Improving Nutrition through Agriculture Technical Brief Series, Brief 2: Understanding the Food Production Pathway

This series of briefs illustrates how a set of pathways and principles may assist Feed the Future stakeholders to strengthen agriculture and nutrition linkages across and within country portfolios. Short vignettes from agriculture activities highlight how the pathways and principles can be applied in diverse contexts. The conceptual frameworks of the pathways and principles for improving nutrition through agriculture are described in the first brief. Each subsequent brief explores a different route between agriculture and nutrition: food production, income generation, and women’s empowerment.

In this brief, vignettes illustrate the potential pathways from food production to improved nutritional status. Agricultural activities typically affect more than one pathway and interact with the enabling environment that includes policies, the natural resource base, and cultural practices, among other factors.

The vignettes in this document provide information relevant to key questions:

• What activities have enabled food crop value chain investments to lead to improved consumption of diverse diets?
• Does including nutrition education and SBC in agriculture extension services help reduce or eliminate household hunger and improve dietary diversity?
• What approaches successfully address long-term natural resource management objectives while effectively increasing productivity and profitability?

The vignettes shed light on how, within specific contexts, agriculture and nutrition strategies and activities can be effectively linked to ensure that people in target communities are well fed. Strengthening Partnerships, Results, and Innovations in Nutrition Globally (SPRING) Project/JSI, 2014.