Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to summarize the evolution of global and national policies linking agriculture to nutrition in 2010–2020, and provides insights on the recent policy trajectory in China to illustrate how individual countries are addressing agriculture and nutrition. Design/methodology/approach - The authors utilize a noncomprehensive review of gray and peer-review literature, as well as a case study approach. Findings - Select countries have made initial strides in linking agriculture and nutrition through policy, though progress is not widespread and uneven. Practical implications - Researchers can begin closing the existing knowledge gaps on agriculture and nutrition. Policymakers can learn from the country lessons and experiences in agriculture and nutrition policy. Originality/value - This paper provides one of the only overviews of global policy on agriculture and nutrition during the period 2010–2020.

Agriculture’s vast potential to improve nutrition is just beginning to be tapped. New ideas, research, and initiatives developed over the past decade have created an opportunity for reimagining and redesigning agricultural and food systems for the benefit of nutrition. To support this transformation, Agriculture for Improved Nutrition: Seizing the Momentum reviews the latest findings, results from on-the-ground programs and interventions, and recent policy experiences from countries around the world that are bringing agriculture and nutrition closer together. Drawing on IFPRI’s own work and that of the growing agriculture–nutrition community, this book strengthens the evidence base for and expands our vision of how agriculture can contribute to nutrition. By highlighting both achievements and setbacks, Agriculture for Improved Nutrition seeks to inspire those who want to scale up successes that can transform food systems and improve the nutrition of billions of people.

Bangladesh has made considerable progress in reducing child stunting and is lauded as a success story in global nutrition fora. This mixed-methods study considers available statistical and qualitative evidence to help reveal the critical factors behind Bangladesh's ‘story of change’ in nutrition. Much of the improvement in nutrition in Bangladesh in recent years is explained by what can be seen as nutrition-sensitive drivers within a wider enabling environment of pro-poor economic growth. Key amongst these factors have been improving incomes; smaller family sizes and greater gaps between births; parental - and particularly women's - education and wider health access. Research and interviews with key stakeholders and work at a community level has helped shed light on the policy and programmatic choices which lie behind these wider determinants. Community based nutrition programmes have not yet been operating at scale as in other countries and the current governance arrangements for nutrition delivery are weak. But as Bangladesh faces growing new nutritional problems and still suffers from a relatively high burden of child stunting, such ‘nutrition-specific’ programmes will have to play a greater role than in the past, as the further gains from some of these wider drivers may be limited and are likely to have plateaued.

Poverty, food insecurity, and malnutrition become increasingly urban problems as urban populations expand everywhere. Persistent child undernutrition, stubborn micronutrient deficiencies, and an alarming rise in overweight and obesity in urban areas mark the shift of the burden of malnutrition from rural areas to cities: One in three stunted children now lives in an urban area. Rapid increases in overweight and obesity have been concentrated in urban areas. The urban poor face a challenging food environment. Food security in the city depends on access to cash. Extremely poor urban households in many developing countries spend more than 50 percent of their budget on food. Dependence on purchased food and employment in the informal sector—especially for women—leave the urban poor vulnerable to income and food price shocks. Formal and informal safety nets often fail to protect the poorest of the urban poor. Limited access to healthcare, safe water, and sanitation in cities leads to severe health and nutrition inequalities for the urban poor—especially slum dwellers.

This paper brings structure to the discussion of private-sector engagement in nutrition by clarifying different models of engagement, reviews the evidence base on public-private partnerships (PPPs) for the reduction of undernutrition, and outlines some potential ways forward. We find that there are few independent, rigorous assessments of the impact of commercial-sector engagement in nutrition. Considerable caution is thus warranted when assessing PPPs in nutrition. Looking forward, future progress requires that the private sector recognize that past and current actions by some firms have created an environment of mistrust. It requires that the public sector accept that sustainable PPPs are those which permit private firms to generate profits. There is significant scope for the private sector to drive innovations that could reduce undernutrition, and, more speculatively, there may be scope for the private sector to act as a financier. Underpinning all these efforts must lie open discussions of the objectives, roles, and expectations of all parties along with potential conflicts of interest; an open space or platform where issues and challenges can be discussed and addressed; incentives for the private sector to take on pro-nutrition roles; strong, transparent, and well-enforced monitoring processes; and serious, independent evaluations of these activities.

In recent years, the world has seen unprecedented attention and political commitment to addressing malnutrition. Milestones such as the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement, the Lancet Maternal and Child Nutrition Series, and the Second International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2) have marked the rapid rise of nutrition on the global policy and research agenda. These developments reverse years of relative neglect for nutrition. Undernutrition is a global challenge with huge social and economic costs. It kills millions of young children annually, stunts growth, erodes child development, reduces the amount of schooling children attain, and increases the likelihood of their being poor as adults, if they survive. Stunting persists through a lifetime and beyond—underweight mothers are more likely to give birth to underweight children, perpetuating undernutrition across generations. Undernutrition reduces global gross domestic product by US$1.4–$2.1 trillion a year—the size of the total economy of Africa south of the Sahara.

