Mainstreaming NUS for nutrition sensitive agriculture: a holistic approach

Bioversity International and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) have recently published an operational framework to guide practitioners on ways to mainstream neglected and underutilized species (NUS) into projects and investment programs with the aim of supporting nutrition-sensitive agriculture and resilient food production systems. This chapter presents the key elements of this framework and offers reflections on its implementation following Bioversity International’s innovative holistic value-chain approach, which, through interdisciplinary, bottom-up and gender-sensitive interventions, aims at strengthening the resilience of livelihoods as a whole, with special attention given to women, youth, Indigenous Peoples and other marginalized members of society. Actions meant to increase the use of NUS to strengthen the resilience of communities in the face of the recent COVID-19 pandemic are also proposed.

Padulosi, Stefano; Meldrum, Gennifer; Mathur, Shantanu; Hunter, Danny