A warm and kind greeting for you,
Dear Reader
1) What challenges and opportunities arise when Value Chains are formed to make them more sensitive to nutrition?
CHALLENGES
- Generate raw materials 100% healthy, free of man-made chemicals for the treatment of pests, diseases of consumption sources.
- Raising awareness among communities about the contraindications generated by excessive consumption of industrially produced sugars that are not natural
- Normatize (whereas large multinationals which economically benefit from the use of sugars in products intended for human consumption) do not promote the consumption of such products and promote the consumption of fresh foods
OPPORTUNITIES
- The promotion by academic institutions of social support by young professionals through the dissemination and implementation of models for the assurance of product quality
- Design and support in the creation of traceability systems that allow to have the highest control over each raw material used for food production as well as the reduction of the use of artificial additives and preservatives in both small and medium production plants and big
- Direct honest work between large marketers, processors and food processors and agricultural producers, which seeks the sustainable development of regions.
2) What examples of CVCN approaches can you share and what lessons can be learned from them? Examples can come from:
2.1) Governments: policies, regulatory frameworks, etc.
2.2) Development actors: development projects, public-private partnerships, etc.
2.3) Private sector: nutritional products for the base of the pyramid, market for nutrition, etc.
In Colombia a country where one of its main economic activities is agriculture, for at least 9 decades has been consolidating associations of producers where it is sought to fulfill as much as possible with the objective of producing sustainable food with the highest standards of quality.
It is important to recognize the role played by these institutions, which are dedicated not only to promoting production but also to generating added value where all actors in the value chain benefit, but mainly farmers.
A clear example of the union of all these efforts is the association and nongovernmental organization that today represents more than 555,000 coffee families in Colombia, founded in 1927 with the mission of "to ensure the welfare and improvement of the quality of life of those who Represents the coffee federation for 90 years has been the main guild of Colombia, with presence in all rural areas where coffee is produced in the country.
Its central axis is the coffee producer and his family, so that their business is sustainable, coffee communities strengthen their social fabric and Colombian coffee continues to be considered the best in the world "(Fedecafe, 2004). Of different actions seeks to increase the quality of life of Colombian coffee producers.
For this reason, the FNC is present among other fields in the investigation, through cenicafe to optimize production costs and to maximize the quality of the coffee, in the technical accompaniment to the producers through the extension service, in the regulation and commercialization of the coffee To optimize the price paid to the producer and in the execution of trade programs for the benefit of the producer, the community, and the environment.
This federation has a clear commitment and vision of social development, whose axis has been called sustainability in action. This implies giving importance and commitment to the social, economic and environmental axes to help coffee growers and their families to have a life project associated with the coffee business, research and transfer programs are aimed at generating relevant and easy technologies Implementation by Colombian coffee producers.
More than half a million producers have access to services such as the purchase guarantee, which becomes viable thanks to the commercialization of Colombian coffee by the association, the organization has also been a leader in developing Advertising and Promotion programs so that Consumers know and demand Colombian coffee. In addition, the policies implemented to generate greater added value to producers have demonstrated a leadership that few organizations in the rural world of developing countries have been able to replicate.
The coffee growers promoted by growers in the face of complaints and inconveniences derived from free trade agreements, the revaluation of the peso (Colombian national currency), illegal smuggling, rising fertilizer costs, falling international prices The products, which was solved with the support of the National Government.
In recent years, activities such as the national cup quality contest, national preparatory championships, national championships to the best crops, which seek to bring more benefits to the producers have been carried out and the efforts continue, as the adverse effects continue Being the same as the consequences of climate change, the recent termination of the longest internal conflict in the world, which means that a gap is opened that does not take advantage of what should be done through the creation of jobs and contributions to society Of the actors in the conflict would result in a higher level of poverty in the regions.
These efforts generated by the association are also aimed at the consumer to obtain a product of higher quality, from which the same consumer receives all the benefits and nutritional contributions of the product without generating any type of damage or contraindication in his body.
These benefits have already been studied and endorsed by both public and private institutions and which we can mention below.
United States Food Guide Advisory Committee
Panel of independent experts appointed by the FDA
Secretary of Health of the USA
3) Does the framework presented in the discussion paper help you identify barriers and opportunities for the development of CVCN? What would be needed to make the framework more operational?
Develop a general action plan understandable by the populations, define medium-term times, delegate and execute tasks and activities in order to fulfill the objectives set in the established times. Governments should commit to the development or implementation of this action plan.
As a public policy which should be legislated and defined as a law, as well as create both institutions that implement this plan and if they already exist promote
Public and private partnerships with institutions of education from the lowest levels of education to the professional university degree.
And paying closer attention to the latter, where academic institutions as a requirement of degree to their professionals generate a result of impact given by social contributions, (As a compulsory social service applied to lines of emphasis in accordance with university careers. )
Implement and validate compliance with the aforementioned "strategies and policies to improve the supply of nutritious foods" (CFS, 2016): where it is possible to implement strategies aimed at the development of the standard CV, such as:
Improvement in the quality of products and processes (production efficiency, productivity, and reduced impact on the environment);
The functional improvement (opportunities to add value, both in the processing, packaging, marketing distribution and final disposal of waste)
In the report on "INCLUSIVE VALUE CHAINS FOR SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE AND IMPROVED RESULTS OF FOOD SECURITY AND NUTRITION - REFERENCE DOCUMENT published by The World Food Security Committee, 2016; Figure 1 Strategies and policies for the development of the value chain that takes into account nutrition "it takes a last link in the value chain which being the last one is not less important and is the DISPECTION OF THE RECIITS generated by Food as it is also a link that affects society because of the impact it generates and the imbalance it causes.
It is therefore imperative that each link in the chain be monitored and controlled within the proposed implementation plan.
Mr. Sebastian Romero Villamil