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| Issue #56 | November 2016 |
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Credit: Tyler Jones/University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences |
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Across the world, food brings us together and nourishes both bodies and minds. Nutritious food is the bedrock of a healthy future, one where people everywhere can reach their full potential.
Yet millions of people worldwide, especially children, don’t get enough nutritious food to eat. A lack of nutrient-rich food early in life robs many of these children of their future potential, crippling their ability to fully grow, learn, and succeed later in life.
Feed the Future is doing something about it. By integrating agriculture and nutrition in our programs, we’re empowering communities to grow, store, process and consume more nutritious foods. We’re also helping families access nutrition services and learn about the benefits of feeding their children healthy foods. This past year alone, we reached 18 million children with nutrition help to give them a better start on life.
Through this approach, Feed the Future and our partners—from local and national governments to civil society organizations, community leaders, businesses, researchers and more—are helping countries break the vicious cycle of poverty, hunger and malnutrition.
Read on to learn more about how Feed the Future is investing in nutrition to ensure families the world over can lead healthy, productive lives.
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Credit: Derick Fernandes, MBNP Manyara Staff |
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FEATURED STORY
For Tanzania’s Maasai tribe, traditional birth attendants are highly respected leaders. Now, they’re also catalysts for change, using their new knowledge about nutrition and healthy pregnancies to increase awareness of good nutritional habits within their community.
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Credit: Feed the Future Tajikistan
Maryam was once unfamiliar with basic farming techniques, struggling to harvest enough from her garden to feed her children. Then, in a Feed the Future training, she learned how to improve production of nutrient-rich vegetables and fruits. Now, she’s one of 11,000 Tajik women with the skills to feed her family and sell her surplus for a better livelihood.
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Credit: Dr. Marilyn Nash
In rural Mozambique, farmers are planting and harvesting more soybeans than ever before. The protein-rich crop holds the key to alleviate undernutrition, and new soy-based products also offer opportunities for farmers to increase income. With support from the Feed the Future Soybean Innovation Lab, the benefits for Mozambique are promising.
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Credit: SPRING Project
Because of what they’ve learned at farmer nutrition schools, farmers and families in Bangladesh have begun to address critical issues around health and nutrition. The schools, which provide training for activities like poultry rearing, egg-production, running fish ponds, and growing orange-fleshed sweet potatoes, are helping families diversify their diets and lead healthier lives.
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Credit: LIFT/Tat Lan
In western Burma, Feed the Future-supported maternal cash transfers and local nutrition groups are improving the health of mothers and children during the critical first 1000 days of a child’s life. Already, participants are delivering healthier babies, exclusive breastfeeding amongst mothers in the group has doubled, and stunting rates are on the decline.
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Credit: Dorotia Vieira, Peace Corps Response Volunteer
In the small community of Quiché, Guatemala, 70 percent of children under the age of 2 don’t get enough protein. Black beans rich in protein could change all that, but many Mayan families are unaware of their benefits. Hoping to boost local nutrition, a Peace Corps volunteer is working to educate families and improve local diets.
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Credit: AquaFish Innovation Lab
Across Nepal, fish is a vital source of nutrition as well as income, but while household aquaculture can improve a family’s fortunes, it comes with lots of challenges. The Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Collaborative Research on Aquaculture & Fisheries is promoting sustainable aquaculture and giving young people and women’s groups the tools to succeed.
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Credit: AgResults
In Zambia, a country with some of the world’s highest vitamin A deficiency rates, a prize competition is aiming to improve nutrition. The competition provides seed companies and millers with monetary incentives to produce pro-vitamin A maize meal and seed, which has shown to dramatically reduce the impact of vitamin A deficiency among vulnerable populations.
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Credit: Fintrac Inc.
To help smallholders and families in Malawi increase their incomes and improve their nutrition, snack food producer Universal Industries is partnering with Feed the Future to promote orange-fleshed sweet potatoes. As Universal expands the market for products made from this vitamin-A rich food—like chips and bread—more people can access nutritious options.
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UPCOMING EVENTS |
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December 7, 2016
Online
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September 15-16, 2016
Washington, DC
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NEWS |
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VIDEO |
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After receiving training from Feed the Future's Africa Lead program, Alex Gitonga now works with local governments and organizations along Kenya's dairy value chain to develop good policies and train farmers.
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This newsletter is intended to enhance collaboration and information-sharing about implementation of Feed the Future. To subscribe or to find out more information about Feed the Future, please visit our website.
Feed the Future is the U.S. Government’s global hunger and food security initiative.
Feed the Future | [email protected] | www.feedthefuture.gov
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