96335 A g r i c u lt u r e G l o b a l P r a c t i c e N o t e 02 Fostering Agriculture– Nutrition Links Recommendations for Agriculture Extension Curriculum Reforms in India SURESH CHANDRA BABU,* TERHI HAVIMO, AND EIJA PEHU Malnutrition continues to be a major development challenge in the South Asia Region. Given its size, India hosts the majority of the malnourished. Around 300 million people in India do not have access to a food supply that sufficiently meets their basic energy needs (World Bank 2012. Nutrition at A Glance: India. Washington, DC: World Bank Group). Despite recent economic growth, poverty remains high, and malnutrition is now manifest in all its forms with overweight and obesity increasing alongside persis- tent undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies. The progress made between 1970 and 2010 in reducing malnutrition was largely due to improving access to safe water, female education, and female empowerment, the latter 2 especially key in South Asia. The factor that made the least progress between 1995 and 2010 is increasing quantity and quality of food, clearly a responsibility of agriculture (L. Smith and L. Haddad 2014, “Reducing Child Undernutrition: Past Drivers and Priorities for the Post-MDG Era.” IDS Working Paper 441). Nutritional issues in India are complex and require all officers. As part of the South Asia Food and Nutrition sectors to play their parts both individually and multi- Security Initiative (SAFANSI), a review of the existing state sectorally to deliver a multifaceted, multidisciplinary agricultural university agricultural extension curricula in solution. This Note focuses on the role of agriculture, and three states—Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, and Tamil Nadu—was its role in delivering nutrition solutions—an affordable, carried out and the conclusions led to a series of curricula accessible, nutritious diet for all. When agriculture- revision recommendations. nutrition solutions are delivered in a multisector approach the impact on nutritional outcomes is magnified. The CURRICULUM REVIEW key transmitters of agricultural knowledge to farmers are agricultural extension workers, and the key medium The review focused on both pre- and in-service training of training for the agricultural extension workers are the to assess the extent of nutrition instruction received by state agricultural universities. Nutrition knowledge is not the extension workers and students. It examined what currently incorporated in agricultural extension training nutritional content was incorporated, particularly in areas or delivery in India despite the potential for nutritional such as understanding nutritional issues in local areas, diet impact given the well-established network of extension diversification to support better nutrition outcomes, and * Note: International Food Policy Research Institute, IFPRI, Washington, D.C. AGRICULTURE GLOBAL PRACTICE NOTE — MAY 2015 a better concept of landscape planning with nutrition in under the rubric of the Agricultural Transformation mind. Management Agencies (ATMAs) are an opportunity to integrate nutrition in the extension process. This Although agriculture (i.e., food production) is very closely will incentivize curricula change in universities given linked to nutrition (i.e., food consumption) in theory, in demand from the extension services. most education and training situations the two concepts • Mid-career training of agricultural extension workers are presented and pursued separately. This Note presents does not currently include nutrition courses. Given the key findings and recommendations based on the case the significant recognition from national to state study reviews, face-to-face consultations from the national level of the critical nutrition challenges facing India, level to program implementation at village levels, and there is opportunity to incorporate nutrition in in- consultative workshops. service training in the extension system. • Farmer training in farm science centers (KVKs) at the STATUS OF NUTRITION district level has no systematic way of incorporat- INCORPORATION ing nutrition training at the block, community, and farmer level or at the extension worker level, despite The results of the curriculum reviews and recognition that it is needed. Case Studies of State Agricultural • At the university level, nutrition is taught in home Universities (SAUs) science colleges, but the graduates of these pro- grams do not work in the extension services. To comprehensively deliver nutrition solutions requires • Nutrition as a development challenge needs to be agriculture to deliver an affordable, accessible nutritious taught in both agricultural and social sciences, given food supply, but many other factors also need to be in the slow progress made in reducing malnutrition place. These include, but are not limited to, the health levels. sector delivering health care, nutrition education, social • Curriculum development in nutrition related to protection systems ensuring minimum levels of income agricultural extension needs to be context specific and protection against shocks to support purchase of in problem identification and solution at district nutritious foods, women having sufficient time and and block levels. This requires close collaboration resources to feed children a healthy diet, and many between the SAU agricultural departments and the other factors. In India, the coordination and leadership KVKs to identify critical curriculum needs. of nutritional education is fragmented. The “everybody’s business” has become “nobody’s business” and nutrition Tamil Nadu Case study as a discipline has not been well developed even in the health sector. Common to all the SAUs reviewed was Major nutritional challenges in Tamil Nadu include high levels of child malnutrition among the poor and tribal populations, that limited training on nutrition, when available, was micronutrient deficiencies, including anemia, among the either not included in or offered to the agriculture major women, especially pregnant and lactating mothers. These students, who become the future agricultural extension challenges are more pronounced