The Linkage between Agriculture, Nutrition and Health: Issues for Research and Policy

Abstract

Agriculture systems have grown in complexity due to globalisation, trade openness and economic development, and their tentacles are evident in other sectors. The agriculture, nutrition and health sectors are treated in isolation. Programmes and policies are designed and tailor-made for each sector without considering the linkages that exist among them (Hoddinott, 2012). Over the years, a strong linkage has been established between agriculture, nutrition and health. These sectors have an intricate bi-directional interaction. Agriculture affects nutrition and health, and nutrition and health affects agriculture. The process of agricultural production and the output it generates can contribute to both good and poor nutrition and/or health. Vice versa, the nutrition and health condition has implication for agriculture. The agriculture sector has an important and profound influence and effect on both nutrition and health of the individual and the society (Jones & Ejeta, 2016). More than 800 million people globally suffered from chronic undernourishment in 2017. This represents about 10.9 percent of total world population. The number of overweight and obese people are also on the increase (FAO, 2018). The undernourishment is leading to stunting, wasting, and underweight individuals especially among children leading to cognitive challenges (Walker et. al., 2007). However, at the same time, overweight and obesity is leading to an increase in the number of non-communicable diseases like diabetes, high blood pressure, among others (Stuckler, Mckee, Ebrahim, & Basu, 2012). These challenges are a major public health problem globally (Black et. al, 2013; Popkin, Adair & Ng, 2012). Policymaking initiatives in agriculture, nutrition and health are often done in parallel and unconnected ways. A joint and coherent action could have potential benefits and substantially reduce the risk among the population (Hawkes and Ruel, 2006). The policy interventions of this interaction include; addressing the triple burden of malnutrition, technological changes and farming practices in the food system to promote healthy diets and food safety, dealing with the raise of zoonotic diseases, and the effects of climate change. Although the past decade has seen significant advances in linking agriculture, nutrition and health within policy, research, programme design, and implementation (Fan, Yosef and Pandya-Lorch, 2019). Yet, knowledge gaps remain. Opportunities for further research include; food safety and impacts of hazardous inputs, climate change impact on agriculture systems and public health, impact of the nutrition transition in developing countries, effective early warning systems to monitor and track incidence of pests and diseases, and identifying new pathways of human exposure to climate change variabilities. This lecture draws on a body of research studies to provide a conceptual framework to understand the linkage between agriculture, nutrition and health. It also examines the challenges to the linkage and comes out with issues for further research and policymaking