Bioversity International

Hidden Hunger: quality not quantity

A simple solution is often invoked to help the world's 800 million undernourished people: more food. But producing more food alone will not solve the crisis. Food needs to be healthy, nutritious, accessible and culturally appropriate. In addition, increased consumption of nutritionally poor, high energy foods by the poor is creating new health problems associated with the rise of chronic diseases such as diabetes and cardio-vascular diseases. And hunger from lack of calories and proteins still persists in poor rural and urban communities. An approach to secure the right to affordable, nutritious, healthy and culturally appropriate foods entails the full use of biodiversity to support diverse, healthy diets around the world.

In recent years there has been an alarming shift in diets around the world. The trend is termed "nutrition transition", in which people simplify their diets and eliminate the diversity that has traditionally been a strong component of their food intake. Refined staple foods and fats such as provided by wheat, rice, and oilseeds have become cheaper in developing nations as a result of agricultural subsidies and investment in a few staple crops for high-input agriculture. Traditionally, rural communities in developing nations have adhered to diets incorporating local varieties, which are often more nutritious and diverse than modern types. In Mali, for example, there is an association between a varied diet of local fruits and vegetables and adequate consumption of nutrients such as vitamins A and C. African cereals such as millet, fonio and sorghum are nutritionally richer than the imported rice and wheat that has replaced them. However, people often view traditional crops as antiquated in comparison to the new, "modern" foods from the West.

Diets without proper nutrition can cause the phenomenon known as "hidden hunger": a lack of the vitamins, nutrients, minerals and other non-nutrient functional compounds such as phenolics and anti-oxidants needed by the body. Hidden hunger can cause a variety of harmful health effects including blindness, anaemia, type-2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer, as well as weakened immune systems. Although there is a general tendency to associate such diseases with the affluent citizens of developed countries, the residents of developing countries with poor diets are at risk as well.

Bioversity is generating an important body of research into the nutritional and functional properties of traditional foods. One major project, sponsored by the government of Luxembourg, is to investigate the health properties of an important collection of berries maintained in situ by the Vavilov Institute in Russia. These berries contain nutrients, micronutrients, carotenoids and phenolics that counter the growing incidence of dietary-related diseases. Another project, sponsored by IFAD, is researching many aspects of Neglected and Underutilised species in Yemen, Bolivia, Peru and India. Results from this project have shown the great richness and variety in the nutritional content of finger millets in India. In West Africa too, analyses of local vegetables and the sauces and condiments, which accompany traditional dishes but whose contribution has always been overlooked, have shown that they are a potent cocktail of healthful properties.

Crops for marginal areas: Benefiting the very poor
Not all people live in areas where markets are easily accessible. In mountainous areas, polar environments or deserts, access to marketed foods is limited and crop yields tend to be low. In these areas over thousands of years, local people have bred traditional crops that are adapted to the local ecosystem and which are vital to their food security, but which have been neglected by the formal research sector. A Bioversity research project in Turkey found that only farmers in mountainous areas continued to grow the traditional cereal crop emmer, not because of the traditions associated with it or because of its significant nutrient content, but because it was the only crop that could survive in the poor mountainous soil. The same scenario is played out in the salty plains of Bolivia, where quinoa is found to be adapted to the harsh environment and ensures a source of nutrients for the local population.

Food Resources for Now and Forever: maintaining crops for adaptation to new realities
Recent years have seen new weather patterns developing in most parts of the world. In some places there have been unprecedented flood conditions, others have experienced severer droughts than ever before. The crops that have been adapted to a certain area may be less adapted as the climate changes around them and new traits might be necessary to survive in the new realities. Crop failure is a worrying source of food insecurity. Traditional landraces may provide adaptation to changing climatic situations and mitigate future risks of crop failure. For example, a major project by Bioversity in India has been to research minor millets and sorghum, which require less water than wheat and are a potential resource to strengthen food security in South Asia.

Despite some drawbacks, Neglected and Underutilised Species (NUS) hold a number of advantages if compared with well-established commodity crops. For instance, they are strategic in local consumption and production systems as sources of nutrition, income and risk mitigation for local people. They are also highly well-adapted to a range of agro-ecological niches and marginal areas. Most of these species are represented by landraces, ecotypes or wild species, and so they have the advantage of ensuring production in areas where other crops would fail. In addition, they are cultivated and utilized by drawing on indigenous knowledge. They are part of the identity of local communities, and represent a diverse, unique cultural asset in the hands of the poor. NUS represent traditional tastes, cooking and processing practices, in addition to other aspects of the poor farmers' socio-cultural setting.

Global policy initiatives to combat hunger and malnutrition by mobilising the benefits of biodiversity:
In April 2005, experts and policy makers from 25 countries took part in an International Consultation organized at the M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) in Chennai, India. This policy consensus revitalised efforts to conserve and promote the use of neglected and underutilised species to combat hunger and improve health. Bioversity International, the Global Facilitation Unit for Underutilised species (GFU) MSSRF and IFAD supported the consensus. The "Chennai Platform for Action" to achieve Millennium Development Goals made recommendations that emphasized the importance of neglected and underutilised species in the fight against hunger and malnutrition. In 2007 the Conference of The Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) arrived at a complementary consensus to include a global initiative on biodiversity for food and nutrition as a way to demonstrate the value and importance of biodiversity in achieving the Development Goals and combating hunger and diet-related health problems. Bioversity and its partners are leading in bringing the world's biodiversity resources to bear to solve hunger and malnutrition.

For more information, please contact:
Dr Pablo Eyzaguirre: the Nutrition Initiative p.eyzaguirre@cgiar.org
Dr Stefano Padulosi: Neglected and Underutilised species s.padulosi@cgiar.org
Paul Bordoni: the Global Facilitation Unit for Underutilised species (GFU): p.bordoni@cgiar.org

To join a discussion among academics, field workers, representatives from the international development community and other stakeholders on the role of biodiversity in the Nutrition agenda, please see:
http://www.bioversityinternational.org/Up_for_Discussion/Biodiversity_and_Nutrition/index.asp