There is a strong link between proper nutrition and health especially in children. The World Bank has indicated that malnutrition is the single biggest contributor to child mortality globally. Malnutrition, including micronutrient deficiency, is estimated to contribute about 53% to mortality in children less than five years of age.
The risk of dying from disease is twice as high for mildly malnourished children compared with well nourished children, five times as high for moderately malnourished children and eight times greater for children classified as severely malnourished.
Fighting against malnutrition is not just a matter of public health. Within the framework of Millennium Development Goal 1, the battle to protect and improve people’s nutritional status (and in particular of children under five years old) is an essential component of the wider range of efforts aimed at improving the socio-economic conditions of populations, especially the most vulnerable groups.
Nutrition is a key area in which no stakeholder can, alone, achieve significant progress. This calls for a multisectoral approach in the policies, strategies and interventions supporting and enhancing food security and nutrition, involving, in particular, the health and agriculture sectors.
About 15% of women in Nigeria are undernourished, while iron deficiency anemia is among the top causes of maternal mortality, accounting for 11% of maternal deaths. The effect of malnutrition in pregnancy has far-reaching effects, as it contributes significantly to low-birth weight (LBW), which in turn predisposes the newborn to neo-natal infections and is the starting point for many cases of failure to thrive. LBW is also a risk factor for some types of chronic diseases during adulthood.
According to Tola Atinmo, a nutritionist and a professor, “One of the most devastating effects of malnutrition, especially under nutrition in pregnancy, is that it leads to the development of non-communicable diseases, even though there may be no family history of such a condition. This finding brings to the fore the fact that, although genetic factors are crucial in an individual’s well-being, malnutrition is responsible for the manifestation of these diseases in most cases. Even in the absence of defective genes, malnutrition can create these problems.”
When a person is malnourished, it means he is lacking certain nutrients to help him live healthy and this can be traced down to what he eats. It therefore goes to say that agriculture and nutrition are interwoven. Here are some factors linking agriculture and nutrition as explained by Atinmo: “They include limited food production, preservation and distribution capacity, limited health, education and sanitation, demographic forces, climatic changes as a result of global warming and changes in lifestyles.”
Indeed agriculture, nutrition and health are linked.
This Oyebiodun G. Longe, an agriculturalist from the University of Ibadan agrees to this and adds that “there needs to be a revolution in agriculture to ensure food security and this can be done by better genetic resources, better agronomic practices, agricultural technologies for food fortification, reduction in post harvest crop loss, increase food production, promote value addition-enhanced nutritional value of agricultural products through processing, better marketing systems that affect food consumption patterns for improved food and nutrition security, consumption of nutritious combinations, energy and protein foods in right proportions, fruits and vegetables that enhance macronutrient and micronutrient intake and avoid overweight and obesity by excessive intake of energy (starches/sugars and fats).”
Policies are put in place to help create structure and better lives. Agricultural policies are with the intention of adequate food production for the populace as its main goal. However, there is deficiency on the growth and execution of plans to guarantee that agricultural interventions translate into improved nutrition. The objectives are typically focused on improving productivity, income and rural infrastructure, with an assumption that an achievement of better nutrition is given once these objectives are achieved.
Linking agricultural research to nutrition policy, Atinmo further explains that “Agricultural research has the potential to make significant positive impact on nutritional indices in women and children. Promising practices continue to emerge in the field of agricultural research for nutrition which can be adopted and promoted among local farmers and consumers. Some initiatives that have been developed include selective breeding of nutrient-rich crop and animal strains, bio-fortification of commonly consumed foods, and enhancement of nutrient availability through optimum preservation, processing and preparation methods.
“Nutritional status is a function of a complex interplay of factors, including availability of and access to food (food security), access to portable water and basic hygiene (sanitation), adequate healthcare services, and health seeking behaviour. Agriculture is one of the major drivers of food security.
The nutrition and agriculture sectors must work together in all areas to create a synergy towards improving the nutritional status of Nigerian women and children. Nigeria has launched a number of policies and programmes in the areas of both agriculture and nutrition.
However, these have so far not translated into improved nutritional indices for Nigerian women and children. Although the web of causation for malnutrition is complex, policy guidelines have the potential to create an enabling environment in which agricultural and nutrition programmes interact to enhance population level nutritional outcomes.
By: Kemi Ajumobi