in the rural areas, particularly workers. This undermined the research-extension link and the rain-fed regions of Tamil Nadu. The extension system does not disseminate nutrition-related information, but it continues to more broadly an enabling innovative environment. In focus on production-oriented messages and recently has moved addition, there is very little nutrition training available for toward water conservation and marketing. No capacity currently existing agricultural extension workers. exists in the extension system to disseminate nutrition messages. Some district-level extension officers, however, are undergoing Specific lessons emerged from the curriculum review and food security and nutrition training through mid-career training programs. consultations exercise: In Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, the links between • The topic of nutrition is largely missing in the cur- nutritional and agricultural learning are weak. For example, the riculum of the agricultural universities that train Horticulture and Home Sciences Departments offer courses on nutrition topics such as nutrition classification and nutritive value agricultural extension professionals. of horticultural crops, and laboratory classes on nutrition and • The current extension reforms being undertaken kitchen gardens. In addition, there are courses in fundamental 2 | AGRICULTURE GLOBAL PRACTICE NOTE — MAY 2015 and therapeutic nutrition along with six food science courses. activities, such as in-service training courses for extension agents, However, most future extension officers pursue bachelor’s include content such as household food security, national degrees in agriculture, a department that does not offer any policies affecting food and nutrition security, nutrition policies, nutrition classes, or encourage students to take courses from and methods of preventing and combating micronutrient other faculty. This lack of coordination creates gaps in knowledge malnutrition. of the nutritional benefits and health outcomes delivered by, for example, a diversified agricultural landscape, in the extension Since ATMA officials are trained through the state extension system. It is important that university curricula provide a setting training centers, the trainers in these centers have to be trained to introduce future extension agents to nutrition information so in nutrition courses as well. To begin with, the curriculum taught that they can disseminate these messages into the community to the diploma level could be introduced for state-level training and lead the extension community in advocating policies and programs of extension officials in the ATMA. At the district level, services that promote good nutrition. there is a close collaboration and coordination of food and nutrition training activities of the KVKs and the ATMA training The SAUs are not the only opportunity for strengthening programs through farmers’ field schools. The food and nutrition nutrition and agriculture links in extension curriculum. District program officers of KVKs should offer the specialized nutrition KVKs can also provide more multidisciplinary training to mid- courses to the block technology officers and the farmer friends in career extension officers as well as those involved in agriculture the ATMA system. interventions on the ground. In Tamil Nadu, KVKs could provide a variety of courses specific to the nutritional challenges faced in the district. These courses could cover topics such as the value Bihar Case Study addition of food, how to grow a nutritious kitchen garden, and nutrition programs specific to the needs of men, women, and Bihar, with a population of approximately 83 million, is the third children. Ensuring that context is locality specific will help make most populous state in India. More than 50 percent of children the nutrition curriculum more demand driven. are malnourished and the number of children showing signs of wasting is increasing. In addition, the prevalence of anemia among children is as high as 88 percent and is approximately United Andhra Pradesh Case 60 percent amongst pregnant women. The chronic energy deficiency in women is a major nutritional challenge in Bihar. It Study is especially important in terms of the agricultural sector as rural women are the primary agricultural labor for the farm house- In united Andhra Pradesh, although the nutritional status of holds. In Bihar, the percentage of women suffering from energy children has shown improvement, chronic malnutrition and deficiency is approximately 40 percent, significantly higher than acute undernutrition in children is still widespread. In addition, the national average, and micronutrient deficiency, or “hidden micronutrient deficiency in the state is estimated to have risen. hunger,” is often overlooked by nutrition interventions as well as Major nutritional challenges in the agricultural communities agriculture interventions. of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh include under-five child malnutrition, infant mortality, maternal and child anemia, acute In Bihar, the major areas of nutrition education for extension pro- undernutrition, diabetes and obesity. Overall, the state also grams include breast-feeding practices, kitchen gardening, com- suffers from poor dietary habits leading to long-term health munity farming of horticultural products, and water, sanitation, problems. and hygiene. Like in the other SAUs, there are a limited number of courses related to nutrition, but these are not offered to the Although the extension curriculum at the SAU is comprehensive students who are aiming to become agricultural extension work- in terms of agricultural aspects, little to no nutrition-related ers. The College of Home Sciences at the faculty of agriculture content is included. There are no nutrition courses required in has a comprehensive approach in improving rural livelihoods the two-year diploma program in agriculture that most of the through educating general field advisers with pragmatic skills on agriculture extension workers undergo for their training. Recom- various topics, including nutritional specialists, but the courses mendations