ILRI June 2 2023

CGIAR’s Sustainable Animal Productivity and Livelihoods, Nutrition and Gender inclusion Initiative (SAPLING) has developed a tool for assessing, identifying and responding to food and nutrition security problems in developing countries. 

The Food Security, Environments and Nutrition: Structured Evidence (FoodSENSE), is a decision support process developed by SAPLING researchers to aid decision makers in identifying barriers to improved food security and nutrition, and then to structure dialogue for prioritisation of appropriate solutions for target demographic groups. The tool provides site-specific information on foods consumed, where they are sourced and the nutritional outcomes. It is also used to evaluate food systems and environments, including markets, value chains and socio-cultural norms and their effects on household nutrition.

Working under SAPLING, researchers from the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) piloted the tool at the beginning of 2023 to identify food and nutrition challenges in the Central Uganda districts of Mukono, Masaka and Mpigi, which are some of the SAPLING project sites in Uganda. As part of the tool’s validation, representatives from national and local governments, academia, the United Nations, research institutions, the civil society and industry met for a two-day workshop in April 2023 in Kampala. They assessed the nutritional status of residents in the three districts, reviewed the survey results and kick-started dialogue on potential solutions to the key challenges identified.

This research is part of SAPLING’s work package 2 that focuses on promoting consumption of livestock-derived foods as part of diverse diets. A social behaviour change communication (SBCC) intervention aimed at influencing behaviour around diets and food safety practices will be developed as part of this work. 

Malnutrition is rampant in Uganda. Data are scarce and not up to date, but available data shows that among children younger than five years, 53% suffer from anaemia, 29% from stunting and 11% are underweight. Among women of reproductive age, 32% have anaemia and 9% are underweight while 24% are overweight or obese. Malnutrition is especially widespread in areas where commercial farming of crops like sugarcane and tea is practiced because family land is allocated to these crops and little, if any, is left for growing food crops. Additionally, increased household preference for market production reduces production for own consumption even when households have the capacity. Seemingly, the income derived from the commercial crops is not used to purchase nutritious foods, likely due to limited knowledge on nutrition. This situation is worsened by soil exhaustion and climate change, which make agriculture increasingly unpredictable and expensive.

Despite these challenges, the nutrition sector in Uganda is plagued by underfunding, evidenced by the limited number of personnel at all levels, as well as low capacities and inadequate equipment at health facilities to screen and manage malnutrition. There is limited dialogue and cross-sectoral engagement between key government ministries, departments and agencies such as the the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industries and Fisheries; the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development and local governments. In most cases, nutrition is seen as a mandate of the Ministry of Health and its sister agencies. How to facilitate the much-needed multisectoral approach remains a challenge.

See https://www.cgiar.org/news-events/news/foodsense-offers-new-ways-of-assessing-and-tackling-malnutrition-in-uganda/