In this chapter, we clarify what is meant by public-private partnerships (PPPs), provide examples of both successful and less successful PPPs and describe some broad lessons. We see scope for PPPs that would reduce aspects of undernutrition. However, this optimism comes with significant caveats. First, while there would appear to be a large body of evidence on this topic, closer examination shows that there are few independent, rigorous assessments of the impact of commercial sector engagement in nutrition. Considerable caution is therefore warranted when assessing either commendations or criticisms of PPPs in nutrition. Second, progress in this area requires that the private sector recognize that past and current actions by some firms have created an environment of mistrust and that the public sector accept that sustainable PPPs permit private firms to generate profits. Progress also requires recognition that PPPs involving multiple firms can be problematic either because such partnerships force competitors to collaborate or because they create the potential for the involved firms to lock out firms that are not members of the partnership. Lest this all sound too negative, from a nutrition perspective, we note that there may be significant scope for the involvement of the private sector in driving innovations that could reduce undernutrition. More speculatively, there may also be scope for the private sector to act as a financier of investments to improve children's nutritional status. For PPPs to succeed, there must be open discussions of the objectives, roles and expectations of all parties along with potential conflicts of interest.

Background: Although much work has been done on the theoretical links between agriculture and nutrition, there is limited understanding of the evidence from observational and experimental research studies on the impacts of agriculture programs on nutrition outcomes.Objective: To assess the emphasis of the literature on different agriculture-nutrition pathways in Bangladesh.Methods: Twenty databases and Web sites were searched, yielding more than 2400 resources that were pared down through an iterative, eliminative process to 60 articles. These articles were then rated for quality and mapped to 1 of the 6 agriculture-nutrition pathways.Results: The body of evidence reveals gaps in knowledge in all of the pathways, but especially in the areas of agriculture as a source of livelihoods, and women's role as intermediaries between agriculture and good nutrition and health within their household.Conclusion: More research is needed on the links between agriculture and nutrition in country-specific settings, particularly as regards the role of women. Nutrition-related outcomes, such as dietary diversity and women's empowerment, need to be measured more explicitly when evaluating the impact of agricultural production systems and development initiatives.

In recent years, many people and parts of the world have been hit by major shocks ranging from conflicts, erratic weather patterns, earthquakes, droughts, and floods to food price spikes. At the same time, poor people and communities remain vulnerable to shocks that may be smaller in scope—such as emerging diseases and contaminated foods—but just as devastating for affected households. We confront a world of shocks, both familiar and unfamiliar.

In India, progress against undernutrition has been slow. Given its importance for income generation, improving diets, care practices, and maternal health, the agriculture sector is widely regarded as playing an important role in accelerating the reduction in undernutrition. This paper comprehensively maps existing evidence along agriculture– nutrition pathways in India and assesses both the quality and coverage of the existing literature. We present a conceptual framework delineating six key pathways between agriculture and nutrition. Three pathways pertain to the nutritional impacts of farm production, farm incomes, and food prices. The other three pertain to agriculture–gender linkages. After an extensive search, we found 78 research papers that provided evidence to populate these pathways. The literature suggests that Indian agriculture has a range of important influences on nutrition. Agriculture seems to influence diets even when controlling for income, and relative food prices could partly explain observed dietary changes in recent decades. The evidence on agriculture–gender linkages to nutrition is relatively weak. Sizeable knowledge gaps remain. The root causes of these gaps include an interdisciplinary disconnect between nutrition and economics/agriculture, a related problem of inadequate survey data, and limited policy-driven experimentation. Closing these gaps is essential to strengthening the agriculture sector’s contribution to reducing undernutrition.

In India, progress against undernutrition has been slow. Given its importance for income generation, improving diets, care practices, and maternal health, the agriculture sector is widely regarded as playing an important role in accelerating the reduction in undernutrition. This paper comprehensively maps existing evidence along agriculture-nutrition pathways in India and assesses both the quality and coverage of the existing literature. We present a conceptual framework delineating six key pathways between agriculture and nutrition. Three pathways pertain to the nutritional impacts of farm production, farm incomes, and food prices. The other three pertain to agriculture-gender linkages. After an extensive search, we found 78 research papers that provided evidence to populate these pathways. The literature suggests that Indian agriculture has a range of important influences on nutrition. Agriculture seems to influence diets even when controlling for income, and relative food prices could partly explain observed dietary changes in recent decades. The evidence on agriculture-gender linkages to nutrition is relatively weak. Sizeable knowledge gaps remain. The root causes of these gaps include an interdisciplinary disconnect between nutrition and economics/agriculture, a related problem of inadequate survey data, and limited policy-driven experimentation. Closing these gaps is essential to strengthening the agriculture sector's contribution to reducing undernutrition.

Recent policy statements refer to increasingly frequent and intense shocks as one of the main reasons for focusing attention and investments on building resilience for food and nutrition security. This paper investigates whether shocks have actually increased in frequency, severity, scope, and impact by looking at historical 25†year trends for five different types of shocks: conflicts, natural disasters, climate change, food price volatility, and health crises related to food safety and agriculture.