The process of developing a nutrition-sensitive agriculture intervention: a multi-site experience

Peter R. Berti, Rachelle E. Desrochers, Hoi Pham Van, An Lê Văn, Tung Duc Ngo, Ky Hoang The, Nga Le Thi and Prasit Wangpakapattanawong ()
Additional contact information
Peter R. Berti: HealthBridge
Rachelle E. Desrochers: HealthBridge
Hoi Pham Van: Vietnam National University of Agriculture
An Lê Văn: Hue University of Agriculture and Forestry
Tung Duc Ngo: Hue University of Agriculture and Forestry
Ky Hoang The: HealthBridge
Nga Le Thi: HealthBridge
Prasit Wangpakapattanawong: Chiang Mai University

Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, 2016, vol. 8, issue 6, No 4, 1053-1068

Abstract: Abstract Nutrition-sensitive agriculture (NSA) interventions are of increasing interest to those working in global health and nutrition. However NSA is a broad concept, and there are numerous candidate NSA interventions that could be implemented in any given setting. While most agriculture interventions can be made “nutrition-sensitive”, there are few guidelines for helping to decide what agriculture component should be tried in an NSA intervention. Based on previous models, we developed a framework with explicit questions about community factors (agricultural production, diets, power and gender), project factors (team capacity, budget, timelines) and external factors that helped our team of agriculture scientists, nutritionists and local officials identify NSA interventions that may be feasibly implemented with a reasonable chance of having positive agricultural and nutritional impacts. We applied this framework to two settings in upland Vietnam, and one setting in upland Thailand. From an initial list of nineteen interventions that have been tried elsewhere, or may reasonably be expected to be appropriate for NSA, five or six candidate interventions were chosen per site. Based on the criteria, three to four interventions were selected per site and are being implemented. Poultry rearing and home gardening were selected in each site. They and the other selected interventions, hold promise for capitalizing on underused agricultural potential to improve diets, while working with (or improving) existing gender relationships and power structures. The process for identifying NSA interventions was thorough and identified reasonable candidates, but it was very time consuming. Further efforts should focus on streamlining the process, so that promising and appropriate NSA interventions can be identified quickly and reliably.

Keywords: Nutrition-sensitive agriculture; Vietnam; Thailand; Food security (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s12571-016-0625-3 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:ssefpa:v:8:y:2016:i:6:d:10.1007_s12571-016-0625-3

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... ulture/journal/12571

DOI: 10.1007/s12571-016-0625-3

Access Statistics for this article

Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food is currently edited by R.N. Strange

More articles in Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food from Springer, The International Society for Plant Pathology
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().