Government and development partners looking to accelerate progress in addressing malnutrition in Malawi are examining how interventions in value-chains can contribute to improving diets. However, the links between interventions in value chains and diets involve a range of direct and indirect effects that are not yet well understood.
A recent article published in the journal of Global Food Security presents a multisectoral diagnostic framework that is used to identify potential interventions in food systems to improve diets of smallholder farmers in Malawi. The research draws on data collected as part of the Nutrition Embedded Evaluation Programme (NEEP) in a partnership between IFPRI, WFP, Save the Children, Wadonda Consultants, and Chancellor College at the University of Malawi.
The study analyzed data from a cluster randomized control trial of a pre-school-based intervention with 60 communities in Zomba, and a follow-up from an impact evaluation of lean-season food transfers. Market surveys were undertaken in five major markets in the study area. To generate qualitative case studies on food preferences, sourcing and marketing, 38 in-depth interviews with household members took place.
The authors present a diagnostic tool based on the Value Chains for Nutrition (VCN) framework, which links a set of dietary problems to constraints in the supply and demand for specific foods. In its first step, the study focuses on the target population, characterizing their dietary patterns, diet quality preferences, and likely gaps and constraints in nutrient and food intake. This assessment provides the entry point for a value chain analyses and identification of value chain constraints and opportunities related to nutrition and food security (step 2). In a third step, the analysis findings are mapped against a supply-and-demand framework to examine the implications of addressing specific food chain constraints for a basket of foods prioritized by the dietary assessment.
Maize was by far the most important staple crop consumed; respondents stated that they would sometimes sell vegetables or legumes to buy maize. However, although food consumption is dominated by maize, a range of other nutritious foods are also being consumed including leafy greens, fruits, chicken, eggs, dried fish, dried beans and peas, and groundnuts. But, household budgetary limitations, market dynamics and seasonality of production and income limit their consumption. Animal-source foods, such as meat, eggs, and fish are largely missing from the diets of the poorest households. Nutrient dense foods, such as mango and avocado are considered mostly as coping foods. Figure 1 presents the ratio of the estimated nutrient availability for iron, zinc, and Vitamin A of household food consumption by adult equivalent (AE) divided by the estimated average requirement (EAR), across two seasons, suggesting that important deficits are likely in low-income households, with these deficits appearing to be fairly constant throughout post-harvest and lean seasons.
The research shows that the role of markets varies both by food item type and by season. The study also confirmed that households assess a range of criteria when deciding whether to consume or sell their own produce, considering both their food security and financial needs.
The study focused on relevant value chains prioritized in the dietary pattern analysis. Foods analyzed included among others leafy vegetables, legumes, fruit, and animal-source foods. The study found a prevailing lack of infrastructure for food marketing across all sampled markets. With a few exceptions, markets lack toilets and reliable access to water or sheds, often combined with poor food handling practices and direct exposure to sun. Other bottlenecks include on-farm constraints for expanded production, consumers with limited purchasing capacity, intense competition among sellers and few services for sellers to increase volume of product sold during peak demand.
Overall, the study found that the supply and demand of foods is influenced by variations in income during the year and market seasonality with strong price fluctuations for some foods. For example, the demand for leafy vegetables is low during the early months of the year, as households tend to grow leafy greens in their own gardens or nearby dambo wetlands. Demand then picks up mid-year as income improves following the maize harvest and dwindling stocks from own gardens.
The final step of the diagnostic broadens the focus from a single food chain perspective to the range of priority foods relevant to diets, identifying intervention options based on prevailing supply and demand conditions. Looking at animal-sourced foods, the analysis found that such foods are readily available in markets, but rarely consumed due lack of budget. In this context, subsidies or social cash transfers (cash, food, or vouchers) are required to facilitate consumption. In addition, chain actors should be supported to reduce production and trading costs. Less preferred, but nutrient dense foods, such as avocado could benefit from information campaigns to increase acceptability. Longer term and more resource intensive interventions are also identified, such as improving capacity for product differentiation, processing, storage, and market infrastructure across a different range of food chains.
In conclusion, the diagnostics provided in this analysis highlight the potential benefits of designing a strategy to improve diets in Malawi through value chain interventions. For low-income household in particular, this study further identifies the potential to modify existing social protection interventions to optimize the impact on diets by enhancing public- and private-sector linkages, including:
- School meal programs could be modified to purchase green leafy vegetables on local markets to boost demand.
- The Farm Input Subsidy Program (FISP) could be expanded to provide inputs for nutritious crops, including sweet potatoes, and leafy green vegetables.
- Food transfer programs could integrate intensive behavior change communication to optimize household food choices for diversified diets beyond maize.
To download and read the article, click here.
Journal authors: Aulo Gelli1, Jason Donovan2, Amy Margolies3, Noora Aberman1, Marco Santacroce1, Ephraim Chirwa4,a, Spencer Henson5, Corinna Hawkes6, 2019.
1 International Food Policy Institute, USA; 2 Previously at World Agroforestry Centre, now at International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, Mexico; 3 Johns Hopkins University, USA; 4 Wadonda Consulting Ltd. and Chancellor College, University of Malawi, Malawi; a deceased author; 5 University of Guelph, Canada; 6 City University, UK
Further reading:
- IFPRI Discussion Paper 1804: Adding a nutrition behavior change communication component to an early childhood development intervention in Malawi: A cluster randomized trial, Gelli et al., 2019.
- NEEP published methodology and journal study: Lean-Season Food Transfers Affect Children's Diets and Household Food Security: Evidence from a Quasi-Experiment in Malawi, Gelli et al., 2017.
- IFPRI Malawi blog: Reflections from a policy discussion on multi-sectoral action for improved nutrition.
- IFPRI Malawi blog: Nutrition-sensitive programs: How can they effectively tackle Malawi’s nutrition problems?
- IFPRI Policy Note: Traditional leadership and social support in Southern Malawi, Gelli et al., 2017.
- Journal study: Effects of lean-season food transfers on children’s diets and household food security, 2017.
