Agricultural Research Management Information System

Home
Research Summary
Search
About Us
- ARMIS
- Brochure
Contact Us
Report
User Request
Data Input
Help
- Operation Manual
  - PDF
  - Video
- Program Area & Commodity
We have reached 37600 number of research entries at this moment.

- Logout

Research Detail

Home
Research
Detail

Agriculture and Nutrition in Bangladesh: Mapping Evidence to Pathways

Sivan Yosef, MA
International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington, DC, USA

Andrew D. Jones, PhD
School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

Barnali Chakraborty, MSc, MPH
BRAC, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Stuart Gillespie, PhD
International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington, DC, USA

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

Background: Although much work has been done on the theoretical links between agriculture and nutrition, there is limited understanding of the evidence from observational and experimental research studies on the impacts of agriculture programs on nutrition outcomes. Objective: To assess the emphasis of the literature on different agriculture–nutrition pathways in Bangladesh. Methods: Twenty databases and Web sites were searched, yielding more than 2400 resources that were pared down through an iterative, eliminative process to 60 articles. These articles were then rated for quality and mapped to 1 of the 6 agriculture–nutrition pathways. Results: The body of evidence reveals gaps in knowledge in all of the pathways, but especially in the areas of agriculture as a source of livelihoods, and women’s role as intermediaries between agriculture and good nutrition and health within their household. Conclusion: More research is needed on the links between agriculture and nutrition in country-specific settings, particularly as regards the role of women. Nutrition-related outcomes, such as dietary diversity and women’s empowerment, need to be measured more explicitly when evaluating the impact of agricultural production systems and development initiatives.

Keywords: Nutrition, Agriculture, Bangladesh

Location: International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington, DC, USA

Start Date:

End Date:

Program Area: Quality and Nutrition

Commodity: Fresh and processed food

Objectives:

To assess the emphasis of the literature on different agriculture–nutrition pathways in Bangladesh.

Methodology:

It carried out a review of the empirical literature examining the nutrition implications of agriculture in Bangladesh. The aimed of the study was to determine the extent of the published literature from Bangladesh against specific pathways from agriculture to nutrition as well as what the evidence says about the nutrition-relevant impacts of agriculture. Search Criteria and Protocols searched 10 databases (eg, WorldCat, PubMed, EMBASE, and Google Scholar) between November 2013 and March 2014 using search terms pertaining to agriculture, nutrition, and food. The search terms included different combinations of the key words Bangladesh, nutrition, food security, agriculture, farm, and smallholder. It further searched 10 different Web sites associated with the Government of Bangladesh and international research and development organizations, such as CGIAR, World Bank, United Nations Standing Committee on Nutrition, and the Food and Agriculture Organization and searched the bibliographies of relevant studies for additional, nonduplicate references. This initial search yielded 2400 articles. It included full-text publications in indexed journal articles, books, grey, or unpublished sources linking nutrition outcomes to elements of agriculture in Bangladesh, published or released between January 1994 and March 2014. Examples of nutrition-relevant outcomes included the intake of calories, macronutrients, micronutrients, or specific foods; changes in anthropometry; dietary diversity; food- and nonfood expenditures; and women’s status and empowerment as linked to nutrition outcomes. The dietary intake of environmental contaminants, most notably arsenic, was included due to its direct impact on health status and in many cases related nutritional outcomes. This time period was chosen because the large majority of studies published earlier did not include any type of impact evaluations. It excluded opinion pieces, conceptual papers, research released prior to 1994, publications that were not available in English, research that did not relate elements of agriculture to nutrition-relevant outcomes, animal studies, research that did not contain Bangladesh-specific results, research that solely focused on the consumption of foods produced outside the homestead instead of by the household itself, meeting abstracts, literature reviews that summed up articles that were already included in the results, and research that could not be retrieved through more than 5 additional databases and search functions. All sources were entered into RefWorks, and duplicate, irrelevant, and inaccessible studies were removed.

Source of Information: Food Nutr Bull December 2015 36: 373-386

Article Link (Online Journal): http://fnb.sagepub.com/content/36/4/387.full

Funding Source:

Budget:

Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

More research is needed on the links between agriculture and nutrition in country-specific settings, particularly as regards the role of women. Nutrition-related outcomes, such as dietary diversity and women’s empowerment, need to be measured more explicitly when evaluating the impact of agricultural production systems and development initiatives.

Knowledge Management: Journal