Poverty, malnutrition and resulting poor health are highly connected. FSP research shows that agriculture policy can play a role in reducing the burden of malnutrition and ill-health. FSP focuses on documenting and evaluating different agricultural interventions that have the potential to improve maternal and child nutrition. It recommends policies that can improve diet quality among the poorest and most vulnerable members of society, including infants, young children, and women. These include interventions focused on agricultural production and diversification (such as homestead food garden programs, bio-fortification, fortification of processed foods), as well as policies focused on strengthening the linkages between the agriculture, nutrition, and health sectors of government. FSP’s research findings and success stories are shared with in-country government partners and international agencies that are in a position to use this information to strengthen country policies and programs.

FSP generates research outcomes that can be generalized across many countries, specifically by focusing on policies to address:
    1.   micronutrient deficiency that are applicable to similar countries;
    2.   generating food policy options to poor diet quality that are based on the understanding of the processes of globalization; and
    3.   examining issues at the intersection between agriculture and health that, while context specific, have common pathways and are embedded in a common framework.

Recommended research paper:
Tschirley David, Thomas Reardon, Michael Dolislager, and Jason Snyder. 2015. The Rise of a Middle Class in East and Southern Africa: Implications for Food System Transformation. Journal of International Development, J. Int. Dev. 27, 2015, 628–646

Photo: A traditional lunch of rice with vegetables and beef, Dakar, Senegal (credit: Sarah Chase-Walsh)