Facilitating Increased Demand for Healthy Diets: Evidence on Approaches in Feed the Future Contexts
Healthy diets that are diverse, safe, and nutritious are central to all development efforts and core to USAID’s food security efforts. While supply-side investments that increase agricultural productivity remain critical, demand-driven interventions for nutritious food—by consumers, companies, and the public sector—are also a critical part of the dialogue.
USAID requested advice from the Board of International Food and Agricultural Development (BIFAD) on facilitating demand for healthy diets, with a view toward informing upcoming revisions of USAID’s Multi-Sectoral Nutrition Strategy and the U.S. Government Global Food Security Strategy.
BIFAD’s response recommends USAID think more ambitiously about its role in improving diets, not just by mitigating malnutrition by reducing hunger and increasing food security, but also by achieving healthier diets for all. BIFAD encouraged USAID to expand its development agenda to include more programming, policy actions, and research on creating demand for healthy food. The memo emphasized the role of the “hidden middle”, referring to the millions of micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in the midstream of the food system.
The report, co-authored by F4HI's Bianca Carducci, presents evidence on effective policies and interventions that:
- Enhance the supply of nutritious and safe food, including through off-farm activities by MSMEs across supply chains and markets.
- Support demand for healthier diets post-farmgate, including purchasing and consumption of healthy diets by individuals, households, private sector companies, and governments.