THE FULFILLMENT OF THE SUSTAINABLE NUTRITION IN IRAN: THE IMPACT OF PREVIOUS POLICIES AND UPCOMING NECESSITIES

سال انتشار: 1397
نوع سند: مقاله کنفرانسی
زبان: انگلیسی
مشاهده: 360

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شناسه ملی سند علمی:

INC15_699

تاریخ نمایه سازی: 30 دی 1397

چکیده مقاله:

Introduction and aims: In response to population growth and increased food demand, the food system in Iran and many developing countries – characterized by intensive agricultural production as well as environmentally damaging, inefficient practices – is facing climate change and depleted land, energy, and water resources. Sustainable food and nutrition should be achieved by incorporating sustainability principles into the policies regarding all dimensions (production or availability, physical and economic access, utilization, and stability). The present study was aimed at reviewing the impact of previous policies on food and nutrition sustainability and suggesting suitable policies for future in Iran.Materials and methods: Data were collected in three phases: phase 1: a meta-review on the current policies on sustainability of foods in Iran and other countries, phase 2: a qualitative study using a semi-structured interview with key informants in the relevant organization covering all policies related to food and nutrition in Iran and exploring their strengths and weakness 3: reviewing the secondary data on the production, consumption, and price of these products during the last decade. Data on the production, supply, import, and export of different food groups (dairy products, meats, bread and rice, vegetables, fruits, sugar, fats and oils) in the last decade were gathered using the food balance sheet provided by the Agricultural Planning, Economic and Rural Development Research Institute (APERDRI). Information on the household food expenditure collected using the data of the household income expenditure survey of the Iranian Statistic center. Information on the household budget of central bank of Islamic Republic of Iran was used for completion of the data. The trend of food market variables for each food group has been evaluated from 2006 to 2016.Results: According to the government s regulation, commodity pricing is divided into three priorities. Wheat, flour, bread, sugar, chicken, eggs, rice, vegetable oil, red meat, butter, raw milk, and high consumed dairy products (milk-cheese-yogurt), are accounted as first-class goods which any increase in the prices of goods and services of this group can be done with the approval of the Consumer Protection Organization and Manufacturers, and moreover, after approval by the price determining and fixing board), require approval from the market regulation committee. In the case of sugar, only the difference between the price of the factory door and the price approved by the Economic Council is paid to the factories with delaying and mostly in the form of Unfair Facilities. The main weaknesses of policies were mentioned as the lack of interest from stakeholders and required studies on policy formulation, inappropriate policy approaches, and policy contradictions. The implications of developing such policies include positive outcomes such as increased food production and negative consequences such as cheap access to harmful commodities such as sugar and oil, corruption and smuggling of goods due to tariff increases and reductions of quality of production. Finally, suggestions from key informants were presented in this study, most notably: conducting evidence-based studies, participatory stakeholder engagement, eliminating contradictions, or enforcing laws, organizational cooperation with emphasis on avoidance from island performance, inventory of harmful goods by scientific method and the need for monitoring and evaluation of policies.Per capita consumption of sugar decreased from 13.97 to 10.70Kg and from 18.11 to 13.62kg yearly between 2006 and 2016, in urban and rural areas, respectively. Similar trends for fat and oils and rice was found. Per capita production, supply and purchasing of milk and dairy products, red meats and fish have decreased in both Iranian urban and rural households, respectively in spite of efforts of the agricultural sector especially after cash transfer program and raising in food price; however, Consumption of fruits (from 68.73 to 63.13kg in urban and from 54.06 to 54.05Kg in rural areas) and vegetables (101.69 to 93.07 in cities and 94.04 to 90.71Kg in villages) have not been decreased so much.Policies focusing on the promoting the public awareness in order to stimulate the more sustainable practices which can effectively influence the food and nutrition sustainability are the revision of national food guidelines, labeling and the issuance of a certificate of sustainability and promotion of the Mediterranean diet. On the other side, the effective policies on agricultural sector are as follows: 1) Entrepreneurship through biodynamic farms; 2) Application of advanced agricultural technologies and irrigation and crop replacement; 3) Reducing food losses and waste; 4) New business models for smallholder agriculture and rural development that create economic and job opportunities with transparent commercial relations using experiences of non-governmental organizations and women empowerment; 5) the environmental sustainability of fish consumption.Conclusion: Sustainable food and nutrition can be achieved by considering sustainable food consumption and production, simultaneously and adopting public policies including agricultural subsidies, tax incentives, awareness campaigns, marketing regulations, investment in agricultural technologies and infrastructure, public procurement, and discourage food losses and waste. Growth of agri-food systems must be inclusive, must target objectives beyond production (including efficiencies along the food chains and advocacy with policy makers). As an example, sugar should be excluded from the list of basic commodities or priority goods subject to government pricing and priced according to the mechanism of supply and demand of the market. Anti-contradictory laws are also suggested to remove from the prevention of NCDs, such as tax breaks for sugar.

نویسندگان

Fatemeh Mohammadi-Nasrabadi

PhD in Nutrition (Minor: Economics), Department of Food and Nutrition Policy and Planning Research,National Nutrition and Food Technology Research Institute, Faculty of Nutrition Sciences and Food Technology, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences

Delaram Ghodsi

PhD in Nutrition (Minor: Economics), Department of Nutrition Research, National Nutrition and FoodTechnology Research Institute, Faculty of Nutrition Sciences and Food Technology, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

Mohammad-Reza Khoshfetrat

MSc in Nutrition, Department of Food and Nutrition Policy and Planning Research, National Nutrition and Food Technology Research Institute, Faculty of Nutrition Sciences and Food Technology, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

Sayed Mohammad Hoseini

BSc in Nutrition, National Nutrition and Food Technology Research Institute, Faculty of Nutrition Sciences and Food Technology, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran