Food and Nutrition Policy

Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia

Food and
Nutrition
Policy

March 2018
Unleash The Potential of Citizens Through Ensuring Nutrition Security i
Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia

Food and
Nutrition
Policy
 Food and Nutrition Policy

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Abbreviations Acronyms..................................................................................................vi
1. BACKGROUND.......................................................................................................1
2. RATIONALE OF THE POLICY................................................................................3
3. MISSION, VISION, GOAL AND OBJECTIVES........................................................5
3.1. Mission...........................................................................................................5
3.2. Vision ...........................................................................................................5
3.3. Goal ...........................................................................................................5
3.4. Objectives.......................................................................................................6
4. POLICY SCOPE......................................................................................................7
5. POLICY FRAMEWORK...........................................................................................8
6. POLICY VALUES AND GUIDING PRINCIPLES.....................................................9
6.1. Policy values...................................................................................................9
6.2. Guiding Principles...........................................................................................9
7. POLICY DIRECTIONS ON FOOD AND NUTRITION SECURITY........................11
7.1. Ensure availability, accessibility and utilization of diversified,
safe and nutritious food................................................................................11
7.2. Ensure the safety and quality of foods from farm to table............................12
7.3. Institutional arrangement .............................................................................13
7.4. Capacity building .........................................................................................14
7.5. Food and nutrition emergency response......................................................15
7.6. Communication.............................................................................................16
7.7. Food and nutrition governance.......................................................................17
8. POLICY IMPLEMENTATION.................................................................................19
8.1. Approaches...................................................................................................19
8.1.1. Life cycle approach..........................................................................19
8.1.2. Food as human right approach........................................................19
8.1.3. Food based approaches...................................................................20
8.1.4. Multi-sectoral coordination, integration and linkage.........................20
8.1.5. Nutrition specific and nutrition sensitive approaches.......................21
8.1.6. Farm to table approach....................................................................21
8.2. Legal Framework..........................................................................................21
8.3. Institutional Arrangement..............................................................................22
8.4. Capacity Building..........................................................................................23
8.4.1. Human resource...............................................................................23
8.4.2. Training and research institutions.....................................................24
8.4.3. Regulatory agencies.........................................................................25
8.5. Communication.............................................................................................25
8.6. Sustainable Financing..................................................................................26
9. GENDER RESPONSIVENESS.............................................................................27
10. ROLE OF THE DIFFERENT ACTORS..................................................................28
10.1 Government of Ethiopia................................................................................28
10.2 Non-State Actors..........................................................................................28
11. MONITORING AND EVALUATION........................................................................29
12. GLOSSARY OF TERMS........................................................................................31
Unleash The Potential of Citizens Through Ensuring Nutrition Security v
 Food and Nutrition Policy

Abbreviations and Acronyms

ETB Ethiopian Birr
FNC Food and Nutrition Council
FNIMS Food and Nutrition Information Management System
FNP Food and Nutrition Policy
GoE Government of Ethiopia
M&E Monitoring and Evaluation
MIS Management Information System
SDG Sustainable Development Goals
NCD Non-Communicable Disease
NNCB National Nutrition Coordinating Body
NNP National Nutrition Program
OFSP Orange Fleshed Sweet Potato
PSNP Productive Safety Net Program
SHNS School Health and Nutrition Strategy
SBCC Social and Behavioural Change Communication
US United States
WASH Water, Sanitation and Hygiene

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Food and Nutrition Policy

BACKGROUND

The Government of Ethiopia has been implementing a comprehensive economic reform

programme over the past decades. This reform has resulted in remarkable economic
growth leading to social and macroeconomic development. Furthermore, Ethiopia is
aspiring to become a lower middle-income country by 2025. One of the critical inputs
for the realization of this overarching vision is healthy and productive human capital.
To utilize this for better present and future economic growth opportunities of Ethiopia
and to ensure food and nutrition security in a sustainable manner, cost-effective
interventions that address the food and nutrition security of the nation are fundamental.

Considerable efforts have been made to ensure food and nutrition security in Ethiopia.
The enhancement of production and productivity of farmers and pastoralists engaged
in agriculture, natural resources, livestock and fish farming is one of them. The country’s
capacity to successfully respond and manage emergency nutrition, food and water
insecurity has also been demonstrated during the recent El Nino induced drought.

Significant progress has been made to reduce undernutrition in the country. The
prevalence of chronic malnutrition (stunting) has decreased by 19.6% (from 58% to
38.4%) between 2000 and 2016. The proportion of underweight children declined by
17% (from 41% to 23.6%); while that of wasting decreased from 12% to 9.9% during the
same period. These positive gains together with improvements in social determinants
of health resulted in reduction of under five mortality from 166 in 2000 to 67 per
1000 children in 2016 enabling Ethiopia to achive the Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs) ahead of time. In addition, estimated average life expectancy at birth has
increased from 45 years in 1990 to 64 years in 2016. Such increase in life expectancy
is a potential for the country to maximize its demographic dividend.

However, the average annual food production growth, lags behind the population
growth rate widening the food need gap. Current estimates indicate that about 8.3
million people are considered chronically food insecure; while another 6.2 million face
transitory food shortage. Nationally, 40% of households (HH) are food energy deficient
and calorie for 50% of households comes from starch staples. Moreover, lower
production and productivity coupled with poor safety and quality of foods and poor
postharvest management systems are aggravating the food and nutrition insecurity
situation in the country. Postharvest losses in Ethiopia was reported to be as high
as 21-27% for cereals and 15-70% for fruits and vegetables. Food safety concerns

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related to adulteration, misbranding, aflatoxin contamination, illegal food trading, loose

control of imported and exported foods, limited regulatory activities along the food value
chain are critical. Poor food hygiene and food borne diseases coupled with increased
imports of processed foods, and mushrooming of food industries and catering facilities
in the country also needs a thorough scrutiny by the regulatory bodies. Furtehrmore,
Ethiopia is still one of the countries with the lowest dietary diversity and greatest
burden of micronutrient deficiencies notably iron, iodine, zinc and vitamin A. Likewise,
the level of stunting, underweight and wasting are still unacceptably high based on the
global standards.

