Linking Agriculture, Food Systems and Nutrition for Food and Nutrition Security in Myanmar by Khin Mar Cho, International Agricultural Extension and Nutrition Specialist, Cornell University. Presented at the ReSAKSS-Asia - MIID conference "Evolving Agrifood Systems in Asia: Achieving food and nutrition security by 2030" on Oct 30-31, 2019 in Yangon, Myanmar.

1. “Linking Agriculture, Food Systems and
Nutrition for Food and Nutrition Security
in Myanmar”
Dr. Khin Mar Cho
International Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Specialist
Cornell University, New York, USA
Evolving Agrifood Systems in Asia:
Achieving Food and Nutrition Security by 2030
October 30-November 1, 2019
ReSAKSS Asia Conference 2019, Chatrium Royal Lake, Yangon, MYANMAR

2. The Four Industrial Revolutions
• Successive industrial revolutions have defined who we are and
what we eat. In the mid 18th century, steam engines, railways and
mechanized agriculture changed the ways food was produced and
transported.
• The 2nd Industrial Revolution , in the mid 19th century, brought
electrical grids, assembly lines and mass production. Job loss
happened in Agriculture while employment in the manufacturing
and service sector grew.
• The 3rd Industrial Revolution began with the invention of the
transistor in 1947, efficient use of plant nutrients, pesticides,
seed or water is possible by using information technologies and
other digital applications, like sensors, robotics, drones, GPS and
autonomous vehicles.
• The 4th Industrial Revolution is a result of the rapid development
and application of physical, digital and biological technologies. It
offers countless possibilities to grow more food in different ways,
such as gene-edited plants and animals, yeast-brewed milk, vegan
cheese and Lab-grown meat.

3. New technologies are changing agricultural production, but can
they help address food insecurity?

4. 26, Myanmar: 54,336,138
World Population 2019 (7.7+Billion)

5. ASEAN-GDP and GDP per capita (2019 Est.)

6. Myanmar GDP in Billion USD (2012-2022)

7. Nutritional Status in Myanmar
• Five Nutrient Deficiencies as major nutritional problems: Protein, Vitamin A, Vitamin B1, Iodine, Iron
(MDHS survey 2017)
• Iron Deficiency Anemia: 60% school children, 50% pregnant women, 47% of reproductive aged women
• Experiencing the double burden of malnutrition and obesity. 19% of under-five are underweight, one in
four- stunting, 7 in 100 - wasting (due to Micronutrient deficiencies - Undernutrition) while 25% of those
aged 15-64 are overweight or obese.
• Overnutrition - Under five: 0ne in 100; 5-9 years old: 3 in 100; 5 in 100 of teenager girls, 3 in one of
reproductive aged women (15-49) overweight problem
• Iron Deficiency Anemia (IDA) due to Micronutrient deficiencies- one in 3 children
• Nearly one-in-three citizens over the age of 40 are reported to have hypertension and half have high
cholesterol.
• Poor Lifestyle Choices are unfortunately becoming the norm in Myanmar. The result is that more people
have coronary artery disease, stroke and kidney failure than ever before.
• 12% of the overall population has diabetes, while 15% are smokers.
• Risk factors are higher among patients with hypertension, of whom 30% have diabetes and 60% have
high cholesterol.
• Over consumption of sodium/salt (preserved food with a high sodium content)
• Lacking in essential vitamins and minerals: Under consumption of fruits and vegetables

8. Understanding Food Systems
A food system includes all processes
and infrastructure involved in feeding a
population: growing, harvesting,
processing, packaging, transporting,
marketing, consumption, and disposal
of food and food-related items. It also
includes the inputs needed and
outputs generated at each of these
steps.
* Community-local-regional-national-
global food systems

9. Linking Agriculture and Nutrition for
Food & Nutrition Security
• Food Availability
• Food production
• Food processing
• Food marketing & distribution
• Local and seasonal food (Food Calendars)
• Food Accessibility
• Household income & Family size
• Food purchasing, food prices volatility
• Financing food with debt - urban and rural poor
• Food Utilization
• Food preparation
• Food consumption & Eating Behaviors
• Food diversification/food balancing -Dietary diversity
• Food safety, sanitation & good hygiene practices
Myanmar Typical diet
• Individual rice consumption-
200kg/year/person (2016) - 155 kg
• Urban 130 kg, 160-170 kg in rural area,
average 150 kg/year/person

