Nutrition Sensitive
Agriculture in Bangladesh
- Md. Zahirul Haque
Mushroom Development Officer
Horticulture Wing
Department of Agricultural Extension
Khamarbari, Dhaka-1215
Agriculture is the key driver of Bangladesh economic
growth as well as food and nutritional security. Growth in agriculture reduces
poverty at a faster rate compared to other sectors. Transformation of
agriculture is taking place due to favourable policy environment and technology
driven interventions. Producing more diversified crops in shrinking land for
growing populations is the prime focus of the country’s development agenda.
Government of Bangladesh is highly committed to protect and improve the environment
and to preserve and safeguard the natural resources, biodiversity, wetlands,
forests, fisheries and livestock for agricultural sustainability. With all
these efforts Bangladesh achieved self-sufficiency in rice (4th
Position in the world) and potatoes from its deficit level. A significant and
steady progress is also observed in maize, fruits and vegetables production
with the application of appropriate technologies.
Nutrition-sensitive agriculture is a food-based approach
to agricultural development for addressing food insecurity, malnutrition and
micronutrient deficiencies. In Bangladesh, agricultural production has
increased sharply in recent decades, but the dietary quality has not yet
improved to the expected level. Low dietary diversity, inappropriate feeding
practices and poor hygiene practices are associated with higher rate of
micronutrient malnutrition, especially by young children and among pregnant and
lactating women in the country. The United Nations has declared 2016 to 2025 as
the UN Decade of Action on Nutrition. Adequate income is prerequisite to the
use of the food supply.
In Bangladesh, malnutrition, stunting and wasting are the
indication of hunger. Nutrition is an integral part of food security.
Malnutrition entails economic loss of about 2-3 percent of GDP and productivity
loss of 10 percent of lifetime earnings. The median physical and cognitive loss
from iron deficiency nationally estimated to be 4.05% of GDP. The cherished
dream of Government is a “hunger and poverty free Bangladesh” by 2030 and
prosperous country by around 2041. The Government adopted National Nutrition
Policy 2015 with theme Nutrition is the foundation for development. Nutrition
is recognized as a basic human right. The following table shows the trend of
intake of major food items (grams) over two decades. In terms of protein
(legumes and animal foods), fruits and vegetables intake, we are far behind
what is desirable.
Table 1: Per capita per day intake of major food items
(grams)
Food
Group
|
1995
|
2000
|
2005
|
2010
|
2016
|
Desirable
|
Cereal
of which rice
|
497
464
|
487
459
|
469
440
|
464
416
|
387
377
|
375
350
|
Fruits and vegetables
|
180
|
169
|
190
|
211
|
203
|
400
|
Potatoes
|
49
|
55
|
63
|
70
|
65
|
60
|
Legumes
|
14
|
16
|
14
|
14
|
16
|
60
|
All animal foods (including milk and eggs)
|
91
|
87
|
95
|
109
|
129
|
180
|
Edible oils
|
10
|
13
|
17
|
21
|
27
|
40
|
Sugar
|
9
|
7
|
8
|
8
|
7
|
18
|
Source: Bangladesh Household Income and Expenditure
Survey 2016
Bangladesh has seen considerable progress in the
reduction of malnutrition over the last two decades, yet levels of stunting and
underweight are significantly higher than the WHO/CDC threshold level for
emergencies, particularly for children and women of reproductive age (WRA).
Severe food insecurity is also noted in the north-eastern and southern parts of
the country. Diets provide around 70% of energy intake from cereals, reflective
of poor dietary diversity, with a need for an increase in the consumption of
non-cereal foods. Gender differences are noted in energy adequacy of diets,
with women getting an average of 2000 kcal/d, while men are taking a little
over 2500 kcal/day. Around 19% of adult women have chronic energy deficiency
while 39% of women are overweight, reflective of the double burden of
malnutrition in the adult population. Fifty-four percent of women have
inadequate diets with less than four food groups out of nine, reflecting a
pattern of inadequate dietary diversity. A little less than a fourth of infants
and young children consume a minimum acceptable diet to supply recommended
nutrition. Thirty-six percent of children under five years are considered to be
short for their age or stunted. Rural children are more likely to be stunted
than urban children (38 percent compared with 31 percent). Stunting is most
prevalent in Sylhet (50%) and least prevalent in Khulna (28%). Children of
mothers with no education are much more likely to be stunted (40%). The
differentials across wealth quintiles are larger. Children whose mothers are in
the lowest wealth quintile are two and a half times more likely to be stunted
(50%) than children whose mothers are in the wealthiest quintile (21%).
Fourteen percent of children are considered wasted or too thin for their height
and three percent are severely wasted. Thirty-three percent of children under
the age of five are underweight (low weight-for-age), and eight percent are
severely underweight.
In Bangladesh, the agriculture sector has contributed
strongly to increased production and economic growth over the past several
decades and currently contributes to above 16% of the total GDP. However,
improvements in nutrition indicators have not demonstrated the same rate of
positive change. In many country contexts, it has been demonstrated that
producing more food does not necessarily ensure improved nutrition. Nutrition sensitive
agriculture explicitly incorporates nutrition objectives and indicators in
agriculture and addresses the utilization dimension of food and nutrition
security, including health, education, gender, economic, environmental and
social aspects. In Bangladesh some models demonstrating best practices,
particularly related to horticulture, have been scaled up and the technology
has been transferred, showing progress towards sustainability project
activities.