If the situation is unabated, it will continue to contribute to increased morbidity and

mortality, poor educability, later adulthood degenerative diseases, poor productivity
and economic development. Evidences from economic models revealed that reduction
of the prevalence to half of the current levels of child under nutrition by the year
2025 can generate annual average savings of ETB 4.4 billion (US$ 376 million). An
additional scenario shows that a reduction of stunting by 10% and underweight by
5 % for that same period could yield annual average savings of 9.2 billion Birr (US
$784 million). This economic benefit that would result from a decrease in morbidities,
lower class repetition rates, an increase in manual and non-manual productivity and
its contribution in the attainment of the sustainable development goals presents an
important economic argument for the incremental investments in child nutrition.

The food and nutrition security challenges of the country can realistically be addressed
through the development of a policy that recognizes the need for ensuring the adequacy,
safety and quality of all forms of foods and acces to and use of nutritious foods by
people at all stages of life framed in the context of basic human rights, child and
women rights including the universal ‘Right to Food’. The Food and Nutrition Policy
(FNP) stipulates the need for stronger multisectoral food and nutrition governance and
non-state actor engagement which esures that improved nutritional status is a shared
responsibility of all Ethiopians.

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Food and Nutrition Policy

RATIONALE OF THE POLICY

Attaining food and nutrition security plays a significant role in the overall development of
a country by guaranteeing safe, adequate and nutritious food, safeguarding the public
from the consumption of unsafe foods, and optimizing the national and international
trade along the food value chain.

Ethiopia has been implementing different strategies and programmes to ensure food
and nutrition security, as part of its national development agenda. Some of the major
strategies and programmes are/were: the Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP),
Seqota Declaration (SD), National Nutrition Programs (NNP), National Food Security
Strategy, Nutrition Sensitive Agriclture (NSA) Strategy, School Health and Nutrition
Strategy (SHNS), the Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP), and Food Safety and
Quality related regulatory activities. All these efforts have brought positive change in
improving food and nutrition security contributing to the overall poverty reduction.

However, there is a fragmented approach leading to inadequate multi-sectoral

coordination in responding to food and nutrition security demands. Thus, chronic
and recurrent food and nutrition insecurity have remained to be a serious challenge.
Significant pre- and post harvest losses along the food value chain, are still formidable
impediments to the food and nutrition security of the country.

In addition, the cultural and traditional cooking and processing practices contribute
significantly to nutrient losses at different levels. The practice of eating out of home
specifically hotels, catering facilities and street vendors and tendency of relying on
processed foods from unreliable primary sources is also growing due to urbanization,
industrialization and globalization. Given this scenario, standards for monitoring
the quality, safety and distribution of processed foods are required to mitigate food
adulteration, misbranding and mislabeling practices, which are becoming common
phenomena.

Food that is being availed through the commercial channels is poorly labeled, and there
is lack of major public awareness on the need for checking the food labels. Smuggling
of processed foods out of the control of the regulatory body is another critical issue.
This situation is aggravated by lack of food standards for some food items that can be
used as a bench mark for regulation of food imports and exports on the one hand and
capacity limitation of the regulatory body for ensuring the compliance to the standards
on the other.

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 Food and Nutrition Policy

On the other hand, chronic forms of malnutrition (stunting) has remained pervasively
high throughout the country. Among the aggravating factors are sub-optimal maternal
and child health, inadequate care and feeding practices throughout the life cycle,
aflatoxin contamination of food, poor water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) exposing
children to parasitic infections and chronic inflammation of the gut (environmental
entheropathy). Compounded with this, poor life style and dietary practices are risk
factors for an increasing magnitude of diet related chronic non-communicable diseases
including diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, chronic kidney diseases
and cancer.

As a result, the country is losing its productive citizens denying it off the potential
for reaping the demographic dividend from the growing working segment of the
population. Therefore, the significant magnitude of food and nutrition insecurity of the
country demands more conserted efforts with strong multi-sectoral approach including
public-private partnership. In this regard, fragmented efforts and resources need to be
integrated and directed by having clear directions and strategies to bring better results.
Thus this food and nutrition policy is necessitated to put set of priorities, define clear
directions and strategies that enable the country to ensure a sustainable food and
nutrition security.

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Food and Nutrition Policy

MISSION, VISION, GOAL AND

OBJECTIVES

Mission
We work to ensure food and nutrition security through coordinated implementation
of nutrion specific and nutrition sensitive interventions.

Vision
To see all Ethiopians with better nutritional status, quality of life, productivity and
longevity.

Goal
To attain optimal nutritional status at all stages of life span and conditions to a
level that is consistent with good health, quality of life and productivity.

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 Food and Nutrition Policy

Objectives
The objectives of the FNP are to create conducive policy environment to:

1. Improve the availability and accessibility of adequate food to all Ethiopians at

all times.

2. Improve access to quality and equitable nutrition and nutrition smart health
services to all Ethiopians at all times in all settings.

3. Improve consumption and utilization of diversified and nutritious diet that is

compatible with optimal heath and through out the life cycle.

4. Improve the safety and quality of food through out the value chain.

5. Reduce food and nutrient losses along the value chain.

6. Improve food and nutrition emeregency risk management and resilienece

systems.

