Research Area: Agriculture Transformation, Food Systems & Nutrition Transition
Understanding the Multidimensional Nature of the Malnutrition Problem in India
Abstract India’s slow progress in combating its malnutrition problem was highlighted most starkly when a comparison between its rates of poverty and malnutrition decline between the mid-1990s and mid-2000s was brought to the fore, with the release of the National Family Health Survey in 2005....
Unraveling India’s Malnutrition Dilemma – a Path Toward Nutrition-sensitive Agriculture
Abstract This chapter makes the case for India to shift to a nutrition-focused agricultural sector that goes beyond staple grain productivity to emphasize the production and consumption of micronutrient-rich foods. The chapter first reviews the nutrition trends in India, characterized by slow progress in addressing...
The Green Revolution and Crop Biodiversity
Abstract Crop diversity in the fields of the developing world has changed fundamentally over the past 200 years with the intensification and commercialisation of agriculture. This process accelerated with the advent of the Green Revolution (GR) in the 1960s when public sector researchers and donors...
Transforming Smallholder Agriculture to Achieve the SDGs
Abstract There is overwhelming historical evidence from the developed world and from the newly emerging economies of the developing world that indicates that agricultural growth has been the primary engine of overall economic growth. The transformation of economies around the world, from predominantly agricultural to...
Toward an Integrated Approach to Nutritional Quality, Environmental Sustainability, and Economic Viability: Research and Measurement Gaps
Abstract Nutrition is affected by numerous environmental and societal causes. This paper starts with a simple framework based on three domains: nutritional quality, economic viability, and environmental sustainability, and calls for an integrated approach in research to simultaneously account for all three. It highlights limitations...
Wringing Food from the World
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Agricultural Policy and Nutrition Outcomes – Getting Beyond the Preoccupation with Staple Grains
Abstract There is a growing disconnect between agricultural policy and contemporary nutritional challenges, the persistent problem of micronutrient malnutrition and child stunting, as well as the emerging challenges of overweight and obesity. Diversification of production systems and the market supply of enhanced diversity will only...
Book Review: The Evolving Sphere of Food Security
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The Hunger Metrics Mirage: There’s Been Less Progress on Hunger Reduction Than It Appears
Abstract As the timeframe for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) came to an end in 2015, the United Nations lauded great progress, calling its MDG campaign the “most successful anti-poverty movement in history.” In its final progress report, the United Nations states that poverty...
Transitioning Towards Nutrition-Sensitive Food Systems in Developing Countries
Abstract A nutrition-sensitive food system is one that goes beyond staple grain productivity and places emphasis on the consumption of micronutrient-rich nonstaples through a variety of market and nonmarket interventions. A nutrition-sensitive approach not only considers policies related to macrolevel availability and access to nutritious...