of staple food crops that are rich in vitamins and minerals and providing global leadership on biofortification evidence and technology (see https://www.harvestplus.org/content/about). To date, 15 provitamin A-rich banana cultivars of different sub-groups (Plantain, ABB Cooking bananas, AA and AAA Dessert bananas, Pacific Plantains and AA Cooking bananas) from different countries with above-average levels of provitamin A carotenoids (pVAC) (retinol activity equivalents >333μg/100gdw) have undergone agronomic evaluation (3-6 cycles) alongside local cultivars of the same sub-group. Following this activity, seven cultivars namely Apantu-AAB African Plantain (Ghana), Bira-AAB Pacific Plantain (Papua New Guinea), Pelipita-ABB Plantain (The Philippines), Lahi-AAB Pacific Plantain (Hawaii), Lai-AAA Dessert (Thailand), Pisang Papan-AAA Dessert (Indonesia) and Muracho-AAB Plantain (the Philippines), have demonstrated potential to perform well within Eastern Africa. Furthermore, the 15 cultivars have undergone sensory evaluation alongside the local cultivars of similar sub-groups. The cultivars were evaluated as raw, ripe (dessert) fruit, and also following boiling, roasting, frying, and steaming. More than 500 farmer-representatives have been involved and findings indicate that five of the 15 tested cultivars (Apantu, Bira, Lai, Pelipita, To’o) are well accepted and their preference is not statistically different from the local cultivars with acceptability scores ranging from good to very good. Agronomic, sensory and pVAC content evaluation indicates that the best performing cultivars are Apantu, Bira, Lahi, Pelipita, Muracho, and Pisang Papan. Since 2016 efforts have been made to accelerate macro-propagation activities to ensure the distribution of sufficient planting material of the preferred cultivars. More than 17,000 high pVACs banana plantlets have been distributed directly to farmers by the project team and partners. Additionally, farmer-to-farmer sharing of the banana planting materials have been reported. For example, 1,021 plantlets were shared amongst farmers in 2017. The project included capacity building of community members through a training of trainers approach (TOT). Through the 497 community resource persons (291 men and 206 women), that have been trained and equipped with information on the best practices on management of banana plantations, appropriate intercropping, storage techniques, cooking methods and dietary combination, and food safety and hygiene, more than 12,900 farmer-households (5,000 men and 7,900 women) have been reached directly with information on sustainable utilization of the vitamin A bananas in their farming and food systems. Involving community members, nutritious recipes based on the provitamin A-rich bananas combined with beans, fish and other nutritious ingredients have been developed. In collaboration with CIP-Nairobi, samples of the developed recipes were tested to establish their full nutrient composition value. Findings indicated that the total provitamin A carotenoid content ranged from 789-1770 μg/100g. In 2019, the focus of the project has been on the continuation of the agronomic evaluation, promotion of the developed recipes, training of community members on community-level micropropagation to enable them to continue the multiplication to share planting materials. Further, the focus was on the institutionalization of the cultivars as part of the national germplasm collection for continued and sustainable conservation and future use. Currently, in NARO-Uganda, TARI-Tanzania and ISABU-Burundi, the vitamin A-rich bananas are being integrated into the national banana germplasm collections. In DRC the process is planned for early 2020. The 14-year program has achieved some notable successes, with expanding adoption of five pVAC-rich, tasty cultivars, that perform at least as well as local options, in terms of yield and pest tolerance. The program has also successfully trained tens of thousands of stakeholders in communities across the region, in production practices, nutrition, planting material production, food processing and recipes. During implementation the team better has come to better understand that: i) the adoption of the exotic banana is possible; ii) taste and values vary across regions and communities, so acceptability studies are needed; iii) community resource persons are critical for sustained impact; iv) sustainable access to the planting material is vital; v) farmers must be fully engaged in the evaluation and selection of the materials (agronomic and sensory); vi) dietary studies on nutrient-trade-offs must be conducted; and vii) diet systems differ across countries and regions. Lessons for scaling regionwide adoption of VABs can be drawn from the introduction and scaling of orange-fleshed sweetpotatoes (OFSPs) in sub-Saharan Africa1. A ‘VAB for Profit and Health Initiative (VPHI).’could help reach millions of households across SSA, that builds on the 2019 VAB institutionalisation efforts.