7. Improve food and nutrition literacy of all Ethiopians.

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Food and Nutrition Policy

POLICY SCOPE

This policy is referred to as the “Food and Nutrition Policy of Ethiopia”. The Policy
emanates from legal and ethical tenets related to the wellbeing of citizens enshrined
in the constitution and it is strongly aligned with the national and sectoral policies
and strategies of the country. The Policy provides an overarching framework covering
the key dimensions of food and nutrition security including sustained food availability,
accessibility and utilization of food; food safety and quality; postharvest management;
and optimal nutrition at all levels of society, agro ecological zones and livelihoods as
well as recurring emergencies, and related critical issues at macro, meso and micro
levels based on the principles farm to table and life cycle approach.

The Policy is formulated with a broader scope so as to provide a policy foundation

for multisectoral collaboration, household oriented nutrition empowerment, advocating
high impact nutrition specific and nutrition-sensitive interventions and developing
related operational and management strategies. The FNP will give emphasis to food
and nutrition capacity building by strengthening institutional, national and subnational
capacities, along with empowering communities, families and individuals to enhance
optimal nutrition behaviorsandpractices.

The policy also considers matters that pose challenges to food and nutrition security
such as land degradation, globalization, regional market integration, demographic
change, urbanization, income inequalities, increasing population pressure, and
demand for natural resources.

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5
Food and Nutrition Policy

POLICY FRAMEWORK

The policy bases on the global conceptual framework for nutrition security as a change
model to align interventions targeting causes of nutrition insecurity at various levels. It
gives due emphasis to address the different layers of causes as a short term, medium
range and long term strategies in an integrated way.

The immediate causes of malnutrition are related to the nutrient intake and wellbeingof
the individuals in question. Similarly, the medium term interventions aimed at
addressing the underlying causes are related to agricultural practices, lack of access
to and availability of clean water and sanitation, health services, girls’ education and
gender affirmative action, social protection, and social safety net. The basic causes
that need long term interventions are rooted in institutional, political, economic, cultural
and social issues such as poverty reduction and economic growth, governance and
stewardship capacities, basic education, environmental safeguards, and trade and
patent issues, including the role of the private sector and development of irrigation and
other infrastructures, and addressing gender, demographic and geographic inequalities.
In addition lack of economic infrastructures such as irrigation, transportation and social
protection services are also critical issues at this level.

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6
POLICY VALUES AND GUIDING
PRINCIPLES

6.1. Policy values

The policy upholds the following key values in all endeavours of its implementation
• Community centered - committed to building strong connections between
communities and the macro and micro levels.
• Coordination - making all stakeholders involved in the policy implementation
in an organized way.
• Integration – mainstreaming and interlinkage of differet food and nutrition
related services and activities into one another to improve effectiveness.
• Participatory – Being involved alone or as a group from planning to monitoring
and evaluation to influence decisions at all levels.
• Accountability – Being committed to and be responsible for actions taken and
to disclose the results in a transparent manner.
• Professionalism – Combining all the qualities of trained and skilled people.
• Equity - being fair and impartial and avoid inequalities that are avoidable.
• Excellence - the quality of being outstanding or extremely good.
• Equality - the right of different groups of people to have similar social position
and receive the same treatment.
• Respect – due regard for the feelings, wishes, or rights of others.
• Responsiveness - Responding positively, quickly and well to demands
mirroring the public interests and changing societal needs and problems.

6.2. Guiding Principles

The policy is based on the following guiding principles.
1. That the life cycle approach and the first 1000 days are critical for addressing
nutrition related problems;
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 Food and Nutrition Policy

2. That access to adequate, safe and nutritious food is a human right and ensures
the right to informed choice of food in whatever form;
3. That food is treated as a national strategic resource for overall national
development;
4. That food and nutrition issues are cross-cutting in nature and that effective
multisectoral coordination is encouraged;
5. That indigenous knowledge on food and dietary practices within the community
is considered essential in the implementation of the policy;
6. That the community involvement and ownership is fostered;
7. That food sovereignty is ensured;
8. That thinking globally and eating locally with the view to developing sustainable
local food system is encouraged;
9. That dynamic and evidence-based decision-making is vital in responding to the
changing societal needs;
10. That shared responsibility among public-private partnerships is promoted along
the food value chain;
11. That innovation and application of appropriate technology in developing,
processing and popularization of new foods and food products is promoted;
12. That the sectoral, geographic and demographic inclusiveness to respond to the
challenges of rural spaces, pastoralists, urban areas and vulnerable segments
of the population is ensured;
13. That equity and equality are ensured in all food and nutrition services for all
Ethiopians;
14. That efficient use of resources is encouraged and environmental protection is
promoted;
15. That responsiveness to demand for food and resilience to any type of food shock
is ensured.

10 Unleash The Potential of Citizens Through Ensuring Nutrition Security

 የምግብና የሥርዓተ-ምግብ
Food and ፖሊሲ
Nutrition Policy

7
POLICY DIRECTIONS ON FOOD AND
NUTRITION SECURITY

7.1. Ensure availability, accessibility and utilization of

diversified, safe and nutritious food
Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic
access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food which meets their dietary needs and
food preferences for an active and healthy life. Ensuring sustainable food security
entails increasing food availability through increasing food production and productivity,
ensuring accessibility, reducing food loss and enhancing utilization of nutrients in the
food for optimal health and wellbeing. The Government of Ethiopia (GoE) recognizes
that food security is a fundamental human right. Cognizant of these, food security is
identified as policy direction with the following objectives and strategies.

Objectives
The policy objectives are to:
1. Improve the availability of adequate, diversified, safe and nutritious foods
for all in a sustainable way.
2. Improve the accessibility of adequate, diversified, safe and nutritious
foods to all in a sustainable way.

