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DISCUSSION No. 138 • FSN Forum digest No. 1298
How can value chains be shaped to improve nutrition?
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Dear Members,
The online consultation How can value chains be shaped to improve nutrition?<http://www.fao.org/fsnforum/activities/discussions/nsvc> has come to an end, and below we share with you the closing message from the Working Group on Nutrition-Sensitive Value Chains of the Rome-based Agencies.
Please click on the names of the contributors who posted over the last week to read their comments online: Joy Muller<http://www.fao.org/fsnforum/comment/7931>, Switzerland; Pilar Teresa Garcia<http://www.fao.org/fsnforum/comment/7932>, FANUS, Argentina; Emile Houngbo<http://www.fao.org/fsnforum/comment/7933>, National University of Agriculture, Benin; C.Palanivelayutham Chokkalingam<http://www.fao.org/fsnforum/comment/7934>, India; Arshad Malik<http://www.fao.org/fsnforum/comment/7935>, PMAS, Pakistan; Kemuel Satu, <http://www.fao.org/fsnforum/comment/7936> Solomon Islands University; Kien Nguyen Van<http://www.fao.org/fsnforum/comment/7937>, Plant Resources Center, Viet Nam, Lal Manavado<http://www.fao.org/fsnforum/comment/7938>, University of Oslo, Norway; Victor Pinga<http://www.fao.org/fsnforum/comment/7939>, SPRING, USA; Bhavani R Vaidyanathan<http://www.fao.org/fsnforum/comment/7940> (1st <http://www.fao.org/fsnforum/comment/7940> and 2nd<http://www.fao.org/fsnforum/comment/7941> contribution) and Rohit Parasasr<http://www.fao.org/fsnforum/comment/7942>, both from MS Swaminathan Research Foundation, India; Edye Kuyper<http://www.fao.org/fsnforum/comment/7943>, UC Davis, USA; and Mylene Rodríguez Leyton<http://www.fao.org/fsnforum/comment/7944>, Universidad Metropolitana de Barranquilla, Colombia.
We would like to join the Working Group in thanking you for having taken the time to share your experiences and thoughts with us and for making this such a rich exchange. A wide range of aspects of nutrition-sensitive value chain development has been discussed, which will help the Working Group in further defining their approach to this issue. Your input will also be duly considered during the revision of the discussion paper, of which an updated version will be made available to you.
Please refer to the webpage<http://www.fao.org/fsnforum/activities/discussions/nsvc> or the proceedings document<http://www.fao.org/fsnforum/sites/default/files/files/138_NSVC/PROCEEDINGS_Value_Chains_For_Nutrition.docx> to read all comments received. A summary of the contributions will be prepared and shared with you over the coming few weeks.
We look forward to our upcoming exchanges!
Your FSN Forum team
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Dear participants,
We, members of the RBA WG, want to express our very sincere gratitude for sharing your experiences, thoughts and projects in this discussion forum. We are delighted with the rich exchanges that we’ve had over the last few weeks.
The Nutrition-Sensitive Value Chains (NSVC) framework is envisioned as a tool to identify challenges and opportunities for nutrition at different stages of the VC. The summary of this discussion (which is currently underway) will help us refine and improve our approach to NSVC. In the meantime we would like to bring your attention to some opportunities and challenges raised by participants during our discussion:
· Opportunities: Stimulating demand for nutritious food through better nutrition awareness, education and marketing strategies; diversifying agricultural production and increasing the availability of naturally nutrient-dense foods; fortification and biofortification; strengthening value chains for local and traditional foods to meet nutrient needs and diet diversification of local populations; addressing food safety issues as well as reducing food loss and waste as a way to increase availability of safe nutritious foods in the market; etc.
· Challenges: Value chains should be not only nutrition-sensitive, but also economically viable. A number of questions then arise: how can we make a better business case for nutrition-sensitive value chains? How can we address the fragmentation and lack of coordination among value chain actors and across sectors? How to ensure inclusion of the poor in nutrition-sensitive value chain approaches, both as producers (with limited assets, access to services and capacities) and as consumers (with limited purchasing power)? Another set of challenges revolves around the need to adopt a more holistic approach to NSVC development: how to ensure environmental sustainability of NSVC development? What challenges and risks need to be addressed to make NSVC gender-sensitive? How can we move from the commodity-focused nature of VCs to an approach that addresses various VCs at a time with the objective of improving diets?
The discussion also showcased a number of examples of the initiatives that have aimed to leverage the power of markets and VC for nutrition and the experiences that will also enrich our understanding of NSVC development in practice. Participants also discussed the importance of the different impact pathways (income pathway, own production pathway and market pathway), along with the 2 key mediators of impact, nutrition awareness and, more prominently, women's empowerment which emerged as a central element for NSVC development. A conducive and enabling environment is also required for VC to significantly and sustainable contribute to more nutritious food systems, hence the importance of strong government engagement and coordination among different sectors and stakeholder groups.
While we must bring this discussion to a close, we would like to invite you to send any additional contributions directly to [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> within the next few days. We will do our best to incorporate the outputs of this consultation to refine our approach to NSVC development and to define joint work of the RBA WG on NSVC. An updated version of the Paper will be developed and shared with FSN participants in due course.
We thank you again for your contributions to this discussion.
Kind regards,
The members of the Working Group on Nutrition-Sensitive Value Chains of the Rome-based Agencies
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