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    Apoyando una Agricultura Sensible a la Nutrición, a través de especies olvidadas y subutilizadas: Marco operacional
    (Report, 2019) Padulosi, Stefano; Phrang, Roy; Rosado May, Francisco J.
    This joint Bioversity-IFAD publication was developed to guide IFAD and other agencies’ efforts in leveraging neglected and underutilized species (NUS) in support of Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture. It presents a holistic value chain approach for the use enhancement of these local resources in project design and implementation in order to attain more resilient production and food systems. It also highlights ways by which their better use can contribute towards the social and economic empowerment of marginalized groups, including women an Indigenous Peoples, who play an essential role in safeguarding their genetic diversity and associated traditional knowledge.
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    Soutenir une agriculture axée sur la nutrition grâce aux espèces négligées et sous-utilisées
    (Report, 2019) Padulosi, Stefano; Phrang, Roy; Rosado May, Francisco J.
    This joint Bioversity-IFAD publication was developed to guide IFAD and other agencies’ efforts in leveraging neglected and underutilized species (NUS) in support of Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture. It presents a holistic value chain approach for the use enhancement of these local resources in project design and implementation in order to attain more resilient production and food systems. It also highlights ways by which their better use can contribute towards the social and economic empowerment of marginalized groups, including women an Indigenous Peoples, who play an essential role in safeguarding their genetic diversity and associated traditional knowledge.
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    Aligning evidence generation and use across health, development, and environment
    (Journal Article, 2019-08) Tallis, Heather; Kreis, Katharine; Olander, Lydia; Ringler, Claudia; Ameyaw, David; Borsuk, Mark E.; Fletschner, Diana; Game, Edward; O Gilligan, Daniel; Jeuland, Marc; Kennedy, Gina; Masuda, Yuta J.; Mehta, Sumi; Miller, Nicholas; Parker, Megane; Pollino, Carmel; Rajaratnam, Julie; Wilkie, David; Zhang, Wei; Ahmed, Selena; Ajayi, Oluyede C.; Alderman, Harold; Arhonditsis, George; Azevedo, Ines; Badola, Ruchi; Bailis, Rob; Balvanera, Patricia; Barbour, Emily; Bardini, Mark; Barton, David N.; Baumgartner, Jill; Benton, Tim G.; Bobrow, Emily; Bossio, Deborah A.; Bostrom, Ann; Braimoh, Ademola; Brondizio, Eduard; Brown, Joe; Bryant, Benjamin P.; Calder, Ryan S.D.; Chaplin-Kramer, Rebecca; Cullen, Alison; DeMello, Nicole; Dickinson, Katherine L.; Ebi, Kristie L.; Ever, Heather V.; Fanzo, Jessica; Ferraro, Paul J.; Fisher, Brendan; Frongillo, Edward A.; DeClerck, Fabrice A.J.; Remans, Roseline
    Although health, development, and environment challenges are interconnected, evidence remains fractured across sectors due to methodological and conceptual differences in research and practice. Aligned methods are needed to support Sustainable Development Goal advances and similar agendas. The Bridge Collaborative, an emergent research-practice collaboration, presents principles and recommendations that help harmonize methods for evidence generation and use. Recommendations were generated in the context of designing and evaluating evidence of impact for interventions related to five global challenges (stabilizing the global climate, making food production sustainable, decreasing air pollution and respiratory disease, improving sanitation and water security, and solving hunger and malnutrition) and serve as a starting point for further iteration and testing in a broader set of contexts and disciplines. We adopted six principles and emphasize three methodological recommendations: (1) creation of compatible results chains, (2) consideration of all relevant types of evidence, and (3) evaluation of strength of evidence using a unified rubric. We provide detailed suggestions for how these recommendations can be applied in practice, streamlining efforts to apply multi-objective approaches and/or synthesize evidence in multidisciplinary or transdisciplinary teams. These recommendations advance the necessary process of reconciling existing evidence standards in health, development, and environment, and initiate a common basis for integrated evidence generation and use in research, practice, and policy design.