Strategies
To achieve these objectives, the government shall:
1. Stregthen a system for improving access to natural resources,
agroecologically appropriate and climate smart inputs and technologies
and skills for enhancing agricultural, livestock and fishery production and
productivity in a sustainable way.
2. Strengthen a system for improving income, job creation and purchasing
power of individuals and households.
3. Stergthen market linkage of food commodities.

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 Food and Nutrition Policy

4. Strengthen livestock and fisheries health service and care.

5. Develop and implement food and food product import substitution
approaches for ensuring food self sufficiency.
6. Strengthen social protection programs for ensuring equitable distribution
of diversified, safe and nutritious foods, transfers and other services at
all levels.
7. Develop and implement systems for encouraging commercial farming
and insurance services for agricultural, livestock and fish production.
8. Strengthen coping strategies of households through climate resilient
food production system, climate adaptation and mitigation strategies.
9. Develop a system for safe and appropriate use of biotechnology for food
production and processing.

7.2. Ensure the safety and quality of foods from farm to

table
Effective food safety system is vital to safeguard the public from food born illnesses
and exposure to other toxins. It also enables consumers to have confidence in the
food system and provide a sound regulatory foundation for domestic and international
trade of food. Food safety can be violated during the various stages of the value chain.
Achieving maximum protection of the community from unsafe food consumption and
contribute to economic benefits of the country from agricultural products is critical. It is
essential to build a system for ensuring food safety and quality using a comprehensive
and integrated farm-to-table approach in which all value chain actors play a vital role.
Therefore, food safety and quality is identified as policy direction with the following
objective and strategies.

Objectives
Improve post harvest management throughout the value chain.

• Ensure the safety and quality of food throughout the value chain.

Strategies
To achieve this objective, the government shall:
1. Establish a system for ensuring the safety and quality of primary
agricultural food commodities.

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 Food and Nutrition Policy

2. Develop and implement a system for ensuring the safety and

quality of processed foods.
3. Develop and adapt appropriate technologies for ensuring the
safety and quality of food throughout the values chain.
4. Enhance a system for good storage, transportation and
distribution practice for safer and quality of food supplies.
5. Establish a system for ensuring the safety and quality of food
prepared and served by catering establishments, street vendors
and at household level.
6. Develop and implement a system that mitigates food
adulteration, misbranding, counterfeiting and sub-
standardization to ensure food safety control.
7. Establish a system for ensuring the safety and quality of foods
for emergency situation.
8. Establish a system for ensuring the safety of water supplies,
hygiene and sanitation .
9. Develop and implement a legal framework to ensure the safety
and quality of food throughout food value chain.

7.3. Post harvest management of agricultural food

products
Postharvest loss is a decrease in the quantity, quality and safety of edible foods that
are meant for human consumption. In Ethiopia, one third of cereals producd do not
go into the mouth of people due to loss. This contributes immensely to the recurrent
challenges of food and nutrition insecurity in Ethiopia. Moreover, qualitative losses
including nutrient loss and mycotoxin contaminations do threaten food safety and quality
and negatively impact on nutrition security contributing to both childhood stunting and
chronic non-communicable diseases in adults. To prevent quantitative and qualitative
loss of foods, modern postharvest management system which demands appropriate
skills, technologies, infrastructure and sufficient resources are critically important
along the food value chain. Cognizant of this fact, this policy targets postharvest
management as a policy direction with the following objective and strategies.

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 Food and Nutrition Policy

Objective
The policy objective is to:
• Improve post harvest management throughout the value chain.

Strategies
To achieve this objective, the government shall:
1. Develop and implement post harvest management, food processing
technology training/incubation centres at community and household
levels across the country to improve postharvest management skills.
2. Develop and implement systems for promoting innovation, adaptation
and transfer of appropriate technologies and infrastructure to reduce
post harvest loss.
3. Establish a small, medium and even large scale agro processing
industries to enhance value adition and postharvest management.

7.4. Optimum nutrition at all stages of life

Malnutrition has remained to be a serious and persistent public health problem of
Ethiopians across all stages of life. The prevention of malnutrition across all stages of
life demands multi-sectoral planning and collaborative execution of nutrition specific and
sensitive interventions with emphasis given to affordable and high impact interventions.
Ensruring optimal nutrition along all stages of life is a cost effective systems approach
that would lead to improved nutritional status, quality of life, longevity and productivity
and eventually economic growth.

Objectives
The policy objectives are to:
1. Improve the nutritional status of all people with special focus on
pregnant and lactating women, children and adolescents.
2. Improve the nutritional status of people with communicable and non-
communicable (NCDs)/lifestyle related diseases.
3. Improve nutritional status of people in special situations (old age,
disabled, refugee, orphan ages etc).

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Strategies
To achieve these objectives, the government shall:
1. Strengthen comprehensive and integrated nutrition services.
2. Establish a system to protect and promote optimal breastfeeding and
complementary feeding.
3. Develop a system for fortification to address micronutrient deficiencies.
4. Build a system that ensures dietary diversity through food based
approaches.
5. Address economic empowerment and reduce workload of women
through labor and time saving technologies.
6. Strengthen access to context specific nutrition smart health and
nutrition services.
7. Strengthen access to and utilization of universal WASH facilities and
practices.
8. Establish early childhood care and development centers integrated with
nutrition interventions.
9. Strengthen the delivery of nutrition services for communicable and non
communicable / lifestyle related diseases;
10. Strengthen school health and nutrition interventions.
11. Develop a system for addressing the nutritional needs of people in
special situations.

