Table 2 Selected national food and agriculture policies in Ethiopia
Policy | Year | Goal (s) | Key considerations to FAO recommendations | Policy challenges |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Agricultural Development-Led Industrialization (ADLI) | 1993 | To strengthen the linkages between agriculture and industry by increasing the productivity of small-scale farmers, expanding large scale private commercial farming, reconstructing the manufacturing sector to leverage the country’s human and natural resources | Policy was drawn from the Green Revolution in Asia to address food security Targeted smallholder farmers to promote product diversification Aimed to effectively integrate famers in domestic and external markets | Minimal attention to improving nutrition |
The National Nutrition Strategy (NNS) | 2008 | To ensure that all Ethiopians secure adequate nutritional status in a sustainable manner, which is an essential requirement for a healthy and productive life | Focused on reducing malnutrition among the most vulnerable groups Includes components to help promote healthy diets and lifestyles Explicit attention to multi-sectoral coordination | Acknowledges the importance of establishing a multi-sectoral coordination mechanism but did not include the role/responsibilities of each sector |
Agriculture Policy and Investment Framework (PIF) | 2010 | To contribute to Ethiopia’s achievement of middle-income status by 2020 | Reduction in the prevalence of child malnutrition is an expected outcome Contains a focus on improving land and water resources and maintaining biodiversity Includes improved access to agricultural inputs and market access | Does not incorporate explicit nutrition objectives and rather has a focus on improving food security Includes diversification of production into higher value crop to promote agricultural commercialization than to improve nutrition outcomes |
The National Nutrition Programme I (NNP) | 2008–2013 | To integrate and coordinate nutrition-specific interventions and nutrition-sensitive interventions to address challenges of growth, development, and malnutrition | Successful in introducing nutrition as an area of focus in the policy landscape (i.e., nutritional-related indicators such as stunting were included in policies and plans such as The Growth and Transformation Plan) | Weak linkages across relevant sectors and partners Lack of sustainable micronutrient interventions Limited focus on women-specific interventions |
The National Nutrition Programme (Revised) | 2013–2015 | Strategic Objective 1: Improve the nutritional status of women and adolescents Strategic Objective 2: Improve the nutritional status of infants, young children, and children under 5 years Strategic Objective 3:Improve the nutrition service delivery for communicable and non-communicable related diseases Strategic objective 4: Strengthen implementation of nutrition-sensitive interventions Strategic objective 5: Improve multi-sectoral coordination and capacity | Multisectoral coordination was established through the National Nutrition Coordination Body and the National Nutrition Technical Committee Explicit linkages to the agriculture sector The Ministry of Agriculture was given the mandate to mainstream nutrition in the agriculture sector which involved strengthening nutrition linkages with agricultural subsectors, conduct nutrition training, and support nutrition linkages in agricultural programs and policies Contains appropriate nutritional targets | Multisectoral coordination was not effective due to inadequate commitment and lack of strong governance structures |
The National Nutrition Programme II | 2016–2020 | To provide a framework for coordinated implementation of nutrition interventions in order to end hunger by 2030 | Strong multi-sectoral coordination and nutrition governance focus Contains objectives to improve nutrition status of vulnerable groups Focus on promoting women’s empowerment and gender equality Includes initiatives related to strengthening of nutrition education Promotes production, processing, and preservation of diverse and nutritious foods Contains initiatives to strengthen the implementation of nutrition-sensitive interventions in the agricultural sector such as increasing access to fruit and vegetables Focuses on strengthening market linkages for nutritious foods | Challenges in multi-sector coordination weakened policy implementation (PDF NNPPII PROGRESS) |
Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture Strategy 2016–2020 | 2016 | To contribute to the NNP II goal of improving nutritional status of children and women by increasing the quantity and quality of food available, accessible and affordable and promoting utilization of diverse, nutritious and safe foods for all Ethiopians at all times | Contains commitment to leverage nutrition into agriculture policies Includes strategies to ensure availability and access to diverse, nutritious foods Aims to improve multi-sector coordination Contains commitment to improving post-harvest processing Focus on improving women’s empowerment | The roles and responsibilities of sectors in improving nutrition is missing Unclear how capacity of sectors will be strengthened to address nutrition |