IFAD’s approach to improving nutritional conditions has evolved through time as a process of learning. IFAD-financed investment projects have helped IFAD accumulate a rich variety of experiences in addressing issues pertaining to household food security in particular. Beginning with single project components aimed at production improvements, the Fund has proceeded towards more participatory approaches that attempt to diversify the economic opportunities of smallholders in environmentally sustainable ways. Over time, project design has become more explicitly responsive to food and nutrition concerns. The approach is an evolving one in the dynamic sense of IFAD’s learning from experiences and thus continually improving.

Most IFAD-supported investment projects have been designed to improve the household resource base, through support to production, productivity and generations of real income, and thus promote, directly or indirectly, household food security as an important socio-economic concern. More recently, HFS has been used in some projects explicitly as an organizing framework for project design in the light of this concern.

Some typical IFAD project initiatives are highlighted in the following section, organized according to central elements in the HFS concept reviewed in Chapter 1.

Typical IFAD initiatives aimed at stability and sustainability of food access

Poor rural households, especially women-headed households, are often unable to obtain stable and sustainable access to food. IFAD has attempted to target these households in its projects.

Sustainable crop production and conservation of natural resources

A large majority of IFAD projects have sought to strengthen crop production activities by improving the availability of input supplies (e.g., seeds, fertilizer and tools), water access, soil and water conservation and support services. Through the promotion of farmer groups, short and medium-term credit has been provided for seeds, tools, fertilizer, animals and other inputs:

• Water resource improvements and minor irrigation have been incorporated into a number of projects in Asia, Africa, the Near East and Latin America. Irrigation can contribute directly to enhanced HFS through greater production (enabling higher crop yields and a second cropping season) and reducing vulnerability to weather fluctuations.
• Soil and water conservation measures have been incorporated into many projects as a method of sustaining crop yields.
• Research and extension support services are being strengthened in almost all project areas in order to ensure that appropriate technological packages are delivered to smallholders to achieve crop and livestock improvements.
• Credit institutions in rural areas where the poor reside are also being strengthened by IFAD investment projects to enable farmers to gain access to inputs. This may involve strengthening lending institutions such as banks and creating revolving funds and farmer cooperatives. For example, village development funds and savings mobilization schemes are being promoted in many of the Fund-financed rural development projects.

Diversification of household income for improving access to food through the market

IFAD projects have sought ways of expanding opportunities for poor rural households to generate income through off-farm microenterprises. In recent years, promotion of such off-farm enterprises has become increasingly important components in many Fund-supported projects, particularly in areas where landless and near-landless households figure prominently.

Improving food access through linking communities to markets

In almost every project, IFAD has tried to link communities to markets through the construction, rehabilitation or improvement of feeder roads and rural tracks, facilitating the sale of produce and purchase of inputs and consumer goods. IFAD has also strengthened market integration in a number of projects.

Improving women’s access to income for enhancing household food supplies

Credit for women’s productive activities has figured prominently in most IFAD-financed projects. Resources have been allocated to ensure women’s access to agricultural inputs, animal husbandry and income-generating activities as well as labour-saving technologies.

Promotion of other stabilizing mechanisms to deal with seasonal and yearly fluctuations in food supplies

In addition to designing project components that help improve long-term access to food for rural poor households, IFAD has, to a certain extent, focused on interventions that help cope with seasonal and yearly fluctuations in food supplies.

More can be done to improve community response to changing food security conditions resulting from unforeseen crises such as drought. Contingency plans that allow for responses to changing conditions have not been a regular feature of projects. Timely detection of such changes and assistance to communities in responding in ways that allow households to protect their production capacity will get more attention in future project design.

Using Household Food Security/Nutrition as an Integrating Framework for Project Design

In recent years IFAD has designed several projects that have explicitly made use of HFS as an integrating framework. Examples of such projects can be found in India, Sri Lanka, Kenya and Rwanda.

The Andhra Pradesh Tribal Development Project in India (1991-99) seeks to promote HFS, increase self-reliance and raise the income of the tribals, who are the poorest population group in the state of Andhra Pradesh. These objectives are being accomplished through the promotion of sustainable agricultural systems, alternative sources of credit to eliminate dependence on moneylenders and women’s development activities, in ways that are consistent with the traditional tribal culture and value system. Women’s groups are being organized and training provided in agriculture and horticultural technologies, health and nutrition. Also, women will be encouraged to process and market minor forest products or engage in other income-generating activities.