7.5. Food and nutrition emergency response

Ethiopia has been following a two pronged approach to address food and nutrition
emergencies. The first aspect is focusing on strengthening early warning and
surveillance systems, while the second area is provision of general food rations and
supplementary feeding programs together with appropriate and wide scale access to
treatment of acute malnutrition and promotion of optimal maternal and child nutrition
practices in emergencies. Building the capacity of the country to strengthen the early
warning and preparedness, timely response and rehabilitation during emergency will
significantly reduce both the short and long term consequences of food and nutrition
emergencies.

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 Food and Nutrition Policy

Objectives
The policy objective is to:
• Strengthen the national capacity to manage food and nutrition
emergencies timely and appropriately.

Strategies
To achieve these objective, the government shall:
1. Develop early warning and preparedness system for food and nutrition
emergencies;
2. Develop a timely and appropriate response system for food and
nutrition emergencies;
3. Develop a rehabilitation system for food and nutrition emergencies that
supports the affected communities to return to normal functioning after
emergencies by addressing the underlying causes of vulnerability;
4. Establish a monitoring and evaluation system for food and nutrition in
emergencies.

7.6. Communication
Communication is an essential element of food and nutrition policy that encompasses
advocacy, social and behavioural change communication and community mobilization.
The ultimate goal of food and nutrition communication is to produce nutritionally literate
consumers and decision makers who are motivated, knowledgeable, skilled and
willing to choose proper dietary alternatives. The key focus areas of food and nutrition
communication are production and consumption of diversified foods; postharvest
management; food safety and quality; water, sanitation and hygiene; school health
and nutrition; nutrition smart health services; nutrition throughout the stages of life
cycle with emphasis to the first 1000 days and prevention of communicable and
chronic non-communicable/ lifestyle related diseases. The food and nutrition policy
has identified nutrition communication as policy direction to create food and nutrition
literacy at all levels with due emphasis to individuals, families and communities.

Objectives
The policy objectives are to:
1. Improve capacities of individuals, families and communities to make

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 Food and Nutrition Policy

informed decision making related to food production, handling,

preservation, choices, consumption and uptake of nutrition services.
2. Create an enabling environement for implementation of nutrition specific
and nutrition sensitive interventions.

Strategies
To achieve these objectives, the government shall:
1. Design a system for ensuring easy access of food and nutrition
related information, resources and services to individuals, families and
communities.
2. Mobilize formal, informal and innovative community networks and
communication channels, government and other actors to create a food
and nutrition literate citizens.
3. Utilize culturally appropriate and context specific social and behaviour
change communication channels to maximize the role of women, men,
other household members and influencers to create nutrition model
families and communities.
4. Develop a mechanism for capacitating and use of food and nutrition
gate keepers, champions and decision makers at all levels.
5. Develop a system for integrating food and nutrition communication in
sectoral plans.

7.7. Food and nutrition governance

The Food and Nutrition Policy provides a policy framework for multi-sectoral and
multi-dimensional governance of food and nutrition related activities in the country.
The Government of Ethiopia will establish a food and nutrition governing body from
federal to kebele level with leadership of the highest government decision makers to
coordinate the implementation of food and nutrition policy. In addition, the government
will provide directions to build the capacities of various FNP implementing sectors
and stakeholders. The food and nutrition governing body will give due emphasis to
research and innovations, invests adequate resources and develops accountability
framework for monitoring and evaluation. Hence, governance is identified as policy
direction with the following objective and strategies.

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Objectives
The policy objectives are to:
1. Create strong and functional governance body for FNP execution and
coordination of the FNP policy implementing sectors at all levels.
2. Increase sustainable financing through government investment,
development partners’ allocation and innovative financing mechanisms
to translate the policy into action.
3. Build the institutional capacities of FNP implementing sectors in human
resource, research and development.
4. Enhance evidence generation for decision making, learning and
implementing a robust accountability framework.

Strategies
To achieve these objectives, the Government shall:
1. Establish and effectively run Food and Nutrition Council (FNC) with the
required authorities, resources and accountability.
2. Establish and ensure functionality of a legal body from federal to kebele
levels.
3. Strengthen food and nutrition related research, training and service
capacities of individuals, communities, institutions and systems at all
levels.
4. Establish and implement Information and Communication technology
(ICT) supported robust information management, accountability,
implementation, policy review, monitoring and evaluation system.
5. Establish a system for maximizing resource mobilization and allocation
from`the treasury, community, private sectors, development partners
and other innovative financial sources to creat ownership and self-
reliant food and nutrition investment.
6. Strengthen partnership with national, regional and global institutions
and organizations for learning, research, technology transfer and
acquisitions of resources.
7. Develp a system for enforcing rules and regulations that support
effective implementation of the policy objectives.

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8
POLICY IMPLEMENTATION

The policy implementation will rely on evidence based approaches and frameworks.
The following approaches will be considered as critical elements to ensure cost
effectiveness, sustainability, coordination and community involvement.

8.1 Approaches
8.1.1 Life cycle approach

This policy adopts a life-cycle approach viewing nutritional issues across the stages
of life cycles and generations. The policy will give greater emphasis and focus to the
critical period of the first 1000 days, during which good nutrition and healthy growth
deliver lasting benefits throughout life. The FNP in addition considers nutritional
problems at all age of the life cycle including the prevention of risk of chronic non-
communicable/ lifestyle related diseases. Early interventions will avoid diet related
poor health and related consequences on morbidity, disability and mortality in the
subsequent stages of life, which makes it cost effective.

8.1.2.Food as human right approach

Ethiopia has adopted international conventions and instruments, including the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights (1948), the African Charter on Human and Peoples’
Rights (1981), the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), the
Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (1995)
and the African Charter on Rights and Welfare of the Child (1999) and ILO Declaration
on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work (1998). Food and nutrition services
shall progressively realize the human rights of all citizens of the country. It is the policy
of the government that all Ethiopians, throughout the stages of their life-cycle at all
times enjoy safe food in a sufficient quantity and quality to satisfy their nutritional
needs for optimal health.