10. Food Availability
• Myanmar is self-sufficient in terms of
national level food production
• Major food crops include rice, pulses,
corn, groundnut, sesame and sunflower
• Large producer and exporter of pulses
as well as fish and shrimp
• Food calories intake per person has
increased significantly in recent years 10
Food and Nutrition Security Strategic Review:
Some Findings (WFP-MIID, 2017-18)

11. 1500
1700
1900
2100
2300
2500
2700
2900
3100
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
ASEAN FOOD SUPPLY
(kcal/capita/day)
Cambodia
Indonesia
Lao PDR
Malaysia
Myanmar
Philippines
Thailand
Vietnam
Source: FAO STAT Food Balance Sheet Database. 14 November 2016
http://faostat.fao.org/beta/en/#data/FBS

12. Myanmar Demographic Health
Survey (MDHS), 2015-16- Children
Under 5 Year-old
• Stunting 29%
• Wasting 7%
• Underweight 19%
Global Initiatives: Sustainable
Development Goals (SDG 2.2) targets
for 2025 Children Under 5 Year-old
• Reduce stunting by 40%
• Reduce wasting to less than 5%
of the population
Nutritional Outcomes
Micronutrient deficiencies - Invisible problem but limits physical
and mental development

15. Source: WHO 2017
Stunting, Wasting, Overweight

16. Source: WHO 2017
Stunting, Wasting, Overweight

17. Source: WHO 2017
Stunting, Wasting, Overweight, EBF, Anemia, Obesity

18. Food Accessibility
• Poverty within the agricultural workforce is the largest constraint to food access in
Myanmar.
• Majority of agricultural workforce: Small holder farmers and landless laborers
• Caught in cycle of low investment, low productivity and debt
• Limited knowledge on suitable farming techniques
• Limited access to quality inputs (i.e. seeds, fertilizer, credit/loan)
• Poor resilience to natural disasters and climate change
• Seasonally unstable employment
• Urban poor also do not have sufficient access to food.
• Cannot produce their own food
• Especially vulnerable to volatility in food prices
• Periodic gaps where income cannot cover cost of food
• Financing food with debt is common both in rural and urban populations.

19. Food Utilization
• Many households in Myanmar do not have a healthy, balanced diet due to either low
income, limited nutritional knowledge, or a combination of the two.
• Effect of low income
• Consumption of animal protein related to income (wealthier families eat more meat and
poor are consuming mainly rice as staple food and very little animal protein)
• Effect of limited nutritional knowledge
• Unaware of cheap sources of plant-based protein and its importance in the diet
• Meals are not balanced (more rice, less beans and peas, fish, fruits and veggies)
• Food preparation (overcooked, undercooked, adding additional salt, fat and sugar)
• Do not understand importance of good nutrition in first 1,000 day window, hence improper
feeding practices for infants and young children
• Information gap between food consumption and culture competency
• Poor sanitation and hygiene practices in food preparation and consumption

20. Institutional Gap Analysis
• POLICY
• Many food and nutrition security factors addressed by existing policy within MoALI and MOHS
• Gap: National Action Plan for Food and Nutrition Security (across ministries) is absent
• COORDINATION
• FNS platforms exist such as SUN Network, UN REACH, LEARN, etc.
• Gap: Sustained and effective coordination requires an inter-ministerial, Union-level body
• OPERATIONS
• MoALI, MOHS and development partners are implementing a wide range of food and nutrition
activities
• Gap: Greater integration between food security and nutrition security activities needed
• Gap: Wide-reaching and responsive agricultural extension and advisory service that is farm
demand driven needed
• Gap: Currently a high reliance on vitamin supplementation, while gradual shift to a dietary
approach is needed.

21. Recommendations
1. Create a strong and independent monitoring body that reports directly to the
parliament on implementation performance of nutrition programs.
2. Coordinate nutrition surveys and studies centrally to ensure consistency of survey
methodology in order to facilitate the interpretation of data sets from different
locations, target groups and different agencies.
3. Establish Food and Nutrition Security Committees at Union and State/Regional
level and translate national policies into operational working plans for individual
States and Regions.
4. Strengthen the understanding of food and nutrition issues at all levels of
Government, from politicians and lawmakers to civil servants at state/region levels.
5. Include Food and Nutrition courses in the curricula of higher education
institutions like Medicine, Nursing, Vet Medicine, Agriculture, and Education.
Nutrition should be an examinable subject.

