Post-Event Insights: Strengthening Nutrition Through Agriculture with the Agri-PDB Platform

Strengthening Nutrition-Sensitive Agriculture: Insights from the Agri-PDB Webinar

The webinar on nutrition-sensitive investments in agriculture, held on January 15th, 2025, focused on how Public Development Banks (PDBs) can enhance their funding strategies to improve nutrition outcomes and contribute to sustainable development. Organized by the Agri-PDB Platform in collaboration with the World Food Program (WFP), Agence Française de Développement (AFD), and Results for Development (R4D), the event provided a valuable platform for sharing experiences and lessons on integrating nutrition components into PDB operations. 

Dr. A.V. Bhavani Shankar from National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) shared key nutrition interventions within NABARD’s strategy These include:

• Promoting soil and water conservation techniques to improve agricultural productivity.
• Supporting the cultivation of climate-resilient, nutrient-dense crops such as millets and vegetables.
• Focusing on agro-biodiversity by integrating livestock, aquaculture, and agroforestry to enhance household nutrition and income security for vulnerable communities, particularly women and children.

Nora Praher from the World Food Program (WFP) presented the SheCan initiative, a blended finance program in Cameroon that:

Supports smallholder farmers by providing working capital through microfinance institutions. Enables farmers to supply nutritious food for school feeding programs, contributing to food security and improved nutrition outcomes.

Nora shared the program’s financial structure, highlighting the potential role of PDBs in driving similar initiatives.

Mary D’Alimonte from Results for Development (R4D) introduced the OECD’s nutrition policy marker. This tool helps:

• Identify and track nutrition-sensitive investments.
• Guide the design of agriculture programs that incorporate nutrition objectives, such as food fortification and promoting healthy diets.

By leveraging this tool, PDBs can align their investments with the nutrition targets of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Adrien TROUVADIS from Gret shared key learnings from a nutrition-sensitive agriculture project, emphasizing

• The importance of integrating nutrition and food diversification into agricultural projects.
• Promoting sustainable and local food systems.
• Supporting gender equality and involving local stakeholders in decision-making.

Adrien provided the lessons learned from different projects and proposed guidelines that PDB project managers can use to build nutrition-sensitive agricultural projects.

The Q&A session offered deeper insights into implementing nutrition-sensitive strategies. Highlights included:

• Bhavani Shankar elaborating on NABARD’s interventions, such as millet cultivation, kitchen gardening, and agroforestry.
• Nora Praher emphasizing the gender-responsive design of WFP’s SheCan initiative and its impact on empowering women and improving school meal programs.

Participants also inquired about aligning PDB efforts with WFP initiatives and plans to expand SheCan into Latin America, with pilot projects set to launch in Ecuador and Colombia.

The meeting concluded with an engaging discussion on the potential for a follow-up webinar later in the year, aimed at providing practical tools for PDBs, such as a checklist or scorecard to guide agriculture project managers in integrating nutrition-sensitive investments. The next webinar, scheduled for the first week of February, will focus on agroecology, exploring tools and resources to assist PDBs in assessing and supporting the transition to agroecological practices.