The project aims at stabilizing seasonal and yearly fluctuations in food supply through the establishment of 230 grain banks. Informal thrift and credit societies and village development funds are also being promoted to create community resources. Natural resource conservation is being addressed through afforestation of steep slopes. The project will also strengthen marketing activities through the provision of facilities and information and supporting a cooperative establishment.

Together with UNICEF, a series of community nutrition workshops are being held with the tribals and project staff to identify household food security and health problems and develop solutions within the framework of the project.

The Second Badulla Integrated Rural Development Project in Sri Lanka (1992-99) seeks to improve food security and nutrition in poor rural households through a development process within a participatory framework. This is achieved through focusing on the poorest families and the landless, generating on- and off-farm income-earning opportunities and assisting in the development of a system of participatory planning and resource allocation. Food security and nutrition considerations have been integrated through the participatory planning methodology implemented by the project. Some 700 trained village-level workers (‘community mobilizers’) will work with communities to help organize self-help groups. The training of these community mobilizers will have a food and nutrition focus. The project will also help line ministries channel services and investments to the poor, responding to the needs and priorities identified by the community.

The Farmers Groups and Community Support Project in Kenya (1991-96), funded by the Belgian Survival Fund (BSF), is initiating a number of activities to raise income and family food security for improved nutrition. The work encompasses the organization of farmer groups to promote agriculture and livestock improvement and small-scale irrigation, and activities to strengthen extension and research institutions’ ability to provide services to smallholders; generate off-farm employment opportunities; and improve input supply and credit. Strengthening women’s income-generating opportunities is a particularly important objective, together with improved access to primary health care, domestic water supplies and sanitation. Participatory planning is a key instrument and is being used in eliciting farmer needs and in line ministry coordination.

In Rwanda, the Byumba Agricultural Development Project Phase II (1991-96) is promoting family food security as an explicit objective. This project seeks to increase the economic opportunities of poor farmers and landless through increased agricultural production and off-farm employment. The project promotes environmental conservation through the use of terracing, agro-forestry and other water run-off control measures. Farmer groups are being organized to improve access to credit and encourage research and extension services designed for them at their request. Swamps are reclaimed to provide land resources for the landless. Livestock-raising is being encouraged as a way to improve the asset base and income of poor families. Rural roads are being improved, partly through self-help.

C. Incorporating Household Food Security Components in the Special Programme for Sub-Saharan African Countries Affected by Drought and Desertification

In 1985, in response to the drought that was again plaguing Africa, IFAD helped mobilize additional resources for its target group in the drought-affected countries. This programme was designed to promote the recovery of the productive capacity of smallholders as a prerequisite for sustainable economic recovery in Africa. A major objective of the Special Programme for Africa (SPA) was to develop smallholder agricultural systems with high resilience to environmental stress in order to enhance family and community food security in drought-prone areas. Emphasis was given to the development of drought-tolerant traditional staples, the introduction of soil and water conservation, agro-forestry, rehabilitation of productive assets, marketing and off-farm activities. The focus on conservation measures recognized the links between the environment, sustained food access and poverty alleviation. The participatory approach ensured that the project dealt with smallholder needs and that adopted practices were sustainable.

Support for village-level irrigation and small water-control schemes is also an integral part of the SPA strategy to promote HFS. In Ethiopia, the Special Country Programme (1986) has promoted small-scale irrigation, agro-forestry and measures to stabilize food production and the conservation of natural resources. Small-scale irrigation development and range rehabilitation and management are components in the Smallholder Development Project for Marginal Areas in Tanzania (1990). The development of land use plans is central to decisions regarding conservation measures in this project.

The SPA has tried to address the food security implications of structural adjustment programmes in some countries. These projects have focused on the availability of inputs that will enable smallholders to take advantage of the new economic environment. Such projects are being carried out in Ghana, Guinea-Bissau and Zambia.

