Nutrition

Nutrition is both an output and an input for sustainable agriculture. Good nutrition may improve the productivity of a farmer, and production of nutritious food may improve nutritional status through consumption of the farmer's own yields or increased income, enabling the household to buy nutritious foods from the market (IFPRI, 2014). 

The choice of which foods to produce, market, and consume have a direct effect on nutritional outcomes.  Good nutrition plays an important role in achieving optimal childhood development and helps ensure that adults can be productive individuals (UNSCN, 2015).  Production and consumption of nutritious food may alleviate the burden of undernutrition, overweight, and micronutrient malnutrition at the household and individual levels (IFPRI, 2014), which are key components of sustainable development. 

Nutritional and dietary quality indicators focus mainly on women and young children, which are the most vulnerable groups to malnutrition.  A more common measure of nutrition at the household and community scale is the use of anthropometric measurements. 

There is a focus on increasing the access to nutritious diets or foods through nutritional-sensitive agriculture.  Examining nutritional outcomes from agricultural interventions is challenging and should be done in consultation with a nutrition expert.

Micronutrient production

This indicator is important in areas or populations where there is a nutrient deficiency and where the innovation being assessed is likely to affect the availability of that nutrient (Burchi et al., 2011).

Nutrition awareness

Nutrition awareness is used to indicate the percentage of a population that has received information on how to improve production, preparation, and consumption of nutritious foods.