Agriculture for Nutrition Programme (AFN)

Challenge

Undernutrition and food insecurity in Laos remain stubbornly high, with stunted children under five up to 61% in some provinces. Communities most prone to undernutrition live in upland areas, where the dominant household economic activities of agriculture and non-timber forest product extraction are increasingly constrained by unsustainable farming practices. Improving women’s nutrition is critical to breaking the inter-generational cycle of undernutrition and, given the negative impact that chronic undernutrition has on health, productivity, educational attainment, and income-earning ability, to sustained national economic growth. 
 

Solution

AFN reduces extreme poverty and malnutrition in the poorest communities in northern Laos by strengthening public services, establishing agriculture-based and community-driven nutrition interventions, promoting climate-resilient irrigation and water management based on the community approach, and forming sustainable and inclusive market-driven partnerships. Activities include establishing nutrition-sensitive agricultural production infrastructure, particularly micro-irrigation systems; creating Farmer Nutrition Schools, and establishing home gardens and financing activities that promote the availability of nutritious food for female-led households. Further, the project supports diversification from rice, the main staple food, which accounts for 72% of the total cultivated area, and promotes climate-smart, sustainable farming by introducing conservation farming techniques and agroforestry.