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8.1.3.Food based approaches

Food-based interventions focus on food - natural, processed, fortified, or in combination

- as the primary tool for improving the quality of the diet in a sustainable manner.
Food-based approaches typically address food and nutrition issues at several points
including production (biofortified crops such as orange flesh sweet potatoes (OFSP)
and golden/ultra-rice, green leafy vegetables), livestock and fishery products such as
milk, egg, meat, honey and fish, processing (solar and simple drying), and consumption
(such as porridge enrichment) of nutrient-rich foods. This approach recognises the
essential role of food for better nutrition and the importance of integration among
sectors. The policy promotes the food based approach as a long term and sustainable
solution to nutrition security whereby the community is enabled to choose healthy diets
from different combination of food groups. To address the problem the government
of Ethiopia will implement food based approach to improve availability, accessibility
and utilization of safe and nutrient dense animal and plant foods through improved
production (home based, community based, school based and commercial), storage,
transportation and preservation.

8.1.4.Multi-sectoral coordination, integration and linkage

Nutrition has a multidimensional and multi-sectoral nature in terms of both effect

and outcomes. The FNP is a long-term national policy that requires the involvement
of all responsible sectors and partners. Timely and effective implementation of the
policy requires an efficient operational framework as well as appropriate leadership
and implementation capacity. This will be ensured through a strong multisectoral food
and nutrition coordination and linkages at all levels. To facilitate the multisectoral food
and nutrition coordination and integration, the government of Ethiopia will create a
supportive environment and feedback mechanism with a well organized, integrated
and institutionalized coordination and linkage mechanisms that allow knowledge
sharing, joint planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of food and nutrition
programs. This involves creating shared vision and understanding among sectors with
a clear role and responsibility and sufficient delegation of authority and corresponding
accountability. Based on the policy, detailed strategies and the roles and responsibilities
of the different sectors shall be developed in due course.

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8.1.5.Nutrition specific and nutrition sensitive approaches

Nutrition specific and nutrition sensitive interventions that can address the immediate,
underlying and basic causes of malnutrition will be promoted by incorporating nutrition
goals and actions from a wide range of sectors. It is critical that all sectors—like health;
agriculture;; Education; Trade; Regulatory bodies; Labour and Social Affairs; Water,
Irrigation and Electricity; Justice; Women and Children and other sectors — develop
nutrition specific and sensitive interventions using the concept of “nutrition lens”-
nutrition related criteria to evaluate sectoral performance.

8.1.6.Farm to table approach

Effective food safety and quality systems are vital to maintain consumer confidence
in the food system and to provide a sound regulatory foundation for domestic and
international trade in food. Food can be contaminated during the various stages along
the food value chain. To achieve maximum consumer protection, and prevent food and
nutrient losses it is essential that safety and quality system be built into food products
from production through consumption. This calls for a comprehensive and integrated
farm-to-table approach in which the producer, processor, transporter, vendor, and
consumer all play a vital role in ensuring food safety and quality. In order to ensure
the safety and quality of food, the government of Ethiopia is committed to implement
various strategies on farm, manufacturing, distribution, retailing, and catering, street
vended foods and at house hold level. A social and behaviour change communication
system will be developed to change food wasting cultural practices at the usage level.

8.2. Legal Framework

The Food and Nutrition Policy will provide the necessary legal and institutional
framework for food and nutrition planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation
and coordination in the country. The policy will also bring about changes in the means
and methods of addressing food and nutrition situation in the country. Recognizing
nutrition as a development issue, nutrition interventions will be addressed through
sustainable and well defined government structures. Recognizing the importance of
nutrition security to national development necessitates restructuring of the current

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 Food and Nutrition Policy

organizational structure and strengthening its capacity for effective implementation of

the policy. For the successful implementation of the FNP, the following will be done:

1. Ensuring that efficient and effective institutional and legal frameworks are
established for the implementation of the FNP.

2. Re-defining the roles of existing nutrition coordination institutions to facilitate

effective and efficient implementation of the FNP.

3. Revising the existing legislation and promulgate new laws, regulations and
guidelines in order to ensure food safety and quality, adhere to internationally
recognized standards and nutritional guidelines such as Codex Alimentarius, and
to respect and ensure the right to adequate food by all Ethiopians.

4. Making legislation and guidelines regulating effective implementation of the FNP at

both regional and federal levels.

5. Domesticating all the international and regional treaties and conventions related to
food and nutrition security to which Ethiopia is a party.

6. Ensuring that Ethiopia’s obligations related to food and nutrition security are fulfilled
through the actions of relevant ministries of the government.

8.3. Institutional Arrangement

Given the multi-dimensional and cross-sectoral nature of food and nutrition issues
and based on national and international experiences, Ethiopia’s multi-sectoral food
and nutrition coordination shall be organized to ensure more interaction and cross-
sectoral collaboration and to guide the implementation of the FNP. The Government of
the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia will therefore arrange and strengthen the
existing structures to form a strong Food and Nutrition governing body that will bring all
relevant ministries (sectors) together to ensure broad, multi-sectoral implementation,
coordination and monitoring mechanisms, provide a forum for an integrated response
to both emergency and chronic food and nutrition security issues, and serve as an
advisory body to the government on issues related to food and nutrition security.

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 Food and Nutrition Policy

The Food and Nutrition Governing body shall be responsible to coordinate and support
the sectoral members to discharge their duties and responsibilities. Sectoral members
would be held accountable, both institutionally and collectively, for the achievement of
the food and nutrition goals set by the Food and Nutrition Policy at all levels. Similar
structures shall be established at all levels (region, zone, woreda and kebelle levels)
to efficiently coordinate and implement the food and nutrition activities in the country.

