EXTENSION SENSITIVE NUTRITION: AN UPDATE
Siti Amanah (IPB University & RASSEA Forum)
The Government of Indonesia has issued the Law Number 18 of 2012 about Food. This Law obliges all government agencies and organizations to support the policy and strategy of food diversification to meet the community nutritional needs in accordance with local potential and wisdom to create a healthy, active, and healthy life. productive. Efforts to diversify food as stated in Article 26 of Government Regulation Number 17 of 2015 concerning Food Security and Nutrition, one of which can be through optimizing land use. Previously, the Food Security Agency (BKP) through the Center for Consumption Diversity and Food Safety from 2010 to 2019 has carried out Sustainable Food House Area Activities (KRPL). To expand beneficiaries and land use, since year 2020, KRPL has changed to Sustainable Food Yard or in Indonesian Language (Bahasa Indonesia) called Pekarangan Pangan Lestari (abbreviated as P2L) (Decision from the Head of Indonesia Food Security Agency Number 87/KPTS/RC.110/J/12/2019 about Technical Guidance to Strengthen Household Security through Sustainable Food Yard year 2020).
With cooperation with RELASER (Latin America Forum for Agricultural Extension), RASSEA Team is studying implementation of P2L where agricultural extension services have successfully incorporated nutrition aspect. In P2L, the community work together to manage the land/yard with crops or raising fishes in big buckets or raising laying hen for eggs). The yields from community co-managed small land/yard are nutritious and healthy food. We expect that the case study described here will contribute new strategies, evidence, and lessons learned that can be adapted to other context or other regions.
Key concepts that we used to select the case study on integration of nutrition in agricultural extension is that developed by GFRAS (GFRAS-Nutrition Working Group). The two key concepts are the EAS and NSA. where extension advisory services (EAS). The concept of Extension and Advisory Services (EAS) also known as “rural advisory services” and “rural extension” refers to the function of RAS aims to help farmers and other actors in rural settings to improve their livelihoods and well-being (Christoplos, 2010), by providing information and services needed and demanded by them to develop their technical skills and practices (GFRAS, n.d. in GFRAS 2022). The concept of NSA used in this case study views that NSA is an approach ensuring the production of a variety of affordable, nutritious, culturally appropriate, and safe foods, in adequate quantity and quality, to meet the dietary requirements of populations in a sustainable manner (FAO, 2017).
The case that we study is based on the two concepts mentioned above. In addition to that, we also review our previous and current work related to the EAS and NSA/ESN including research and community outreach about sustainable agriculture, food, female farmers empowerment, effective communication to increase knowledge and awareness about “Diverse, Nutritious, Balance, and Safe” meal or in Indonesia Language called “Beragam, Bergizi, Seimbang dan Aman (B2SA)”. In organizing our two webinars as part of this assignment, RASSEA invited the resource persons to talk about EAS and about NSA in the first webinar; and RASSEA invited the resource persons to talk about EAS practices in the local context (on farm activities) and about food for preventing malnutrition and other problems (off-farm aspect).
We learn from the webinars we organize that there are several programs that associated with NSA including: nutrizinc paddy cultivation to prevent stunting (as part of Strategic Irrigation, Modernization, and Urgent Rehabilitation Project); Sustainable Food Yard that has been implemented since 2010 and still on going to date, practiced by female farmer group supported by extension worker and volunteer extension workers; Integrated Health Services (Pos Pelayanan Terpadu) managed by health cadres with the support from Center for Community Health; Food fortification with certain Vitamin from Ministry of Health, Content of My Plate, Field School for Agricultural Movement on Paddy-Rice Organic, Climate Smart Agriculture, Rural Empowerment and Agricultural Development Scaling-Up Initiative (READSI), and nutrition, health, and gender (as part of Integrated Participatory Development & Management of Irrigation Program).
To select the case study, we set the criteria relevant to NSA/ESN concepts as follows: (1) has shown the evidence of agricultural solutions; (2) community engagement and women empowerment; (3) capacity of the group/community in managing the program/activity; (4) availability of EAS in delivering the services; and (5) sustainability of the NSA practices. From the second webinar we held, we found that Sustainable Food Yard has been implemented well and managed by the farmer/female farmers group in collaboration with public and private organizations. We did not select the nutrizinc-paddy production because the program is implemented in limited sites and the farmers have not widely planted the paddy INPARI enriched by nutrizinc because the seed is not always available locally. Below are some pictures collected from the fields that practicing P2L in their yards.
A community cadre explains about the nursery media for vegetable crops used for Sustainable Food Yard Site in Bogor, Indonesia
A Sustainable Food Yard Site practiced by the female farmer’s group of Balumbang Jaya Bogor (with trigona sp bee is also managed by the group)
The female farmer group “Berseri” with RASSEA Team after the discussions about nutrition sensitive agriculture
