Food and Nutrition Security Dimensions, Indicators and Framework
- 1. FOOD AND NUTRITION SECURITY: DIMENSIONS, INDICATORS AND FRAMEWORK FOR ACHIEVING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOAL AT NATIONAL AND SUB NATIONAL LEVELS BY SOETAN, Olatunbosun Jonathan Department of Agricultural Extension and Rural Development Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun state, Nigeria
- 2. Introduction Food and nutrition are cornerstones that affect and define the health of all people, rich and poor. The right to food is one of the most consistently mentioned items in international human rights documents Food and nutrition security is essential to ensure adequate nutrition, prevent hunger and malnutrition, hence, its inclusion as part of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2 Strong interdependencies exist between food security, nutrition and many other parts of a broad sustainable development agenda – inclusive economic growth, population dynamics, decent employment, social protection, energy, water, health, sanitation, natural resource management and protecting ecosystems
- 3. Introduction contd… According to World Health Organization (WHO 2012) food and nutrition security is defined as a condition when “all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life” According to Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) (2008), food and nutrition security is necessary to maintain an optimal nutritional status, and core to its definition is the requirement for nutritious food, which refers not only to sufficient quantities of food (in terms of calories), but also to sufficient quality (in terms of variety and micronutrient content)
- 4. Dimensions of food security Napoli, De Muro and Mazziota (2011) stated that there are four important interlinked components imbedded in the definition of food and nutrition security The first component as noted by Napoli et.al., (2011) relates to food availability which means that food is physically present because it has been grown, manufactured, imported and/or transported The second aspect concerns food access which is the way different people can obtain the available food The third component relates to food utilization which is the way people use the food Finally the fourth component relates to stability and sustainability over time. Any of the above-mentioned factors can cause food insecurity
- 5. Dimensions and pillars of food security
- 6. Stakeholders and user’s guide: classification of the indicators use in measuring food and nutrition security 1) National indicators use observations that are initially made only at the country level, typically because they use national accounts, trade data, or other information that is collected administratively for the population as a whole. Analysts may then infer the share attributable to a subset of the population, but the original data source is a per- capita average. A typical example is per-capita Gross Domestic Product from national accounts, or total exports and imports from trade data 2) Market indicators use observations that are initially made at the level of a marketplace. This could be an average over many transactions, or a single representative transaction in the market. The actual agents involved are typically unknown or anonymous, and may be located anywhere. A typical example is a market price, the total volume of sales, or the fraction of food sold that has been fortified
- 7. Stakeholders and user’s guide: classification of the indicators use in measuring food and nutrition security 3) Household or individual recall data are collected through responses to verbal or written questions. Household data refers to questions at the level of a family or other unit eating from a common cooking pot. Individual data refers to a specific person, who may or may not be the respondent. For example, a child’s dietary intake is typically provided by the mother or other caregiver 4) Anthropometric indicators are based on external measurement of body size, such as heights (or lengths) and weights. These are typically combined with other information such as age and sex, and compared to reference populations to determine a group’s prevalence of stunting, wasting, overweight or obesity. Other widely used measurements include waist circumference or waist- to-hip ratio (to indicate abdominal adiposity) and mid-upper arm circumference (to track underweight)
- 8. Stakeholders and user’s guide: classification of the indicators use in measuring food and nutrition security 5) Prevalence of undernourishment (PoU) and related measures are constructed by combining data observed at the national, household and individual scale. For the PoU, country-level estimates of food production, trade and other uses are used to infer total national food supply. Inequality in access and distribution of food is measured using household surveys, and compared to the population’s dietary energy needs based on their age, sex and height 6) Biomarkers and clinical data are health indicators based on tests of physical samples or information from clinical service providers. Samples may be collected during home visits, at mobile field sites such as village health days, or in clinics and health facilities. For example, blood tests are used to determine anemia and vitamin A status, stool samples reveal presence of intestinal parasites, and maternity service records reveal the prevalence of low birth weight.
- 9. Stakeholders and user’s guide: classification of the indicators use in measuring food and nutrition security 7) Breastfeeding and sanitation measures are obtained from interviews and direct observation, often collected alongside other household and individual recall data but using different survey instruments due to their distinct unit of observation. For example, breastfeeding indicators are specific to a mother-child dyad, and sanitation indicators often refer to the shared environment of each household. 8) Composite indexes and multidimensional measures are created by combining different concepts into a single ranking or classification. The weights assigned to each element reflect its relative importance for users of the index, which is typically designed for advocacy purposes rather than operational use
- 10. Causal pathways among targets in SDGs 2 and other development goals The figure 2-3 illustrates how the different targets specified as part of SDG2, which calls for all UN member countries to "end hunger, achieve food security and improve nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture” SGD2 is specifically about food security and nutrition, but the targets specified under other SDGs are also important for success in this domain, including especially progress on climate change (SDG13), water and sanitation (SDG6) and empowerment of women (SDG5) The inter-relationships of SDG2 with these other goals is illustrated below, showing how each type of indicator assessed in this document relates to the different goals
- 11. Causal pathways among targets in SDGs 2
- 12. Causal pathways among targets in SDGs 2 and other development goals
- 13. Conclusion and recommendations The paper concluded that Strong interdependencies exist between food security, nutrition and many other parts of a broad sustainable development agenda – inclusive economic growth, population dynamics, decent employment, social protection, energy, water, health, sanitation, natural resource management and protecting ecosystems It was therefore recommended that relevant stakeholders in health, nutrition, agriculture, donor agencies, Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDA’s) and policy makers to develop a framework and policies that will solve the problem of food insecurity and poor nutrition especially among landless farmers that are most vulnerable to food and nutrition insecurity
- 14. References • Burchi, F., J. Fanzo & E. Frison (2011). The role of food and nutrition system approaches in tackling hidden hunger. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 8(2), 358-373 • Cafiero, C. and Gennari, P. (2015). The relevance of “new metrics” for the evaluation of SDG2- data revolution and innovative approaches for assessing human wellbeing. FAO Statistics Division. Rome, 17 November 2015. https://www.ifad.org/documents/10180/eb7ee96e-9d18-4966- 929c-2807c91ba83a • Food and Agricultural Organization. (2008). Food security information for action. Practical guides. Rome: EC - FAO Food Security Programme. • Food and Agriculture Organization. (2017). Food Security and Nutrition Situation in Sahel and West Africa. Retrieved fromreliefweb.int/report/Nigeria/food-security-and-nutrition-situation- in-sahel-and-west-africa-current-march-may-2017