Matin Qaim on investing in food and nutrition security
"It’s great that development finance is thinking more into a nutrition direction” – For Matin Qaim, who gave the keynote address at KfW’s Development Finance Forum in Frankfurt, this is a first step in the right direction.
“It is about modernisation and linking farmers to markets that is really key from both the poverty and the nutrition perspective,” he said.
In the interview the professor for international food economics at Göttingen University expresses for a nutrition investment strategy to achieve more impact on the ground. Two aspects were key: More investments in direct nutrition and health interventions to solve acute problems and to overcome vicious circles of child malnutrition, and secondly to recognise the role of investments in agriculture per sé, because the agricultural sector was vital not only as a source of food, but a source of income and employment for many undernourished people.
Modernising the small farm sector and enhancing the diversity of production all the way up to improving the incomes, income abilities and the market access, all these were factors that ultimately improved nutrition. It held true for the most part of the developing world.
To contribute its part the development finance sector should have a good understanding of what types of agricultural investments were particularly nutrition-sensitive. However, improving market access was also important because market transactions were critical for sufficient access to diverse types of foods which allowed for healthy diets. Qaim said it was a mistake to believe that smallholder farmers should be subsistent and try to produce all the diversity of food on their own farm. What they needed was a productive farming systems, market access, and through that came into a position of having sufficient incomes, plus knowledge about health and nutrition.
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Transcript
Pascal Corbé (Secretariat): Matin, you just gave the keynote address to the Development Finance Forum in Frankfurt. What would you say is the key aspect for strategy to have to achieve more impact on the ground?
Matin Qaim: First of all, I think it’s great that development finance is thinking more into a nutrition direction, that’s already a first good step. There are two things, I mean. We need certainly to have more investments into direct nutrition and health interventions to solve acute problems, to overcome vicious circles of child malnutrition.
On the other hand there’s also high importance of recognising the role of investments into agriculture because the agricultural sector is so important not only as a source of food, but a source of income and employment for many of the undernourished people. So developing the small farm sector, modernising the small farm sector, and improving the diversity of production, improving the incomes and income abilities and the market access. Things like this in rural areas for small farmers is one of the key things to also improve nutrition. And that holds true in the largest parts of the developing world.
Pascal Corbé (Secretariat): So what do you think the development finance sector should focus on to achieve all that?
Matin Qaim: We certainly need to have a good understanding of what types of agricultural investments are particularly nutrition-sensitive. But we do know that there’s a need for improving market access because market transactions are so important to have access to diverse types of foods to high quality healthy diets.
So we shouldn’t make the mistake to feel that smallholder farmers should be subsistent and try to produce all the diversity they want to or need to consume on their own farm. They need to have productive farming systems, market access, and through that come into the position of having sufficient incomes, plus knowledge about health and nutrition.
So it is about modernisation and linking farmers to markets that is really key from both the poverty and the nutrition perspective.
Pascal Corbé (Secretariat): Thank you.
Matin Qaim: You are welcome.