Affordability of Healthy and Sustainable Diets in Nigeria

This study examines the cost and affordability of healthy diets in Nigeria. Using the 2015/16 and 2018/19 waves of Nigeria General Household Surveys, we find that, generally, the least-cost options to meet dietary recommendations for vegetables, dairy, and protein-rich foods are more expensive to meet than that of other food groups. Despite improvements during the survey years, the challenges of affordability of healthy diets appear more pronounced in rural than urban, among poorest household groups, and in northern than southern Nigeria. Results suggest that it will be more expensive to meet the dietary recommendation for dairy foods if priority will be given for food systems sustainability over concerns for food preferences of the households. It will however be cheaper to achieve dietary recommendations for vegetables, fruits and starchy staples even when households give more consideration to food systems sustainability than tastes and preferences in their choice of healthy foods. Relative affordability of protein-rich foods are less affected by whether (or not) tastes/preferences or food systems sustainability drives healthy food choices. Key implication is that interventions targeting on affordability of healthy diets should give greater attention to the poorest of the poor, to rural than urban, and to northern than southern Nigeria. Implications relevant for research, policy, and other actors that focus on transformation of the food systems toward achieving healthier diets in a sustainable food systems are discussed.

A Sustainability Compass for policy navigation to sustainable food systems

Growing acknowledgement that food systems require transformation, demands comprehensive sustainability assessments that can support decision-making and sustainability governance. To do so, assessment frameworks must be able to make trade-offs and synergies visible and allow for inclusive negotiation on food system outcomes relevant to diverse food system actors. This paper reviews literature and frameworks and builds on stakeholder input to present a Sustainability Compass made up of a comprehensive set of metrics for food system assessments. The Compass defines sustainability scores for four societal goals, underpinned by areas of concern. We demonstrate proof of concept of the operationalization of the approach and its metrics. The Sustainability Compass is able to generate comprehensive food system insights that enables reflexive evaluation and multi-actor negotiation for policy making.

Can household dietary diversity inform about nutrient adequacy? Lessons from a food systems analysis in Ethiopia

This study examined the use of the household dietary diversity score (HDDS) to assess household nutrient adequacy in Ethiopia. It also examined the correlates of HDDS following the food systems framework. Results show that the average nutrient consumption in Ethiopia varies by place of residence and by income profile, where households in urban areas and those in the higher income quintiles rank favorably. Among 13 nutrients under study, we found nutrient inadequacy for fat, calcium, zinc, riboflavin, niacin, folate, vitamin C and vitamin A ranging between 46% and 89%, and the prevalence of inadequacy for vitamin B12 to be up to 100%. Econometric results showed that HDDS is a strong predictor of a household’s mean probability of nutrient adequacy (MPA), and that an HDDS of 10 is the minimum threshold at which HDDS can improve household MPA. We found suggestive evidence within the food systems that improving household-incomes, access to health and transport services are beneficial to improve HDDS and nutrient consumption in Ethiopia.

Consumers discard a lot more food than widely believed: Estimates of global food waste using an energy gap approach and affluence elasticity of food waste

This work provides an internationally comparable consumer food waste dataset based on food availability, energy gap and consumer affluence. Such data can be used for constructing meaningful and internationally comparable metrics on food waste, such as those for Sustainable Development Goal 12. The data suggests that consumer food waste follows a linear-log relationship with consumer affluence and starts to emerge when consumers reach a threshold of approximately $6.70/day/capita level of expenditure. These findings also imply that most empirical models overestimate consumption by not accounting for the possibility of food waste in their analysis. The results also show that the most widely cited global estimate of food waste is underestimated by a factor greater than 2 (214 Kcal/day/capita versus 527 Kcal/day/capita). Comparison with estimates of US consumer food waste based on national survey data shows this approach can reasonably reproduce the results without needing extensive data from national surveys.