The document discusses the role of agricultural biodiversity in improving nutrition and diets in developing countries. It notes that loss of biodiversity has contributed to poor nutrition outcomes and outlines several traditional agroecosystems that optimize both yields and nutrient outputs through the use of diverse crop combinations and intercropping practices. These systems provide dietary diversity and complementarities that help address micronutrient deficiencies. The document also raises important open questions about how to scale agricultural biodiversity approaches to improve nutrition security.
Role of agricultural biodiversity in improving nutrition
1. The role of agricultural biodiversity in diets in the developing world: Improving diet diversity, quality and ecosystem sustainability – Federico Mattei
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3. South Atlantic Ocean South Pacific Ocean Indian Ocean Arctic Ocean Arctic Ocean North Pacific Ocean 1 billion are overweight or obese Source: The World is Fat (Penguin, Dec 2008) BMI <10% 10-20% 21-30% 31-40% 41-50% > 51%
8. Ecosystem Services Ecosystem services (also called environmental services or nature’s services) are benefits provided by ecosystems to humans , that contribute to making human life both possible and worth living Traditional ecosystem services include: • crop pollination • pest and disease control • nutrient dispersal and cycling • seed dispersal • crop pollination • carbon sequestration and climate regulation • waste decomposition and detoxification
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10. Optimizing Nutrient Output One means of assuring adequate dietary diversity would be to manage agro ecosystems in ways that will result in plentiful and diversified nutrient output of farming systems Two processes are at work: - Complementary effect: Interactions between species result in a yield or function greater than that expected by chance . These interactions range from resource partitioning, in which different organisms use resources differently thus reducing competition, to symbiotic and mutual interactions in which a species facilitates the presence or success of another - Sampling effect: if we increase the number of crops produced in a farming system, simply by chance, we also increase the probability that communities will obtain nutrients needed
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12. Rice Paddies and Fish Farming - Fish culture in rice fields offer one of the best means of contemporaneous production of grain and animal protein on the same piece of land - Increase in organic fertilization by fish excreta and remains of artificial feed and reduction in the number of harmful insects, such as paddy stem borers, whose larvae are eaten by fish as well as control of algae and weeds which compete with rice for light and nutrients - It is estimated that a potential fish yield of 2.2 – 2.4 million metric tons could be obtained annually from the rice fields (Vincke, 1979) which would provide essential protein and micronutrients need to complement a rice based diet
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16. Food Systems and Ecological Approaches Staple production is essential as it provides the bulk of energy requirement s needed in a daily diet but….. It can be complemented, in more complex food systems , with other crops that not only provide fortified ecosystem services but also, essential micronutrients Furthermore, this increase in agricultural biodiversity acts as a way to decrease risk (hedging bets) and increase resilience while at the same time avoiding a depletion of natural capital 1 2 3
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Hinweis der Redaktion
A declaration was made promising that the world would be food secure in 1996. This was reaffirmed in 2000 with the MDGs. As of 2010, we are far off the mark in ensuring that our global population is food secure and that countries are on track to meet the MDG1 hunger target which is to cut those who are hungry in half by 2015. We have 1 billion who are hungry, 200 million children who are stunted and irreversibly damaged, 2 billion who suffer from sort form of micronutrient deficiency– many being iron and zinc deficient, and another at least 1 billion who are 20% or more over their ideal bodyweight. This obesity trend is not just found in the US and other wealthy countries – but is rapidly increasing in some of the poorest countries in the world like the Congo, Tanzania, as well as highly populated areas such as China, India and Brazil.
Our Dwindling Food Variety As we've come to depend on a handful of commercial varieties of fruits and vegetables, thousands of heirloom varieties have disappeared. It's hard to know exactly how many have been lost over the past century, but a study conducted in 1983 by the Rural Advancement Foundation International gave a clue to the scope of the problem. It compared USDA listings of seed varieties sold by commercial U.S. seed houses in 1903 with those in the U.S. National Seed Storage Laboratory in 1983. The survey, which included 66 crops, found that about 93 percent of the varieties had gone extinct. More up-to-date studies are needed.
Wheat, rice and maize > ½ the world’s food energy and provide up to 70-80% of energy for a person’s diet daily in the developing world. These cereals are high in carbohydrates so they do provide energy, have low to moderate protein but are low in micronutrients; often poor quality and overprocessed. Because these are the foods that are largely consumed daily, most suffer from limited diet diversity with profound micronutrient, protein and essential fat deficiencies. This also leads to poor child undernutrition due to Poor infant and young child feeding sources – stunting and poor development Further, Due to heavy milling, many nations fortify refined flours;Unprocessed grains are often considered “poor man’s food” or not preferred Asian Green Revolution: Significant increase in production of wheat and rice but many of the secondary food grains such as pulses and millets were not emphasized. India is one of the worst states of undernutrition and carries the heaviest burden.
Provide the evidence base for the role of agricultural biodiversity in nutrition and health and the role of agricultural biodiversity within food and nutrition systems approaches Develop the local operations research or delivery science of “what works on the ground” for improved food and nutrition security Build partnerships and capacities of researchers and other stakeholders at the international, national and local levels Inform policy and practices based on this new evidence and provide solutions to the constraints and limitations Advocate and mainstream for adoption and mainstreaming.
At least half of the world’s food insecure are poor, smallholder farmers living in low-income countries cultivating marginal lands without access to productivity-enhancing technologies or markets to engage in commercial agriculture .These beneficiaries are some of the most vulnerable groups to the broken global food system, particularly in poverty stricken, food-insecure communities.