for curriculum revision include an undergraduate are not taught to the agriculture majors. The research carried out course in the fundamentals of human nutrition. It is also recom- at the College emphasized practical solutions to the nutrition mended that the existing undergraduate courses in agricultural security within the local communities, such as add-in-water baby economics include content on the per capita availability of food formulas with balanced dietary content. The nutrition-extension and food consumption trends as well as concepts on household link in the case of the Bihar SAU exists, but the scale is insufficient food security that include health impacts of food, diet diversity, to address the state-wide challenges. The main practical means and their subsequent impact on nutrition. In addition, content to disseminate research information from the college to the on women’s agricultural labor and workload should be included ground is through the students’ mandatory six-month practical along with the consequences for nutrition. Post graduate courses trainings that are carried out in the auspices of the KVKs. The on extension education should highlight the importance of crop college has, in addition, training for mid-career experts working diversification and the health benefits. The SAU also offers a Rural with nutrition, such as the lady advisers. However, there are Work Experience program. It is recommended that this program concerns related to the mid-career training on nutrition as the include nutrition-oriented activities to give future extension basic nutritional knowledge of the employees working with agents more practical experience on nutrition issues. It is highly nutrition may not be sufficient. The current curriculum at the recommended that the curriculum of non-formal education SAU includes little nutrition content in the agriculture education. AGRICULTURE GLOBAL PRACTICE NOTE — MAY 2015 | 3 However opportunities exist to reintroduce nutrition course in • In order to reach rural communities through the the university, diploma, and postgraduate curricula. In order to existing extension systems, there is a need to meet the nutrition education needs to increase the impacts on think along the lines of developing “massive open the ground, the curricula should include content relevant to nutrition problem identification, provision of nutrition solutions, courses,” which can be available online and offline, nutrition planning and coordination, program implementation for training frontline extension workers as well as and delivery, monitoring and evaluation, and impact assessment. communities. • The curricula to be developed need to take into RECOMMENDATIONS account issues related to identifying problems, developing contextual solutions, implementing Achieving sustainable nutrition improvement in India interventions, monitoring and evaluating the pro- requires a strategy that incorporates all sectors. For the ag- grams, and finally to refining the nutrition programs riculture sector, a strategy will need to incorporate relevant and policies at the central and state levels. nutrition content in the agricultural curricula, both within • Efficiency gains can be made by reviewing links the SAUs, and within in-service-training of extension between ongoing capacity-building efforts of the workers. A key actor in this will be the National Institute individuals and NGOs that implement nutrition pro- for Agricultural Extension Management (MANAGE), an grams and the existing knowledge base of universi- organization run by the central Ministry of Agriculture, ties and research institutes, and pursuing integrated responsible for training and educating future and current comprehensive training approaches. extension officers. At the local level, the Agricultural • Platforms like Krishi Vigyan Kendras and Agricultural Transformation Management Agencies are a key outlet for Produce Market Committee markets are key poten- the dissemination of locality-specific nutrition messages tial hubs for dissemination of nutrition related mes- at the block and village levels, given block-level extension sages. State agricultural universities, state depart- officers are the primary sources of agricultural advisory ments of agriculture, and KVKs will need strategic services in the field. To be effective across all the levels, guidance on where and how much to invest to cooperation and coordination from the national to village achieve appropriate curriculum change and integra- level will be essential. Our conceptual framework for the tion of nutrition in extension programming. strategy consists of a multidisciplinary and nutrition-smart extension curriculum to strengthen agriculture-nutrition Finally, extension efforts must recognize women farmers, links. The goal is strengthened agriculture-nutrition links, and deliver programs directly to them for two reasons. resulting in increased production and household income First, women in most households are intimately involved as well as more diversified diets for improved nutrition. The in the production and preparation of meals and feeding recommendations include the following: their family, and so they have the most direct control over nutrition. Second, female-headed households in India • The agricultural education system should be typically have a higher incidence of malnutrition and food redesigned to enable solution designers, who can insecurity. Thus gender mainstreaming within agricultural analyze the nutritional landscape such as women’s extension and the nutrition curriculum is a key strategy for nutritional needs, workforce nutrition, fetal growth, addressing rural malnutrition. stunting during the first two years, and metabolic fitness and design agricultural responses. This material has been funded by UK aid from the UK government through the South Asia Food and Nutrition Security Initiative (SAFANSI), which is administered by the World Bank. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the UK gov- ernment’s official policies or the policies of the World Bank and its Board of Executive Directors. Internet: www.worldbank.org/agriculture http://twitter.com/wb_agriculture