Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition

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DISCUSSION No. 122   •   FSN Forum digest No. 1204

Integrating nutrition into the curricula of agriculture education institutions: Strengthening human capacity to promote nutrition-sensitive agriculture

until 27 November 2015

 

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Dear Members,

Thank you for your comments for the discussion Integrating nutrition into the curricula of agriculture education institutions: Strengthening human capacity to promote nutrition-sensitive agriculture. You can find the latest ones summarized below, together with the facilitator's recap of the discussion so far.

In this discussion we invite you to explore how to best integrate nutrition into the training of agricultural workers, what components to include and what results to expect in terms of improving nutrition.

So far, a consensus seems to emerge that giving more space to nutrition aspects in the education of people involved in agricultural sciences is of great importance to tackle hunger and malnutrition in a sustainable way. However, it is still necessary to develop on the essential components of nutrition education and reflect on the results to expect on the field.

Please refer to the leading questions available online and share your experiences. The discussion webpage is also available in French and Spanish.

We look forward to further comments.  

Your FSN Forum team

 

 

Mebit Kebede, Facilitator of the discussion

First of all,

I appreciate all your genuine ideas, experiences and views forwarded for online discussion on the aforementioned topics.

I have tried to go through with all your ideas and I am very happy to see almost all of you are supporting the ideas of integrating nutrition in to the curricula of agricultural education institutions. I would like also to appreciate those of you who contributed supporting documents in the areas of nutrition agriculture linkage focusing on human resource development in the areas of nutrition sensitive agriculture.

Anna Antwi

I want to quote one of our colleagues' ideas mentioning the importance of integrating nutrition in the curricula of agriculture as "I think now it becomes clear that unless agriculture of a community is guided by its actual nutritional needs, it would be impossible to avoid either malnutrition or its inappropriate counterpart" [Lal Manavado]. I also strongly agree with this idea. This may answer questions of members who raise its worthiness to do so.

When we say integrating nutrition in the curricula of agriculture education we do not mean that all agricultural graduates will be nutritionist or agricultural professionals will not replace the role of nutritionist. We are saying that agricultural professionals should have basic nutrition knowledge so as to promote nutrition sensitive agriculture. We may not expect from agricultural professional to be competent with detail nutrition skills like those of nutritionist.

Let me share our experience of integrating nutrition in to the curricula of agricultural education. The most important activity that we have to do first is that identifying nutrition core competencies that is relevant for agricultural professional.

Nutrition core competencies we identified for agriculture professionals are listed below: All the listed core competencies are described with their attributes in terms of knowledge, skill and attitude competency domains.

1.       Apply basic principles of human nutrition

2.       Assist in a variety of agricultural food production and promote use of diversified/complementary foods

3.       Promote safe handling of agricultural food products during storage, transportation and preservation

4.       Promote nutrition through Behaviour Change Communication(BCC) and use of technology

5.       Utilize multi-sectoral collaboration and linkage

6.       Plan manage, monitor and evaluate agriculture-related nutrition interventions

7.       Apply professionalism and ethics

The challenge we faced at the beginning was how to integrate those nutrition core competencies in to the existing curricula of agricultural education. As we all know curriculum revision requires a great deal with decision makers and it needs long period of time. To escape these long process, add-on approach i.e integrating the identified nutrition core competencies within the existing potential curriculum of agriculture education was the first option that we followed. Throughout all these process, all the essential stakeholders like MOA, MOH, MOE and other stakeholders were consulted.

Is it possible to address those nutrition core competencies with add-on approach or with extra lecture hours? As it was raised by Jane Sherman [participant to the discussion], this is the most important point that should be answered. Of course, now the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) endorsed nutrition to be one of Occupational Standard (OS) for mid-level agricultural graduates and we are also working with Ministry of Education (MoE) to do the same for university agricultural graduates.

Having said this much about our experiences, I would like to request members to share their experiences and thought with specific to each leading questions listed under the discussion topics.

Mebit Kebede
Jhpiego Ethiopia
Ethiopia

 

CONTRIBUTIONS RECEIVED

iconEileen Omosa, We Grow Ideas, Canada

Eileen shares her experience on integrating nutrition into the curricula of agriculture education institutions while working for a Kenyan NGO active in Eastern and Southern Africa. She tells us that the integration of new ideas into existing curricular involves awareness creation, sensitization on benefits of collaboration, mobilization of resources (financial, human, case studies, how-to-manuals) and availability of supportive policy. [...]

Read the contribution

 

iconHom Gartaula, Canadian Mennonite University, Canada

Hom stresses that incorporating nutrition education in the curricula of agricultural colleges and higher education institutes is not enough to increase dietary diversity and improve nutrition security among farming families. Based on a study he contributed to, he highlights the potential of integrating local knowledge on nutrition and agriculture in the formal education system to increase food literacy and improve nutrition security at community level. [...]

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iconAlexandrina Sirbu, Romania

Alexandrina stresses the importance of integrating nutrition in agricultural education, as it will help create a new generation of policy makers sensitized to the importance of nutrition issues in proper agri-food policies. [...]

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iconEloundou Tsanga Germain Grégoire, Center for Communication and Sustainable Development for All (CECOSDA), Cameroon

Eloundou suggest to take advantage of the cultural and culinary diversity already present in many developing countries and to support it through agricultural teaching programmes. In reference to what training programmes should focus on, he suggests optimizing the quality of local agro-pastoral resource and provide students with knowledge on the micronutrients present in the food. [...]

Read the contribution

 

 

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