ISPC Commentary on the proposal CRP 4: Agriculture for Improved Nutrition & Health

The research program proposal, CRP4, as the title implies, addresses the strategic system level objective in the CGIAR Strategic Research Framework; “to improve nutrition and health”. As the only CRP to address health and nutrition explicitly, it should add considerable value to the CRP portfolio, given mounting evidence that food supply and access to food are not enough to achieve favorable nutritional outcomes. Selection of the four main research themes (Value chains for enhanced nutrition; Biofortification; Prevention and control of agriculture-associated diseases (AAD); and, Integrated Animal, Health and Nutrition (AHN) programs and policies) provides a generally logical approach to the subject matter for the CGIAR. It incorporates and builds on the Harvest Plus and Agrosalud programs and other existing activities. Innovative features of the proposed research programs include searching for solutions to poor health and nutrition beyond just producing more food, through value chain approaches and by targeting specific demand side outcomes through influencing poor consumers’ behavior.