22. 6. In the short-term, continue much needed vitamin supplementation to vulnerable groups.
In the long-term nutrition interventions should shift from a clinical approach to a dietary
approach.
7. Renewed emphasis should be placed on national level awareness raising campaigns on
proper feeding practices for infants and young children.
8.Prepare cities to cope with the current influx of rural labor. Municipal governments must
develop and implement plans to construct adequate public infrastructure for water,
sanitation and low-cost housing.
9. Ensure that Myanmar citizens are better informed about healthy food at household level
through country-wide communication and information campaigns and activities targeting
children and youth such as the introduction of school gardens.
10. Improve agricultural extension service to support crop diversification and assist farmers
to adapt to the impacts of climate change.
Recommendations (Contd.)

23. 11. Increase crop diversification to lengthen the period in which households have cash
available to purchase food and dampen food price volatility.
12. Change current agricultural credit management procedures and expand the input
credit to all the types of crops a farmer may wish to grow.
13. Support opening agricultural credit to commercial banks, so that the agricultural
economy can meet its full potential.
14. Produce a more diverse range of food locally grown at state/region level by creating a
nutritious food production plan for each State and Region, with the direct involvement of
the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Health and the Department of
Education. This will decrease transport costs and consequently food prices.
Recommendations (Contd.)

24. Linking Agriculture, Food
Systems and Nutrition:
Community Good Practices

25. UNICEF Framework for Malnutrition

26. Conceptual Pathways Between Agriculture and Nutrition

27. From ending poverty and hunger to responding to climate change and sustaining our natural resources, food and
agriculture lies at the heart of the 2030 Agenda.

28. How to integrate Nutrition Information in
Agricultural Program?

29. Cornell University Cooperative Extension
Good Practices of the U.S. Land Grant Extension Systems
Sustainable Agricultural Practices
• Organic Farming, Integrated Farming
• Good Agricultural Practices (GAP)
• Value Added Agriculture, Value Chain and Supply Chain Management
• Nutrition-Sensitive Agriculture (Linking Agriculture, Food Systems and Nutrition
• Urban Agriculture (Hydroponic, Rooftop, Community/Backyard/ School Garden)
Community Economic Development
• Food Industry Direct Marketing (MarketMaker https://foodmarketmaker.com)
• Healthy Food Access (Food Hubs, Farmers Markets, CSA, Farm-to-School)
• Food Entrepreneurship Education
• Waste Management (Agriculture and Food)
• Role of ICT for information and extension education
Women and Youth Participation in Extension
• Food and Nutrition Education in the Communities
• Small Food Processing Industry, SME Development & Management
• 4H and Youth Leadership Programs – STEM education , Hydroponic, Aquaculture
• Agriculture in the Classroom, Youth Fresh Markets

30. Linking Agriculture, Food Systems and Nutrition:
Community Good Practices

31. Youth Learn about…
• Hydroponic Ag
• Entrepreneurial Small
Business
• Using ICT to connect
farmers
• Food Economy
• Food & Nutrition
Youth Participation in Food Systems!

32. Encouraging and Inspiring
Agricultural Sciences
Students
Morning Class in the Field
MYANMAR
Food and Nutrition Education
Yezin Agricultural University
Nutritive-Sensitive Agriculture:
Linking Agriculture, Food Systems and
Nutrition (2015-present)

33. Nutrition-Sensitive Agriculture
Training Workshop
MOALI-DOA-State and Regional
Agricultural Extension Managers are
learning about Linking Agriculture,
Food Systems and Nutrition, Dietary
Diversity, Recipes Modification and
Food Preparation

34. Nutrition-Sensitive Agriculture
Training Workshop
MOALI-DOA-State and Regional Agricultural
Extension Managers are working on Food
Calendars for different Agro-ecological zones
Food Availability, Food Accessibility and Food
Utilization Exercises

35. Nutrition-Sensitive Agriculture Training
Workshop with State and Regional
Agricultural Extension Managers and
Extension Workers of Ministry of
Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation

36. Food and Nutrition
Education in Chin
Communities
Zion Baptist Church
Immanuel Baptist Church

37. Upland Farming Systems
Crop, Livestock and
Aquaculture
Intern Students learning
Nutritive-Sensitive
Agriculture, meeting with
Farmers and Engaging farmers
at Farmer Field Schools in
Chin State

