Introductory note

This paper, entitled 'Rural Poverty Alleviation and Nutrition: IFAD's Evolving Experiences' , was part of the Fund’s contribution to the International Conference on Nutrition, held in Rome in December 1992, and is No. 14 in the series of Staff Working Papers on technical issues in rural poverty alleviation, produced by the Technical Advisory Division. The authors are Timothy Frankenberger, Alberto Peña-Montenegro, Sirisena Tilakaratna, and Nancy Velarde, IFAD consultants; and Wenche Barth Eide, former Technical Adviser - Nutrition, IFAD, who also co-ordinated the study, under the aegis of Abbas Kesseba, former Director, Technical Advisory Division. Inputs were also provided by Shlomo Reutlinger, former Food Security Adviser to the World Bank, and Thomas Elhaut, Senior Economist, Policy and Planning Division, IFAD.

The views and interpretations contained in this paper are those of the authors and should not be attributed to IFAD.

About this paper

This document represents part of IFAD’s contribution to the global expression of concern about persistent hunger and malnutrition, and to the design of appropriate solutions to these problems through the joint efforts of people, governments and the international community.

The introductory section provides insight into the rationale for the poverty focus of IFAD’s lending programmes to increase production and income in rural areas, with improved nutrition of the beneficiaries as one of the objectives. It highlights some of the features of the Fund’s support for poverty-focused investment projects in rural areas, which provide a favourable context for building in nutrition-relevant objectives.

The remainder of the paper is organized as follows: Chapter 1 reviews the current understanding of nutrition as an outcome of multiple factors and processes. Among these, access to adequate food constitutes the major entry point for IFAD in addressing nutritional problems. It examines the conceptual frameworks developed or refined by IFAD for use in food security analysis, and offers a new analytical model for identifying situation-specific conditions necessary for achieving or maintaining food security at the household level, for use in project design and evaluation.

Chapter 2 provides a review of the experiences of the Fund over 14 years in promoting different approaches for project design that would have an impact on household food security and nutrition.

Chapter 3 presents promising instruments for project design, implementation and evaluation related to household food security/nutrition. These are built on IFAD’s experiences but with new dimensions added for increased relevance and strength in enhancing household food security/nutrition objectives.

Introduction: IFAD, poverty and nutrition

IFAD was established in the aftermath of the 1974 World Food Conference, at a time of growing universal concern for hunger and malnutrition, particularly among the rural poor in developing countries. Article 2 of the Agreement Establishing the Fund in 1977 states: "The objective of the Fund shall be to mobilise additional resources to be made available on concessional terms for agricultural development in developing Member States. In fulfilling this objective the Fund shall provide financing primarily for projects and programmes specifically designed to introduce, expand or improve food production systems and to strengthen related policies and institutions within the framework of national priorities and strategies; taking into consideration the need to increase food production in the poorest food deficit countries; the potential for increasing food production in other developing countries; and the importance of improving the nutritional levels of the poorest populations in the developing countries and the conditions of their lives."

IFAD and poverty

As an international financial institution IFAD has been in the front line for the last decade and a half in the fight to eradicate poverty. IFAD’s basic philosophy consists of three points: First, that growth leading to sustainable development depends on efficiently mobilizing the potential of small producers. Current policies have failed to generate the growth necessary to produce the surplus needed to alleviate poverty on the basis of social welfare programmes and other transfers to the poor. IFAD believes that the active participation of the poor as producers and not just as recipients of social services will make growth sustainable and turn it into authentic progress.

Second, the potential of the poor to contribute to growth will be realized only if their access to land, water, jobs and national and international capital markets can be secured.

Third, this philosophy will bear fruit only if policies provide an open market in which the poor have a fair chance to compete. Efficient institutions that truly serve the needs of the poor are required to enforce such policies.

IFAD and nutrition

As a financial institution, IFAD sees improved nutrition as a direct investment in human development, which enhances the productivity of human labour. A direct relationship exists between food energy intake and labour productivity. Lack of certain micronutrients directly affects productivity. For example, the high prevalence of iron-deficiency anaemia observed among poor rural women adversely affects their work capacity and motivation. Recent data from longitudinal studies have revealed differences in productivity between individuals who were malnourished as young children and others who grew up healthy. Improvement of the nutrition of the poor is, therefore, an investment in present and future generations.

IFAD cooperates with other development agencies and plays a catalytic role in the mobilization of larger efforts directed at rural poverty alleviation. At the same time, through its portfolio of lending operations, the Fund seeks to pioneer new ideas to deal cost effectively with rural poverty. It is in a strong relative position to incorporate a food-consumption and nutrition focus in its activities. IFAD-supported projects:

• focus on the poor, particularly those living in marginal and resource-poor areas;
• include generally a high proportion of food-deficit households and nutritionally high-risk groups among its target populations;
• foster community participation through organization of beneficiaries, which provides a favourable framework for addressing nutrition-related issues;
• emphasize increasing income and food production by smallholders;
• offer the financial and physical inputs necessary for improving the production and productivity of the rural poor, in particular credit, extension services, irrigation and infrastructure such as farm-to-market roads;
• promote microenterprises as an important source of income for poor households;
• focus on women as an important and often ignored target group in the promotion of economic activities; and
• promote conservation of the environment to reverse the linkage often observed between environmental degradation and poverty.