Rural 21 (engl. Ausgabe 1/2016)

Focus 1/2016: Nutrition-sensitive agriculture
The concept of “nutrition-sensitive agriculture” sets out from the assumption that agriculture has a role in providing food security – which means access for all people at all times to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food. However, judging from the number of close to 800 million people who are classified as chronically hungry and an estimated two billion people suffering from micronutrient malnutrition, it would appear that agriculture is not fulfilling this role, or at least not doing so adequately. How can this be remedied? Our authors show how closely agriculture, nutrition and health are linked and take a look at the various entry-points for improving nutrition through agriculture: from the choice of adequate seed systems and breeding programmes through agricultural policy interventions to promoting market access, production diversification und better functioning value chains to capacity building, nutrition education and gender equality.