8.4.Capacity Building

Food and nutrition capacity building is essential to strengthen national, regional and
institutional capacities to address food and nutrition challenges through training,
research and community services as well as food and nutrition program design,
implementation, monitoring and evaluation and policy formulation at a higher level.
Thus, the policy gives due attention to the following forms of capacity building.

8.4.1.Human resource

Cognizant of the above facts, priority will be given to capacity building to transform the
system and organizational capacity, workforce/human resource, farming community
and individual and community capacities to effectively implement the FNP at different
levels. Nutrition justice will only be achieved when women are empowered and
when policies and programmes are gender responsive. Considering women as both
disproportionately affected by malnutrition and as critical actors in finding lasting
solutions to nutrition problems, emphasis will be given to building the capacity of
women, women organizations/associations and women development groups at
various levels. Human resource capacity building will be ensured by:

1. Developing a comprehensive capacity building strategy which clearly outlines short

term and long term goals for the training of professionals in the field of nutrition,
dietetics, postharvest technology, food science, home science and catering and
food engineering.

2. Supporting investment to strengthen universities to train nutritionists, dieticians,

postharvest technologists, food scientists, engineers, and technicians.

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 Food and Nutrition Policy

3. Promoting nutrition, dietetics, postharvest technology, food science, food

engineering and other relevant fields to be opened in the Universities.

4. Building a system and organizational capacity for food and nutrition policy
implementation.

5. Strengthen the capacity of the different sectoral ministries with particular focus on
the food and nutrition workforce and their career path.

6. Strengthening leadership and governance in food and nutrition programming.

7. Strengthen the capacity of women, organizations and women development groups

at all levels.

8. Defining the job descriptions of nutritionists, dieticians, postharvest technologists,

food scientists, food engineers, and food technologists within the context of the
public service of Ethiopia.

9. Develop curriculum to make Food and nutrition as part of the informal and formal
education from lower level to higher institutions.

8.4.2.Training and research institutions

1. Promoting partnerships with food and nutrition higher learning and research
institutions from developed countries.

2. Strengthening the ability to respond to regional and national research needs in

food and nutrition.

3. Supporting the development of research and academic centres of excellences in

food and nutrition.

4. Strengthening the capacity of the universities and research institutions to respond

to national and regional research needs in food and nutrition, food safety and
quality and post harvest management systems.

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 Food and Nutrition Policy

5. Supporting funding for research on food and nutritional problems of national and
regional significance.

6. Allocating resources for research, database establishment, human resource and

infrastructure development, education and technology transfer activities in line with
national development needs.

7. Strengthening food and nutrition research institutions so that they would be able to
continously review the FNP using up-to-date scientific evidences.

8.4.3.Regulatory agencies

The capacity of the regulatory agencies at national, regional and local levels and
ports will be strengthened by skilled and trained humanpower, equipments, laboratory
facilities and other required inputs.

8.5 . Communication

Food and nutrition communication should be crafted in a gender and context sensitive
manner with an intent of empowering communities and families, and building nutrition
model households with the view of galvanizing public movement for demand creation
and social transformation.

Advocacy and community mobilization are recognized as fundamental intervention

in food and nutrition policy and are integral component of nutrition intervention
approaches. Advocacy and community mobilization take two-way process, where
participants can freely exchange knowledge, values and practices on diet, food, and
related areas; ensure the active involvement of those who could and should take part
in decision making, and in motivating and providing users with easy access to nutrition
related information, resources, and services.

The Seqota Declaration public movement will be used as a starting point to expand the
advocacy and community mobilization work in the country. The use of women friendly
communication channels will be emphasized. The government communication affairs
office, other relevant non-governemental, private sectors and civic society organizations
are responsible for coordinating and supporting all food and nutrition communication

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 Food and Nutrition Policy

activities. The role of women’s association federations will be maximized in the whole
process. Food and nutrition communication strategies shall be developed to fully
implement the aforementioned activities.

8.6. Sustainable Financing

Achieving the policy objectives will require significant investment in funding and
infrastructure development. The majority of funding, will need to come from Ethiopian
Government funds, partners, private sector investment and community participation.
Specifically,

1. The Government will commit financial resources through its budgeting process to
meet the goals of the FNP. It will also ensure that adequate funding is allocated
during the budget planning process to the priority areas to be identified in the
strategies and programs developed to facilitate the effective implementation of
the FNP. Budgetary allocations will also give particular attention to monitoring and
evaluation mechanisms to ensure the efficient use of public resources and effective
implementation of the FNP.

2. Effective implementation of the FNP will depend on the active involvement of the
private sector in food industry, commercial farming, food imports and exports, food
processing and fortification. The FNP will encourage the private sector to enhance
investment in food and nutrition security and to promote safe, quality and nutritious
food..

3. The Government will solicit budget from national and international partners
committed to support the efforts to address problems related to food and nutrition
insecurity in Ethiopia.

4. The general public shall be mobilized to actively participate and make contributions
to support the implementation of the Food and Nutrition Policy of the country.

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 የምግብና የሥርዓተ-ምግብ
Food and ፖሊሲ
Nutrition Policy

9 GENDER RESPONSIVENESS

Gender and nutrition are inextricable parts of the vicious cycle of poverty. Gender
inequality can be a cause as well as an effect of malnutrition. Not surprisingly, higher
levels of gender inequality are associated with higher levels of undernutrition of both
acute and chronic nature. Both are highly correlated and interconnected withlivelihood
security at household and community levels in different phases of human life: during
gestation, infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood and old age. Given these unequal
conditions, women and girls have poorer nutrition outcomes throughout the lifecycle.
The negative impact also extends to the nutritional status of infants and children as
women who are malnourished are less likely to successfully breastfeed their children.
That is why woman empowerment is an essential part of human development and
improvements in nutrition across the entire life cycle. Improvements in the nutritional
status of women and girls will also contribute to reducing gender inequality while at the
same time breaking the intergenerational cycle of malnutrition. The FNP is made to be
gender responsive cognizant of the fact that addressing gender by itself plays a pivotal
role for effective implementation of nutrition interventions at household and community
level. Therefeore, involvement of gate keepers including women, girls, males and
influential community leaders should be given due consideration in deliverying nutrition
services.