38. Eat Local, Seasonal, Fresh,
Affordable, Accessible, Safety,
Nutritious, and Healthy Food!
Dietary Diversity &
Modifying Recipes
Food and Nutrition
Education through
Cooking Demo at Farmer
Field School with
Farmers, Community
Members and Students

39. ICT based Knowledge Transfer System
• Innovation & Enhancing the Quality and Standard of Agricultural
Products
• Village library, reading/ discussion groups
• Viber groups of contact farmers for alarming pest management and
weather information
• Application (Mobile apps)
• Farmer Channel and Call Center, TV, Radio
• Facebook page
• Ministry web site ( www.moali.mm)
• Other mobile application (Green way, Htwet toe)

40. 21st Century Myanmar
(Mobile, Internet, Social Media)

43. NGOs
Educational
Organizations
& Institutes
Government
Organizations
Private
Companies
Embassies
Media
TV, Radio,
Newspapers
CBOs CSOs
International
Organizations
Research
& Training
Institutes

44. Efforts for Young Farmer and Green Agriculture &
Nutrition-Sensitive Agriculture
• Knowledge Year (2018, DOA)
• Capacity building program for
Young Farmer Leaders at
Agricultural Extension and Rural
Development Training Center
• Farmer led Integrated
cooperative farms
• High technology demonstration
plots - Climate Resilient
Agriculture
• Integrated approach as one
village in one township
Efforts for Nutrition-Sensitive Agriculture
 Initiation of the home gardening approach:
Providing education on growing nutrient-
dense crops, fruits and vegetables in home
gardens, safety food production, food and
nutrition education and healthy eating active
living practices to farmers, farmers families
and community members
 Awareness for the pesticide risk reduction for
healthy plant
 Organic farming
 Green economy for plant health

45. Objectives
Regular access to and consumption of safe and diverse foods
1. Increased availability of nutrient-rich food products (crops,
Livestock and fishery products) at market and household level.
2. Increased access to diversified diets through improved income.
3. Improved food safety along food supply and value chains to
enhance access to safe foods.
Multi-Sectoral National Plan Of Action on
Nutrition (MS-NPAN)

46. Action Plan
Home Gardening/ School Gardening
• Project Sites - 2 Region (Ayeyarwady, Shan)
• Types of crops -Vegetables (Seasonal, perennial, indigenous)
• Types of adapted cultivation - Home Garden, School Garden
• Nursery farms (DOA & DAR) - one nursery farms for every township
Training
• Nutrition-Sensitive Agriculture
• Sustainable agriculture (Organic, GAP, IPM, Post-harvest Technology)
• Vegetables (annual, perennial) and fruits cultivation
• Awareness training of seed, fertilizer, pesticide law
Multi-Sectoral National Plan Of Action on Nutrition
(MS-NPAN)

48. Nowhere is this more true than in the Food System:
• It must deliver nutrition while protecting biodiversity;
• It must utilize and protect natural resources;
• It must ensure both human and planetary health.
• Nature can no longer suffer from how we produce,
consume and waste food.
• If we significantly reduce food waste, improve
farming practices and technologies, and shift our
diets, it is possible to keep the food system within
planetary boundaries.
• Halving food loss and waste could reduce the sector’s
environmental impact by up to a sixth.
• Particular importance is dietary change - GHS
emissions from food production could be cut by more
than half if mainly plant-based diets with modest
meat consumption were adopted globally.
• Invest in and promote the development of
technologies that address the needs of low-income
and vulnerable groups including women, and
promote adoption and dissemination of such
technologies
Key Elements

49. Good Nutrition Starts With …
 Avoid oversized
portions.
 Enjoy your food, but
eat less.
 Make half your
plate fruits and
vegetables.
 Make at least half
your grains whole
grains.
 Switch to fat-free or
low-fat milk.
 Vary your protein
choices and keep them
lean.
 Enjoy fish twice a
week.
 Cut down on foods
high in solid fats,
added sugar, and salt.MyPlate

50. THANK YOU!
Dr. Khin Mar Cho
Country Representative for Myanmar
International Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Specialist
Cornell University , New York, USA
International Ph: +1-646-578-2667
Myanmar Ph: +95-9-420078524
kc458@cornell.edu
Let’s