Dietary Diversity Promoted for Better Nutrition

In late November 2005, the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI) organized a meeting with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Italy and the Accademia delle Scienze, to promote the use of agricultural biodiversity in the fight against hunger, poverty and malnutrition. The meeting, which took place in the National Library in Rome, was part of the Ministry’s Days of Cooperation, an annual celebration of Italy’s support for development.

Dignitaries from the Italian government, scientists and permanent representatives to United Nations agencies heard IPGRI Director General Emile Frison explain the multiple benefits that make the neglect of agricultural biodiversity by policymakers and health specialists worrying.

“We know enough from preliminary studies to say that a diverse diet is perhaps the most effective way to treat malnutrition, especially the hidden hunger of missing micronutrients.” Dr. Frison said. “Agricultural biodiversity feeds into a diverse diet, with obvious benefits for health and livelihoods.” Dr. Frison added that using local and indigenous crops and varieties is also environmentally friendly and sustainable, and other speakers supported that view.

Foreign Minister Eugenio Campo recalled that IPGRI’s global program on nutrition and underutilized species grew out of an Italian-funded project on neglected species of the Mediterranean. Barbara Burlingame, senior nutrition officer of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, and Martin Bloem, chief of the Nutrition Service of the World Food Program, agreed that dietary diversity was an important component of good nutrition. For the World Health Organization, Chizuru Nishida lent weight to prevailing ideas that malnutrition — in the form of hidden hunger and simplified diets — was a leading cause of ill health in the developing world. She said that the double burden of malnutrition and diseases usually associated with affluence, such as type 2 diabetes, obesity and heart disease, could be tackled only by improving diets.

The Rome meeting was part of an ongoing process of bringing the benefits of dietary diversity to the attention of those outside the agricultural sector. In February, IPGRI hosted a stakeholder meeting to further agree on concrete actions to advance the use of diversity for nutrition. This follows a decision by the 7th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity 2 years ago to ask IPGRI and FAO to help the Convention Secretariat draw up a cross-cutting initiative on agricultural biodiversity and nutrition.

“The next step is take the outcomes of the stakeholder meeting as a contribution to the deliberations of the 8th Conference of the Parties in Brazil in March,” said Dr. Frison. “We need to increase awareness of the value of agricultural biodiversity if we are to stand any chance of meeting the Millennium Development Goals.”