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Facts

The demand for food will be 60% greater than it is today. The United Nations has set ending hunger, achieving food security and improved nutrition, and promoting sustainable agriculture as the second of its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for the year 2030 (Breene).

Consider India. Agriculture accounts for 18% of the economy’s output and 47% of its workforce. India is the second biggest producer of fruits and vegetables in the world. Yet according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, some 194 million Indians are undernourished, the largest number of hungry people in any single country. An estimated 15.2% of the population of India are too malnourished to lead a normal life. A third of the world’s malnourished children live in India (Breene).

Agriculture must also be sustainable. The sector accounts for 30% of greenhouse gas emissions and 70% of freshwater withdrawals so attention has to be paid to energy and water use is farming. Waste is also a problem, with an estimated one third of food consumption, some $750 billion in value, lost (Breene).

Altogether the Forum has launched  five targeted initiatives , which aim to bring together farmers, government, civil society and the private sector, facilitating partnerships at regional and country levels, and encouraging the exchange of knowledge (Breene).

In contrast to other regions of the world, the proportion of undernourished people has increased from 16 million in 1990-92 to 33 million today. Almost one-third of children under the age of five face lifelong health and development impairment due to insufficient access to nutritious foods. At the same time, the region is grappling with rising rates of overweight and obesity, creating an unforeseen “double burden” of malnutrition. Indeed, more than 50% of the region´s adult population is currently overweight or obese, causing a dramatic increase in non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as diabetes and heart disease. It places an enormous burden on healthcare systems (Stordalen).

The effects go far beyond poor health. Recent research by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) revealed that food insecurity is one of the main drivers of unrest and conflict in MENA. Economic performance is also compromised by poor nutrition. In Egypt alone it is estimated that the consequences of child malnutrition reduces GDP by almost 2% (Stordalen).

First, improving nutrition and minimizing the environmental footprint of the food system by making food supplies more diverse, nutritious and sustainable is essential. This means rebalancing production from mono crops and cereals, dairy and meat towards the more diverse production of fruit, vegetables and semi-arid nutritious crops that use less water and are more tolerant of heat. Smallholder farmers, who are often among the most malnourished, and who lack the technology and knowledge necessary to be more efficient and sustainable, are crucial stakeholders in diversifying the food system (Stordalen).

Third, investment is needed to facilitate innovations and development of interventions that can improve nutrition in a cost-effective, sustainable way. Fortifying staple foods and condiments with nutrients, for example, is both effective and cheap, costing as little as a few cents per person, per year (Stordalen).

Finally, the private sector needs to be engaged in a meaningful way in finding solutions to a more sustainable and nutritious food system. The food industry is a key stakeholder and a major catalyst for change, so it is important that businesses are included. This will enable policy-makers to create regulatory frameworks that encourage the private sector to step up to the nutrition challenge and invest in more sustainable business operations (Stordalen).

Documenting the cost-effectiveness of nutrition education programs is important to justify and determine expenditures and ensure continued funding. A cost-benefit analysis was conducted using the program demographics and food-related dietary behavior of participants enrolled in California's Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP), based on methodology developed by Virginia Cooperative Extension. The initial benefit-cost ratio for nutrition education in California was 14.67 to 1.00. Several sensitivity analyses were done to estimate the effect of changes in key variables. The resulting benefit-cost ratios ranged from 3.67 to 1.00, to 8.34 to 1.00, meaning that for every $1.00 spent on nutrition education in California, between $3.67 and $8.34 is saved in health care costs. These results bolster the argument that nutrition education programs are a good investment and funding them is sound public policy (Pradhan).

Successful nutrition education programs should be effective in both improving dietary health and ensuring a positive economic impact. Evaluations of the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP), federally funded nutrition education for low-income families, have demonstrated many positive behavior changes over the last 35 years. These include improvements in diet (increasing intakes of fruits, vegetables and fiber, and decreasing fat and soda consumption); food shopping and preparation (saving money, reading labels, food safety); and nutrition knowledge and attitudes (Contento et al. 1995; Del Tredici et al. 1988). Although the positive improvements in dietary health due to nutrition education are well documented, its value in health care savings has not been extensively studied (Pradhan).

Documenting cost-effectiveness is critical if community nutrition programs are to survive under current economic conditions. Cost-benefit analysis is one of the standard ways to document economic benefits. Used primarily by economists for policy- and decision-makers, cost-benefit analysis offers an analytic procedure that is widely applicable to most government, public, private and nonprofit programs (Pradhan).

(Pradhan).