Newer SPA projects have been explicit in their objective to promote family and community food security. They seek to diversify economic activity by promoting the integration of livestock into farming systems (e.g., in Chad), providing medium-term credit to promote income-generating activities for women (e.g., in Senegal), improving cereal storage at the village level (e.g., in Chad) and promoting soil and water conservation (e.g., in Mali). At least five projects have incorporated HFS as a project focus.

SPA projects have also been successful in collaborating with other agencies in the promotion of irrigation, agro-forestry and rehabilitation. For example, the World Food Programme has worked jointly with IFAD in the construction of irrigation works in Gambia, agro-forestry efforts in Ethiopia, water resource development in Mali, environmental protection measures in Niger, and assisting of displaced persons in Mali.

68. The importance of these SPA projects can be seen in the positive impact they are having on the target groups in various countries. Although project areas are still fairly limited in scope due to the short implementation period, they demonstrate the value of using a participatory approach in achieving the dual objectives of HFS and resource conservation.

C. Incorporating Health-related Nutrition Components

Several IFAD projects have included specific components on improved drinking water, health services, sanitation and nutrition education. Such components are important in an integrated approach to reducing malnutrition and promoting good nutritional status. If the target groups are exposed to illness and suffer from malnutrition, they obviously will not benefit fully from the other development initiatives.

The Belgian Survival Fund Joint Programme provides some examples. In 1984, IFAD entered into a cooperation agreement with the Belgian Government to use resources established under the Belgian Survival Fund to help the most vulnerable groups in selected countries in Africa help themselves. The purpose of the BSF is to support activities to ensure the survival of persons threatened by hunger, malnutrition and underdevelopment in regions of the Developing World that register the highest mortality rates due to these causes. IFAD acts as lead agency of the activities, which are carried out in collaboration with the WHO, UNICEF and UNDP.

The Joint Programme aims at increasing food production, promoting basic health services, improving rural water supplies and raising nutritional levels in the most disadvantaged areas in the five selected countries. It draws on IFAD’s experience in project design and follow-up. It benefits from the WHO’s global and broad-based experience in the health sector, UNICEF’s experience in improving the conditions of children and mothers and the UNDP’s experience in providing management services and coordination in the field.

The first projects launched are the Rehabilitation Programme for Drought-affected Areas in Ethiopia, the Farmer’s Groups and Community Support Project in Kenya, and the Mahadday and Weyne Integrated Development Projects in Somalia. A more recent project in Hoima District in Uganda, with emphasis on rural women and decentralization of development initiatives to the local level, reflects the special features of the BSF Joint Programme as evolved over time, while a complementary project to the Smallholder Development Project in Marginal Areas in Tanzania addresses similar issues and in addition emphasizes aspects of food security and health services at the household level.

To promote health improvements, a number of other investment projects have included the strengthening of health facilities design, the training of community health workers and the provision of pharmaceutical supplies. Among the projects in which health facilities have been built and equipped are those in Burkina Faso, Kenya, India, Papua New Guinea, Peru and Ecuador. Training activities for health workers have been carried out in Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali and India.

Sanitation has been promoted through the construction of wells and latrines and the provision of sanitary education. In Ethiopia, the Rehabilitation Programme for Drought-affected Areas built 52 wells, and 7 000 latrines, and provided for the protection of 150 springs. In Sri Lanka, the Badulla Rural Development Project included provision of safe drinking water by funding hand-dug wells, tube wells and the rehabilitation of piped water-supply schemes. The Cotagaita San Juan del Oro Agricultural Development Project in Bolivia (1985-92) provided a sanitary education programme particularly aimed at controlling Chagas disease.

Nutrition education has been included in a number of projects as pilot activities. In the Kwale and Kilfi District Development Project in Kenya, a pilot education activity encouraged consumption of nutrient-rich foods and improved preparation techniques. A similar scheme was started in Malawi. In Zambia, nutrition activities will be thoroughly integrated with other project activities.

Thus IFAD projects have not only attempted to improve food access for poor rural households through investment in productive activities, but have also identified other conditions that contribute to better nutrition. The Fund’s own strength lies outside the health field, and attraction of complementary grant funding will continue to be essential. There is however considerable scope for improving overall project design to integrate activities promoting poverty alleviation, food security and health conditions for nutritional improvement.