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    Agrobiodiversity, school gardens and healthy diets: Promoting biodiversity, food and sustainable nutrition
    (Book, 2020) Hunter, Danny; Monville-Oro, Emilita; Burgos, Bessie; Rogel, Carmen Nyhria; Calub, Blesilda; Gonsalves, Julian Francis; Lauridsen, Nina Olsen
    This book critically assesses the role of agrobiodiversity in school gardens and its contribution to diversifying diets, promoting healthy eating habits and improving nutrition among schoolchildren as well as other benefits relating to climate change adaptation, ecoliteracy and greening school spaces. It features international case studies, spanning both developed and developing nations.
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    Diversifying agriculture in post-conflict areas: 7 things we can change
    (Brief, 2020) Ekesa, Beatrice; Baganizi, Mary; Dolan, Ian
    Agricultural biodiversity is central to current and future food and nutrition and security needs in Uganda. Unfortunately, in some parts of the country, such as Teso and Acholi sub regions, which faced up to two decades of conflict, this diversity is increasingly under threat from practices such as charcoal making and land clearing for agriculture. As a result, there is reduced investment in longer term sustainable farming practices that conserve and promote diversity. This contributes to high food insecurity and lack of access to diverse diets especially among vulnerable groups such as Women of Reproductive Age (WRA) (15-49 years) and children under five years. Adoption of sustainable agricultural practices can promote agrobiodiversity and enhance nutritional outcomes and quality of life of vulnerable groups. This brief gives a summary of findings and insights from research conducted in 2018 by Bioversity International and Trocaire, Uganda, working closely with a number of partners including National Agriculture Research Organisation (NARO), Makerere University and Ministry of Health-Uganda (Division of Nutrition). It points out interventions and actions that can be implemented in culturally.
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    Nutrition-sensitive value chains from a smallholder perspective: A framework for project design
    (Working Paper, 2020) Peña, Isabel de la; Garrett, James; Gelli, Aulo
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    Exploring solution spaces for nutrition-sensitive agriculture in Kenya and Vietnam
    (Journal Article, 2020-04) Timler, Carl J.; Álvarez, Stéphanie; DeClerck, Fabrice A.J.; Remans, Roseline; Raneri, Jessica Evelyn; Estrada-Carmona, Natalia; Mashingaidze, Nester; Abe Chatterjee, Shantonu; Chiang, Tsai Wei; Termote, Céline; Yang, Ray-Yu; Descheemaeker, Katrien K.; Brouwer, Inge D.; Kennedy, Gina; Tittonell, Pablo A.; Groot, Jeroen C.J.
    Smallholder agriculture is an important source of livelihoods in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. In these regions the highest concentrations of nutritionally vulnerable populations are found. Agricultural development needs to be nutrition-sensitive, and contribute simultaneously to improving household nutrition, farm productivity and environmental performance. We explored the windows of opportunities for farm development and the potential of crop diversification options for meeting household dietary requirements, whilst concurrently improving household economic performance in contrasting smallholder farm systems in Kenya and Vietnam. Farm and household features and farmer perspectives and priorities were integrated into a farm-household model that allowed quantification of a diverse set of nutritional, labour and productive indicators. Using a multi-objective optimization algorithm, we generated ‘solution spaces’ comprising crop compositions and management configurations that would satisfy household dietary needs and allowed income gains. Results indicated site-specific synergies between income and nutritional system yield for vitamin A. Diversification with novel vegetables could cover vitamin A requirements of 10 to 31 extra people per hectare and lead to greater income (25 to 185% increase) for some households, but reduced leisure time. Although the Vietnamese sites exhibited greater nutrient system yields than those in Kenya, the household diets in Kenya had greater nutrient adequacy due to the fact that the Vietnamese farmers sold greater proportions of their on-farm produced foods. We conclude that nutrition-sensitive, multi-method approaches have potential to identify solutions to simultaneously improve household income, nutrition and resource management in vulnerable smallholder farming systems.
