Agriculture and Nutrition: why can’t we all just get along?

The premise that the agriculture sector should also be a vehicle for improved nutrition is intuitive, but this sector often delivers neither good nutrition nor food security to the most vulnerable in the population.

IFPRI lays some cards on the table, from a study of Zambia.

Key lessons for improved intersectoral implementation include the role of advocacy in framing the problem in context and highlighting mutual gains for different sectors, to create the political will and working space for nutrition action; the importance of organizational arrangements, including convening or coordinating bodies with multisectoral credibility to facilitate mobilizing and resourcing power; and the importance of building not only technical but also strategic capacity to manage multisectoral relationships for improved nutrition outcomes. Ultimately, these solutions will have to be tailored to country contexts.

“Am I going to have to fight my Audi for lunch?”

Watch this for two reasons:

  1. It explains briefly and in an easy-to-understand way just some of the ramifications of the drought in the US. Note that the downside is almost all the result of using corn as feed for intensive livestock production.
  2. It is a masterclass on how to communicate simply and directly.

Major kudos to Bruce Babcock.

P.S. What would happen to prices if Colbert’s Audi was not a competitor for corn?

Mexican maize biodiversity documented

Via El Cuexcomate, news that CONABIO now has information on the maize races of Mexico on its website, including photos and distribution maps. It’s all part of a huge project to document native maize diversity (including the wild relatives) which was stimulated by fears 1 about the influx of GM maize. And since we’re on the subject of maize, today also saw an informative post on pellagra, complete with very dramatic illustrations.