Background
PRISMA acknowledges nutrition as an important investment to human capital and economic development. However, stunting – a growth faltering condition resulting from persisting undernutrition and recurrent infections especially in the first 1000 days of life – remains a significant problem in Indonesia. Stunting has long term health and economic effects on individuals and societies as it hinders cognitive and physical development, reduces productive capacity, and increases the risk of diseases.
In the six provinces where PRISMA works, stunting prevalence is more than 30% (especially in East Nusa Tenggara). As PRISMA aims to reduce poverty through increasing income of smallholder farmers, investment in nutrition is an inseparable topic for which the program expects to contribute to reduction of its prevalence.
Addressing nutrition in PRISMA
Stunting is caused by multiple factors: household food insecurity, inadequate care and feeding practices, unhealthy household environment and inadequate access to health services are some of the underlying causes. For small farm households, several cause factors of stunting may co-exist as follows:
The multifactorial nature of the causes of stunting requires multiple efforts across different sectors. Agriculture has potential to positively impact nutrition through supporting food security. Implementation of Good Agricultural Practices can also reduce contamination in household environment. Recognizing the important link between agriculture and nutrition, PRISMA will optimize opportunities to strengthen the program’s impact on nutrition.
PRISMA’s Nutrition Approach and Strategy
PRISMA focuses on increasing on farm food availability and diversity and improving food environment in the market to ensure year-round access to food. Commercial feasibility and business incentives of market actors will be ensured in the intervention ideas which will be piloted. When business case is feasible, nutrition messaging may be added as social marketing campaign to consume nutritious foods. Moreover, PRISMA will continue to monitor the adoption of Good Agricultural Practices and aspects of women empowerment dimensions on manageable agricultural workload and increased decision making on household resources.