Site designed and maintained by Immedia

The agriculture, nutrition and HIV/AIDS connections in developing countries

• poverty is principally a rural problem
• undernutrition and HIV/AIDS are closely associated with rural poverty
• rural poverty is a problem of the poverty of agriculture in developing nations
• therefore, improvements in agriculture have a strategic role to play in combating poverty, undernutrition, and HIV/AIDS
• yet, agriculture is not being used as a primary tool to combat undernutrition and HIV/AIDS (and it must be)
• the social costs of undernutrition are immense: they are a consequence of nutrition's impacts on a country's productivity, growth, work force, the cognitive development of children, and the overall health status of the population
• existing micronutrient deficiencies reflect ironic past trends in agriculture, but promise to be dealt with most cheaply and sustainably through the biofortification of plant and animal species found in the agricultural sectors of developing countries
• convincing evidence also exists which shows that poor nutrition affects adversely the sexual and mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS, as well as the progression and the mortality rates of the disease; furthermore, immune system impairment from HIV/AIDS leads to undernutrition which leads to the worsening of HIV
• the sensitivity of agrarian societies to shocks of all kinds, including droughts and poor rainfall distributions that spark famines, appears to have been increased as a result of HIV/AIDS in the developing world
• the pandemic has moved faster than expected and Africa is carrying the burden of the disease worldwide, as are the poor, rural areas, and agriculture (principally through the shrinkage of the agricultural labor pool); these losses in agriculture will only further diminish the prospects of arresting and eliminating HIV/AIDS


The two main recommendations that result from these findings are:


• cross-sector investments should be promoted by the State Department and USAID policy makers at the highest levels in Washington
• a Fund for Agriculture, Nutrition, and Health Collaboration should be established to facilitate the financing of projects that integrate agricultural, nutrition, and HIV/AIDS components, empower women, and are sustainable. It should be a competitive grants mechanism, with proposals being encouraged at the mission level for results-based projects that capitalize on the agriculture/nutrition/health connections.


Author(s): Association for International Agriculture and Rural Development. Produced by: USAID Development Experience Clearinghouse (DEC)/Development Experience System (DEXS) (2003).

This document can be accessed via the hyperlink on the righthand side of this page