Nutrition

In developing countries, small-scale fisheries are both a pivotal source of livelihood and essential for the nutritional intake of larger food insecure populations. Distribution networks that move fish from landing sites to coastal and inland consumers offer entry points to address livelihood enhancement and food security objectives of rural development initiatives. To be able to utilize fish distribution networks to address national development targets, a sound understanding of how local systems function and are organized is imperative.

Funded by the United States Agency for International Development, this project is led by WorldFish in collaboration with the Fisheries & Animal Resources Development Department of the Indian state of Odisha, along with several private sector companies. Its aim is to improve food and nutrition security in Odisha by increasing the supply of and access to affordable, safe, nutrient-rich fish and fish products for greater consumption.

On June 28, 2016, WorldFish headquarters in Malaysia signed a memorandum of agreement with the Fisheries and Animal Resources Development Department (F&ARD) of the Government of Odisha, India, in the august presence of Sri Naveen Patnaik, Honourable Chief Minister of Odisha to implement a project called Technical Collaboration for Implementation of the Odisha Fisheries Policy 2015. It runs from July 2016 to March 2022 (5 years and 9 months).

The Government of Assam through the Government of India has received a loan of USD 200 million from the World Bank for implementation of the Assam Agribusiness and Rural Transformation Project (APART). The Project Development Objective is to add value and improve the resilience of selected agriculture value chains, focusing on smallholder farmers and agro-entrepreneurs in targeted districts of Assam. Fish has been prioritized as one of the value chains for interventions under APART.

Capture fisheries in small island developing states (SIDS) have the capacity to increase access to vital micronutrient-rich food to tackle malnutrition, but when fishers are restricted to nearshore habitats by limited capacity (boats, engines, fishing gear), fisheries production can be low. This is the case of coastal Timor-Leste, where some of the world’s most diverse coral reefs are juxtaposed with one of the world’s most undernourished populations.

Micronutrient deficiencies account for an estimated one million premature deaths annually, and for some nations can reduce gross domestic product by up to 11%, highlighting the need for food policies that focus on improving nutrition rather than simply increasing the volume of food produced3. People gain nutrients from a varied diet, although fish—which are a rich source of bioavailable micronutrients that are essential to human health—are often overlooked.