Building the evidence base on the agricultural nutrition nexus: Samoa

Year of Publication: 2018-02-14

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Description

Food and nutrition security (FNS) is high on the global policy agenda and is of special significance for the African, Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP) region. Agricultural development has historically been focussed on increasing production, assuming that increased supply would lead to lower prices and therefore to increased food consumption. More recently, the focus has moved toward improving the linkage between agriculture and nutrition. The term “nutrition-agriculture linkages” describes the set of relationships that shows the mutual dependence of nutrition, health and agriculture. Changes in nutrition or health status are expected to affect agricultural production; conversely changes in the agricultural sector can have significant effects on individual health and nutritional status.

In the Samoa country scan, emphasis was placed on identifying existing nutrition capacity in Samoa (major policies and programmes/interventions as well as actors and target groups) and the main nutritional challenges faced in achieving food and nutrition security. Furthermore, the lessons learned in the effort of the agriculture-nutrition nexus have been analysed  for formulating guidelines for improving FNS outcomes and strengthening the nexus.