By Shabiya Ali Ahlam
Although Sri Lanka has been successful in improving the agricultural production to achieve food security, the World Bank yesterday highlighted that malnutrition still remains a major issue, just as it is the case for the rest of South Asia, due to the inability to access nutritious food and make smart dietary choices.

Although access to better “quantities” of food has improved along with the understanding of what nutritious food is about, a pick up in the pace is needed to ensure the region is eating healthy, World Bank Country Director for Sri Lanka and the Maldives Dr. Idah Pswarayi-Riddihough said. She noted that as a result of merely focusing on the quantity over quality, the implication of poor nutrition has been felt across all income levels. “In Sri Lanka, as the rest of South Asia, improving agricultural production has long been a priority to achieve food security. But growing more crops has hardly lessened the plight of malnutrition,” Dr. Pswarayi-Riddihough told a South Asia Food and Nutrition Security Initiative (SAFANSI) roundtable discussion held yesterday in Colombo. 

She said it is striking to see how “stubborn” malnutrition remains in South Asia despite the region having achieved high economic growth.“There is a need to understand the end consumer, how they make choices of what they buy and eat. That should be aligned with the production, processing and marketing of safe and nutritious food,” she said.  For that, the need for collaboration between the public and private sectors was emphasized, so that there can be a better connect between the producers and consumers. 

Meanwhile, acknowledging Sri Lanka’s state in this regard was Health Ministry Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine Secretary Janaka Sugathadasa.

He acknowledged that although Sri Lanka has succeeded in achieving excellent indicators in the social sphere, its indicators in the nutrition field are in a state of stagnation, which is worrisome. In that context, he said that there should be focus on coupling effective nutrition-specific interventions with nutrition-sensitive programmes. Currently in Sri Lanka, the focus is on addressing the immediate causes of child nutrition and development, adequate food and nutrient intake, feeding, caregiving and parenting practices.

According to Sugathadasa, the acceleration of progress in nutrition will require effective, large-scale, nutrition-sensitive programmes that address key underlying determinants of nutrition and enhance the coverage and effectiveness of such interventions. 

Thus, the need for investments to boost agricultural production, markets, competitive prices and increasing income is undisputable, according to Sugathadasa.

Further, it was noted that targeted agricultural programmes could complement investments on nutrition security by supporting livelihoods, enhancing access to diverse food to poor populations and fostering women’s empowerment, through which a family could reach its nutritional requirements.
Pix by Pradeep Dilrukshana