What is the issue?
- At a time when dietry patterns are changing rapidly, improving nutrition should be central to our debates on food culture.
- FAO and other UN partners are currently organising a conference on nutrition in Bangkok to ideate for future food policies.
Why is it critical?
- Nutritional security is under threat worldwide as our food systems are not properly responding to nutritional needs.
- The poor are constrained with limited access to nutritious foods due to its un-affordability.
- This leads to development of monotonous diets that do not provide them with adequate nutrients.
- For a considerable population of the well-off, taste has increasingly taken precedence over nutrition in our food habits.
- These factors have led to an increase in non-communicable diseases, which is heavily burdening on our health-care systems.
- These have the potential to derail the economic progress that is essential for the poor to improve their lives.
What are the major international efforts?
- An “International Conference on Nutrition” was organised in Rome by ‘UN Food and Agriculture Organisation’ (FAO) and the ‘World Health Organisation’ (WHO) in 2014.
- This was followed up last year, with an International Symposium on Sustainable Food Systems for Healthy Diets and Improved Nutrition.
- This week, experts on nutrition and major players in the food systems sector from across Asia and the Pacific are expected to gather at Bangkok for further discussions.
- All these actions are expected to better shape the ‘UN Decade of Action on Nutrition’ (2016-2025).
Who are the other stakeholders?
- A vast majority of the food we eat is produced by small farmers, many of whom are poor and undernourished themselves.
- Improvements to food systems must be achieved in ways that benefit their livelihood and nutritional needs.
- Small farmers are also key to building dynamic rural economies.
- It is hence critical to provide them with technological inputs that enhances their product valuations in the markets.
- Investing the all key players of the food supply chain (producers, transporters, marketers) is needed to push the nutrition agenda ahead.
- Food processing for value enhancement is also another key focus area to produce and deliver more nutritious food.
Source: The Hindu
