Ensuring food security: Traditional foods key to addressing poor nutrition and negative health effects

BY EDMUND SMITH-ASANTE

Rice prepared the Indian way

Officials at the launch of a new international project at the World Nutrition Rio de Janeiro Congress 2012 held on April 28, known as the Biodiversity for Food and Nutrition Project, have asked for renewed emphasis to be placed on sustaining the natural variety of crops and animals contributing to agriculture, including neglected but nutritious traditional foods.

They opined that a renewed stress on traditional foods can go a long way to improve food security and address growing global concerns over poor nutrition and its negative health effects.

Currently, one third of the world's population suffers from hunger and micronutrient malnutrition, while obesity and diet-related chronic illnesses have reached critical levels.

The Biodiversity for Food and Nutrition Project, therefore aims to address the narrowing variety of people’s diets, with nutritionally-poor processed foods dominating the dinner table, which trend it is believed, has led to a rise in health issues worldwide, a press release jointly issued by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Global Environment Facility (GEF) and Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has stated.

According to Emile Frison, Director General of Biodiversity International, which is coordinating the project to further research and promote the links between biodiversity and good nutrition, the  diversity of crops and their wild relatives, trees, animals, microbes and other species contributing to food production – known as agricultural biodiversity – can indeed counter these trends.

“Diversity of diet, founded on diverse farming systems, delivers better nutrition and greater health, with additional benefits for human productivity and livelihoods,” “Agricultural biodiversity is absolutely essential to cope with the predicted impacts of climate change,” Emile Frison added.

For his part, Braulio Dias, Executive Secretary, Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), said “To meet the challenge of feeding the world population of around nine billion by 2050, we need to consider not only sustainably producing sufficient food but also working towards diversified nutrition, which means providing a healthy diet for all,” adding, “Agricultural biodiversity plays a central role in meeting this challenge.”

Also commenting, Monique Barbut, CEO and Chairperson of the GEF said; "The GEF is making efforts to expand its engagement in the conservation and management of agricultural biodiversity, which provides the mainstay for millions of people worldwide and food security to the world's most vulnerable populations."

To Marieta Sakalian, UNEP Senior Programme Management Officer, Biodiversity, however, “This project provides an exceptional platform for bringing key international partners together with the agriculture, environment, health and education sectors at national level to work towards conserving and promoting biodiversity for food and nutrition.” She also believes the four countries leading in the project, “Brazil, Kenya, Sri Lanka and Turkey contain unique agricultural biological diversity that is crucial to the world’s food supply.”  

For her part, the FAO’s principal nutrition officer, Barbara Burlingame, notes that dietary energy requirements can be satisfied without biodiversity, but micronutrient requirements can only be met through a diversified diet, with biodiversity being the key.

“This project includes a research component that will help to improve the evidence base on the nutritional attributes of food biodiversity, thus linking food and nutrition security with conserving biodiversity through sustainable use,” she stated.

The Global Environment Facility (GEF), the world’s largest public funder of international environmental projects, is supporting the multi-country project led by Brazil, Kenya, Sri Lanka and Turkey. Biodiversity International is also coordinating the project with implementation support from UNEP and FAO. 

In addition to researching biodiversity’s role in nutrition, the US $35-million project, supported by the GEF with US$5.5 million and contributions from partner governments and international agencies, aims to provide information on the nutritional and health benefits of traditional food sources to the four partner countries.

According to the jointly issued press release on the project, the results will enhance the development of policies and regulatory frameworks that promote biodiversity conservation and sustainable use of often-neglected and forgotten traditional foods, which are often more nutritious and better adapted to local environments, thus having less impact on ecosystems.

To this end, Mr. Emile Frison disclosed that “In India, for example, a long series of studies to improve the use of so-called minor millets among very poor farmers has shown multiple beneficial impacts on yields, incomes, profits, the nutritional value of popular snack and breakfast foods and female empowerment, all promoting the likely conservation of these crops and their biological diversity in farmers’ fields.”

Examples of these foods, some of which have gained global popularity, were given as indigenous leafy vegetables such as amaranth leaves, cleome and nightshade, which are now acknowledged as significant sources of vitamins, minerals and anti-oxidants.

Also, lycopene-rich guava varieties, acerola and pitanga, which are now commercially produced and processed in Brazil, as well as another nutrient-rich fruit from Brazil and elsewhere, the popular açaí berry.

Food condiments and spices, which have recently been reported to have anti-diabetic, anti-inflammatory, anti-mutagenic, and anti carcinogenic properties and spices, also contribute to daily intakes of iron, zinc and calcium.

Further, arugula (or rocket), a nutritious vegetable once collected as a wild food, and quinoa, an extremely nutritious grain-like crop from the Andes, have both found wide-scale acceptance in the grocery aisles and on restaurant tables throughout the world as a healthy and tasty food. It is believed quinoa holds particular promise, in that it is highly adaptable to different climatic and geographic conditions. Meanwhile, the United Nations has declared 2013 to be the year of the Quinoa.

The project is consistent with the Cross-Cutting initiative on biodiversity for food and nutrition, which was adopted by the CBD at the eighth Conference of the Parties in 2006, recognising the importance of the links between biodiversity, food and nutrition.

Given the cross-sectoral and multi-disciplinary nature of this project, national partners have agreed to bring together relevant international partners, which can facilitate both implementation and scaling up beyond the boundaries of the project.

To this end, international partners such as the World Food Programme (WFP); Earth Institute, Columbia University; Crops for the Future; ICRAF, Centre for Indigenous Peoples’ Nutrition and Environment (CINE) and the World Vegetable Centre (AVRDC) have committed to participate.