Kenaw Gebreselassie, Transform Nutrition Research uptake lead in Ethiopia writes from the 3rd Federation of African Nutrition Societies (FANUS) conference, Arusha, Tanzania. “Attending the FANUS conference this week in Tanzania, I had to choose which topics were most relevant for me as an Ethiopian delegate representing Transform Nutrition. The theme of the conference is ‘African Nutrition at the cross roads’. Lawrence Haddad in his recent blog suggested this crossroads may refer to the fact that “Just as progress is being made on reducing stunting rates, overweight and obesity are increasing rapidly on the continent. Africa’s choice?’’
In my view, Ethiopia’s current choice is obvious- undernutrition, as this is the very crucial nutrition problem the country is still grappling with. One area spoken of repeatedly in relation to undernutrition was agricultural productivity and its nutritional impact in Africa. The importance of nutrition sensitivity of agriculture has been a buzz phrase in several sessions.
Ethiopia and Tanzania
Ethiopia exhibits improvement in reducing undernutrition, but it still has the highest rates in the world with 40 per cent of children under five years old suffering from stunting. As noted by Dr. Ferew Lemma, a nutrition advisor to the State Minister of Ethiopian Ministry of Health, stunting has decreased significantly, but in areas believed to yield high agricultural crop production, the rate is still high.
Similarly, in one of the presentations by World Vision it was made clear that security is a big challenge even in high crop production regions of Tanzania. ‘’Regions (Tanzania) with high maize production have highest stunting rates, indicating that food availability by itself does not necessarily lead to adequate nutrition” (AgriDiet Policy brief, 2014). This is the paradox that the two countries and several other African countries must consider and suggest solutions.
Agriculture has, of course, been identified as an area with great potential to improve nutrition. It seems to me Ethiopia and Tanzania have lost their way in this area. These countries need to reflect on where they are going wrong in terms of nutrition action in these areas, and as nutrition researchers we need to provide the signposts to lead them on the right road; a pathway from agriculture to nutrition. Considering agriculture through a nutrition lens is vitally important.
The key challenge remains: ‘’How do agriculture policy makers and other stakeholders perceive the issue of undernutrition? ’’ and how do they understand the nutrition-sensitivity required.”
