Technical Report

The purpose of this document is to assist policy and program planners and implementers, designers and managers, evaluators and analysts to target interventions and measure progress in food security and nutrition. Indicators for concepts such as Measuring Food and Nutrition Security: Technical Assessment and User's Guide Page 2 stunting and wasting, diet diversity and nutrient adequacy or food insecurity have proliferated in recent years, leading to widespread confusion about the best indicators for any given situation.

The goal of PoSHAN Community Studies is to understand the factors that link agriculture to nutrition. This involves researching the determinants of household food security, dietary intake, and nutritional status of children under 5 years of age and their mothers in relation to changes in agriculture and exposure to agricultural and microeconomic extension, as well as nutrition and health programs in Nepal. This descriptive report summarizes the main findings of the second panel survey conducted between May - July 2014.

Briefing from the 3rd Annual Scientific Symposium

Nepal faces multiple development challenges, including chronic and wide spread food insecurity and adult and child malnutrition. Due to population growth, agricultural stagnation and a range of institutional failures, the threat of a serious food crisis in Nepal is substantial. The recent scaling back of WFP assistance means that food security conditions in some parts of Nepal will undoubtedly worsen in the near future. This paper presents a brief review of topics and available evidence regarding food security, malnutrition and related subjects in Nepal.

The Government of Ethiopia (GOE) is committed to improving the nutritional status of the population. The GOE has made significant progress in reducing malnutrition since 2000. The revised National Nutrition Program is aimed at accelerating the decrease in under nutrition through a multi sector nutrition plan. This study assessed the facilitators and constraints to adopting the NNP at the national and sub national level. Key issues were identified including leadership, coordination, awareness, capacity and budget. A series of recommendations derived from the study data are included.

Many sources have recently called for agricultural programs and policies to become more nutrition-sensitive, with the aim of harnessing agriculture to improve nutrition and health. Several researchers have described potential causal pathways through which agriculture could impact the nutrition and health of vulnerable populations. Stunting, or poor linear growth, particularly in young children is a key indicator.

There is growing interest of private sector in food industries. This has come because of growing urbanization and better transportation opportunities as food now can be sent from one location to another at a fast rate than in the past. Moreover, the knowledge of food processing and quality is growing, and private sector has cashed this desire through establishing food processing industries.

Vulnerabilities to food insecurity are growing in Nepal. These vulnerabilities come from various factors - namely general decline in food production or agricultural growth, food price rise, seasonality in agricultural production, higher poverty rate in the food deficit areas, changes in food habits consuming junk food, especially in urban areas, lack of income and employment opportunities, lack of effective transportation for food distribution, especially in the hills and mountains, and chronic utilization problems such as inadequate access to health services, water and sanitation.

From a LCIRAH Workshop, June 21-22, 2012, London.

Baseline findings of this nationally representative study reveal variations in nutritional status, household food security, agricultural production and practices, and sanitation between the agro ecological zones of Nepal. Undernutrition in under-five children and women was found to be consistently worse in the terai (with the exception of under-five stunting rates being approximately 36%). Household food insecurity was 40% across the PoSHAN sample during the May - July 2013 season; with terai households found to be least food insecure.