GRET presentation at the Regional conference on young child feeding.
GRET gave a presentation on its experience of supporting local infant flours at the Regional conference on young child feeding, which was held in Dakar on 21 and 22 September. This Conference, organised by the United Nations International Emergency Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), brought together a group of stakeholders from the institutional, humanitarian, development and research spheres, in order to work on the construction and activation of a regional vision to improve production and accessibility of nutritious food for children in Africa aged 6 to 23 months.
A value chain with strong potential
GRET’s teams underlined the importance of the local infant flours value chain in preventing malnutrition among young children in the sub-region. These wholemeal flours, which are fortified with minerals and vitamins, can meet the nutritional needs of target populations when they are well integrated in traditional dietary patterns. In a context where less than 2 % of children have an acceptable dietary intake in terms of quantity and quality, these flours provide a response to a major social issue: they contribute to sustainable, healthy feeding as a complement to breastmilk at affordable prices. In addition, this market is a real economic opportunity for businesses.
However, several obstacles to the development of this value chain need to be removed, such as the absence of clear, known standards and lack of ownership of the subject by public authorities; the need for excellent technical expertise in order to produce quality flours; poor availability of affordable, quality inputs; poor distribution and valorisation of local products in sales points and unfair competition.
Supporting businesses in a favourable environment
For more than 15 years now, GRET has been supporting approximately thirty local production units and businesses to define, produce and market infant flours in West Africa, with the support of partners such as Agence française de développement (AFD), the European Union, UNICEF and private foundations. For example, with the Meriem project, conducted in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, GRET and its partners are working together with businesses in urban areas to develop a local quality fortified food offer that is suited to the nutritional needs of young children and their mothers, and accessible to the majority of the population.
As well as providing direct support to businesses, GRET is working to create the favourable environment necessary for development of this value chain. At institutional level, it supports the elaboration and distribution of quality standards, advocacy for the application of the WHO Code governing marketing of foods for children, and tax-free status for nutritional inputs. GRET is also contributing to changes in populations’ food consumption practices by rolling out communication campaigns for social and behavioural change. Lastly, it tests innovative marketing approaches to improve the availability, accessibility and attractiveness of these infant flours.
However, many challenges have still to be addressed. For Doctor Tahirou Traoré, GRET’s representative in Burkina Faso: “In our sub-regions, there is a lot of potential that is not yet being exploited. There is still a lot of leeway. We need to work on professionalising the value chain by mobilising all the stakeholders: businesses, public authorities, technical and financial partners, the world of research, etc., taking a global approach using varied expertise.
