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Improving Food Security, Nutrition and Health of Vulnerable Women and Children in The Gambia - GCP/GAM/038/EC

Year of publication 2023

Place of publication Rome, Italy ;

Pages 2

Publisher FAO ;

Product type Project

Synopsis (short abstract) The Gambia is classified as a low-income-food-deficit country. Seventy-one per cent of the population live below the USD 2 per day poverty line and in 2014 the country was ranked 172 of 187 in the United Nations Human Development Index. Food insecurity and malnutrition are also high. The 2013 National Demographic Household Survey found that two-thirds of children under five, one-third of pregnant women, and 16 percent of lactating mothers had vitamin A deficiency. Despite significant advances in the reduction of undernutrition, the Gambia is still affected by micronutrient deficiencies. Fortification is the addition of one or more micronutrients to a staple food to correct, prevent or reduce micronutrient deficiencies; while biofortification is the process of enhancing the nutritional value of crops by increasing the density of vitamins and minerals in a crop through either conventional plant breeding, agronomic practices or biotechnology. Regulations for food fortification existed only for iodized salt in the country, and while there were programmesproviding some supplements, they were clearly insufficient. Against this background, the European Union-funded project aimed to assist the Government to improve the food and nutrition security of vulnerable women and children in targeted regions, by focusing on ensuring access to and the consumption of micronutrient-rich foods and industrially fortified and biofortified foods.

Language English

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    Biofortification, the process of breeding nutrients into food crops, provides a comparatively cost-effective, sustainable, and long-term means of delivering more micronutrients. The biofortification strategy seeks to put the micronutrient-dense trait in those varieties that already have preferred agronomic and consumption traits, such as high yield and disease resistance. Marketed surpluses of these crops may make their way into retail outlets, reaching consumers first in rural and then urban ar eas. Progress to date in breeding and delivering biofortified crops is discussed. The nutrition evidence on bioavailability and efficacy is growing. Completed nutrition studies for each crop are briefly discussed. Human studies have included a variety of technologies, including stable isotope methods, which are among the most powerful to measure bioavailability and efficacy. Efficacy and effectiveness studies are available for orange-fleshed sweetpotato (OFSP); full evidence is not yet available for biofortified maize, cassava, or golden rice, but initial bioavailability and efficacy results are promising. Efficacy trials have been completed for iron crops (beans and pearl millet) and evidence for zinc biofortification is still developing. Food-based approaches to improve nutrition face challenges in providing rigorous evidence that they can deliver nutrition improvements in a cost-effective and timely manner. The experience of delivering OFSP is reviewed and discussed, including the c hallenges of marketing a visible trait and changing perceptions of OFSP as merely a food security crop. Whether implementing or integrating OFSP programs, strong and effective partnering practices are required; strategies for successful implementation of cross-sectoral nutrition sensitive programming are discussed. Biofortification is yet to be fully scaled-up in a single country, but much evidence and experience has been assembled to support its eventual effectiveness. Policies to support cross sectoral implementation at all levels, as well as increasing the evidence base, will contribute to making biofortification a cost-effective investment in a more nourishing future.
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