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    Izuta lidri ecojo rii: buku ta ‘jo’di rongorongo lonya loso ru egbwe vua ozo ni ri idri rii‘ba ta ideka laki lofo ri ni rii
    (Manual, 2019) Ekesa, Beatrice; Nabuuma, Deborah; Namukose, Samalie; Upenytho, George
    Buku ‘di osiru ra kole kokweru ta kole kideru e’i a ‘i ri idri. Ta ti ubale kole kideru karega si riti oko le’jo dri a’i isu ‘di ti ‘i; 1. Ta kole kideru lonya ru egbwe ni riti ozo ni ri tro vua akwa ta mbaka vua amvu e’bu ideka tro inzajo ri ‘i. 2. Lonya rua lele ri e’buka ‘i 3. Ta esule riti e’buka lonya ni vua ta ru egbwe ni ozo tro ri a ta mbajo ri ‘i. 4. Lonya ta mbaka ruwe ti pelere tro Le’jo dri alualu a itiga ta kole kideru riti lidri ‘ba alualu lele riti koka ri koko vu ani rii le’jo rongogongo ite’dele ra riti ta kaki idea wa riti tro ‘i. Ma’di ‘ba ini’di ri kole konze aini losoloso le’jo rongorongo riti ta idele wa riti tro ri ideka si ri ni aini asi okpo kwejo ta idejo.
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    Lok me loko kit tim pa dano: buk matidi me kwena dwe me adek
    (Manual, 2019) Ekesa, Beatrice; Nabuuma, Deborah; Namukose, Samalie; Upenytho, George
    Buk ma tidi me kwena man ki yubu ki gen ni bibedo ki adwogi madit pien pwonyo bitime ki i ot. Man aye diro ma ki tiyo kwede me kubu kin yo mapatpat i tute man. Pwony man ocung ikom tyen lok ma pire tek angwen;1. Tim mapatpat me medo rwom me pit ki me pur.2. Yo mapatpat ma ki nyuto mupore me pit.3. Tic ki lim me wilo gin acama ki pit mupore.4. Lengo ki bedo ki cam muromo.Dong tyen lok magi acel acel tye ki yo ma mite me timo jami ki kit ma myero kwo pa jo moni omyero oloke kwede kun lube ki gin ma dongo ma kicimo botgi i kwena kacel ki bene jami mogo ma myero gutim. Ngat ma telo pwonye man omyero onyut adwogi mabeco ma kwena magi kelo bot jo moni ma lok man makogi wek gubed ki kero me ketogi itic.
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    Okukyusa enneeyisa: ekitabo omuli ensonga enkulu ku kukyusa embeera ez’enjawulo
    (Manual, 2019) Ekesa, Beatrice; Nabuuma, Deborah; Namukose, Samalie; Upenytho, George
    Ekitabo kino ku kukyusa embeera ez’enjawulo kyateekebwateekebwa nga kyesigamye ku musingi gw’ebibala ebisuubirwa okuva mu kussa mu nkola ebyalambikibwa mu kiwandiiko ekyoleka ensonga z’enteekateeka y’okukyusa embeera y’amaka mu bujjuvu. Ekitabo kino kyeyambisibwa okukwanaganya ensonga ez’enjawulo okutuuka ku kiruubirirwa eky’awamu. Kirimu emiramwa gy’ennyingo enkulu nnya, nga bwe zimenyeddwa wammanga:1. Ebikolebwa okutumbula omutindo gw’endya n’ebyendiisa omulungi ssaako ebyobulimi n’obulunzi awaka 2. Ebikulu ebigobererwa mu ndya n’endiisa esaanidde awaka3. Ennyingiza y’amaka bw’eyamba mu kunyweza obungi bw’emmere ssaako endya n’endiisa esaanidde 4. Obungi bw’emmere emala obulungi awaka n’okukuuma obuyonjoN’olwekyo, wansi wa buli nnyingo waliwo obubaka omuli ebikolebwa n’enneeyisa eri abantu abasinga okubivunaanyizibwako nga be balina okubikola obutereevu olwo ne bigobererwa ensonga enkulu n’ebikoleka amangu.Omusomesa alina okunokolayo emiganyulo egiva mu kussa mu nkola ensonga enkulu ezirambikiddwa ssaako emiganyulo gy’ebyo ebikoleka amangu eri abantu ababivunaanyizibwako (abalina okubikola). Kino kijja kuyamba okubazzaamu amaanyi okulaba nga babikola mu kwagala awatali kukakibwa.