It is true that Agriculture affects food production. Good
nutrition begins with good food, that is, food which is safe and sufficient in
terms of quality and diversity provide all the individuals in a family with
essential nutrients in appropriate amounts. Good food comes from agriculture,
beginning with choices in production and cropping systems, and including
processing and marketing as well. When production systems are designed with
nutrition in mind, all four requirements for assuring Household food security,
food availability, food access or affordability, utilization by all individuals
in a Household, and stability of these dimension over time, including across
“hungry” or “lean” seasons are more likely to be fulfilled. There are major
challenges to making this new paradigm a reality. There is a lack of food based
indicator to assess the impact of agricultural interventions on nutrition.
There is the need to ensure that agricultural production continues to deliver
safe and good quality foods for human consumption. Food safety has a direct
impact on human health status. There are no reliable data sources that provide
information on diet as well as agricultural production practices, market
access, food prices, women’s empowerment, and all other indicator areas
required to trace the causal pathway from agriculture to nutrition outcomes for
individuals.
The primary role of agriculture, livestock, fisheries and
food sectors is to increase the availability, affordability, accessibility and
consumption of diverse, safe, culturally appropriate halal foods and diets
using environment-friendly technologies. This starts with the promotion of
diversified and integrated homestead gardening, small animal raising,
aquaculture and fisheries production. Diversified, integrated home food
production systems enable to resilience to climate and price shocks, seasonal
food and income fluctuation and more gender equitable income generation. Many
areas based, climate smart and innovative technologies will continue to be
promoted including Floating Bed Agriculture, Hydroponic Gardening as well as
area appropriate varieties of crops and will complement more established
activities to scale up priority interventions to increase nutrition outcomes in
this sector. To emphasize the safe and healthy fruits and vegetables
production, biotechnology, pheromone trap, bagging, Integrated Pest Management
(IPM), Integrated Crop Management (ICM), Good Agriculture Practice (GAP) etc.
are being practiced to curb the utilization of chemical pesticides as much as
possible. Floating bed agriculture is a method of growing crops upon prolonged
submerged land, locally called Dhap (made of decomposed aquatic plants or water
hyacinth. Environment friendly floating bed technique provides the opportunity
to utilize natural resources, livelihood improvement along with ecological and
nutritional benefits. This floating agriculture practice has been declared as
the “Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS)” of Bangladesh by
FAO-UN in 2015.
Rice is the king crop in Bangladesh. Rice has high market
demand by the rich and poor. It has low agricultural diversification. It is
non-perishable and storing in the household is comparatively easier versus
vegetables, fruits, meats, poultry etc. For better dietary diversity, the
proportion of the diet comprised of rice must be reduced to 50%, while the
remaining 50% of the plate should contain lentils, vegetables, fruits, meat,
fish, chilly and lemon. It is important to have the remaining half of the plate
filled from other food groups to improve dietary diversity, particularly to
increase the intake of protein, vitamin A, zinc and iodine. The result has been
found to be highly relevant during pregnancy.
Fair food prices for producers and affordable food for
consumers hinges on accessibility of nutritious food. Bio-fortification is an
important nutrition-sensitive approach which presents large potential for
improving nutrition content of rice and lentils, but needs to be considered
holistically with other interventions. A vitamin-A enriched rice which is
called Golden Rice containing beta carotene is being newly innovation of
Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) which are kept under field trial.
Women’s empowerment affects their control of resources and decision making
power on household food, health and care linked with household nutrition. Women
play an active role in different nutrition sensitive interventions that
includes homestead vegetables production, seed production, establishing
nursery, bee keeping, food processing and storage and shrimp production which
enable them to take up agricultural entrepreneurship to increase income and
nutrition security.
A question is raised on the extent of overuse of
pesticides within nutrition sensitive agriculture. Many farmers in the country
use excessive amounts of pesticides in agricultural crop products in hope of
boosting output. Department of Agriculture Extension is being given awareness
to the farmers on safe use of pesticides in adequate amounts through different
training program. Nutrition sensitive agriculture in an urban context is much
potential. Roof top gardening are now popular in our country. Promotion and
training in Good Hygiene Practices to ensure safer food from street vendors.
Nutrition and safe food production are now in top
priority agenda in crop production system. Government emphasizes on the
engagement of women in agriculture through homestead gardening, one house one farm
program, providing loan and training, cash incentives, easy access to financial
institutes, empowering through group approach. Food fortification enriched with
vitamins, development of crop varieties enriched with zinc and iron are recent
innovations. Now Bangladesh has moved towards the fruit production to strap up
nutritional requirement through safe food along with food security. With this
thrust of in fruit sector, the fruit production of the country has already
reached in to 12.04 million metric tons in 2016-17. Bangladesh has been ranked 7th in
fruit production in world especially, the mango production which has also been
marked as 7th position. Bangladesh is also 8th Position in
guava and potato production in the world.
In Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture, Crop diversification
has been a priority area of agricultural development. Initiatives have been
taken to introduce various high value crops including vegetables, fruits, and
flowers. With proper initiative by the government, Bangladesh acquired 3rd
Position in growth of vegetables production. The country has increased the
production of fruits and vegetables three times than previous two decades. Year-round
fruit availability is considered a major breakthrough from the point of
nutritional security.
Sources:
Bangladesh Agriculture: Challenges,
Strategies, Innovation and Achievements, Ministry of Agriculture
Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture (NSA)
Series-1 Bangladesh
Bangladesh Development Forum 2018, Partnering
For Development, Economic Relations Division
Second National Plan of Action for Nutrition
(2016-2025), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
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