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 10
Food and Nutrition Policy
ROLE OF THE
DIFFERENT ACTORS

10.1 Government of Ethiopia

The Government of Ethiopia is committed to play a leadership role to mobilize resources
and provide financial, technical, legal and infrastructure development support and
monitor and evaluate the implementation of the Food and Nutrition Policy effectively.

10.2 Non-State Actors

The Non – State Actors operating in the field of food and nutrition are required to
pool their human, financial and infrastructural resources to support the Government of
Ethiopia’s efforts for effective implementation of the Food and Nutrition Policy.

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11
Food and Nutrition Policy

MONITORING AND EVALUATION

The policy will have an effective monitoring and evaluation system. The system
will monitor programme implementation emanating from the policy strategies and
performance against a set of pre-determined indicators. In addition, the monitoring
and evaluation system will carefully monitor and track actual food security and nutrition
conditions at county level. The FNP monitoring and evaluation system will be linked
with other existing monitoring and information systems (MIS). Other nutrition specific
and nutrition sensitive sectors will be supported in their own efforts to monitor their food
and nutrition security contributions. The use of participatory monitoring and evaluation
approaches, currently used by several sectors will be applied as appropriate. These
activities will help identify particularly successful and effective initiatives, and will guide
the strategic revision of the policy over time. In order to strengthen the monitoring and
evaluation system:

1. The Food and Nutrition governing body shall effectively collaborate with
all stakeholders to effectively monitor the implementation of the stated
strategies.

2. An implementation strategy for Food and Nutrition Policy (FNP) needs

to be developed with a clear plan of action. The key activities outlined
in the action plan should be identified, and a corresponding format/
checklist needs to be developed for effective monitoring and evaluation
of the performance.

3. A system for tracking the progress made in nutrition, food security and
food safety and quality practices in the country at regular intervals shall
be developed. Detection and identification of non-compliance including
where and how they occurred needs to be properly documented.

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 Food and Nutrition Policy

4. A mechanism for the periodic monitoring of the realization of specific

indicators of the activities should be developed. The reports of such
periodic monitoring and evaluation needs to be properly documented
and reviewed regularly by the Food and Nutrition governing body.

5. There shall be a continuous Food and Nutrition Surveillance and

Surveys.

6. The Food and Nutrition Information Management System (FNIMS) shall

be strengthened.

7. Preparing a report annually that will be submitted for debate to the

House of Peoples’ Representatives on the progress made by Ethiopia
in fulfilling its obligations related to food and nutrition security.

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Food and Nutrition Policy

GLOSSARY OF TERMS

Nutrition security (optimal nutrition) – to achieve nutrition security, individuals need

more than just access to suffient, safe and nutritious food. They must also have
safe water and adequate sanitation, the ability to access health care services, and
knowledge of sound household and community practices in child care, food storage
and preparation and hygiene. (The food-care-health model).

• Food security – food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical,
social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet the
dietary needs and food preferences for active and healthy living.

• Physical access – access to a place where food is available.

• Economic access – refers to the affordability of food to the consumer (means to

acquire appropriate foods).

• Social access – refers to social factors that affect food security due to unequal social
conditions, or cultural, religious and social barriers and exclusionary practices.

• Food availability – is achieved when sufficient quaitites of food are consistently

available within a given geographic range.

• Food accessibility – when people have physical, social and economic access
to sufficient, safe, nutritious food to meet dietary needs, based on the household’s
purchasing power and ability to secure foods from the market or from other sources.

• Food utilization – refers to the individual’s ability to derive the greatest possible
nutritional benefit from the food dependent not only on the intake of sufficient
nutrients but also on individual’s overall health status.

• Food stability or sustainability – refers to the temporal dimensions of food

security – that is the capacity to maintain the conditions necessary to food security.

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• Dietary diversity – refers to having food from the differet food groups in the diet.

• Nutrition insecurity (Malnutrition) – can present as various forms of malnutrition

(undernutrition, overnutrition and hidden hunger/micronutrient deficieincy).

• Under nutrition – reflects an inadequate food intake – one that is deficient in

energy, protein and/or vitamins and minerals – or poor biological utilization of the
nutrients consumed mostly as a result of frequent infections.

• Overnutrition – reflects excess intake of (eating too much of) certain nutrients such
as energy (fat, carbohyderate and protein) and other micronutrients in comination
with low levels of physical activity, typically resulting in overweight and obesity.

• Micronutient deficiency/Hidden hunger – occurs when the diet is deficient in

essential micronutrients (vitamins and/ or minerals).

• Nutrition-specific interventions – interventions that address the immediate

determinants of nutrition - adequate food and nutrient intake, feeding, caregiving
and parenting practices, and low burden of infectious diseases.

• Nutrition-sensitive interventions – interventions that address the underlying and

basic determinants of malnutrition (nutrition insecurity) - food security; adequate
caregiving resources at the maternal, household and community levels; and
access to health services and a safe and hygienic environment—and incorporate
specific nutrition goals and actions. Nutrition-sensitive programmes can serve as
delivery platforms for nutrition-specific interventions, potentially increasing their
scale, coverage, and effectiveness. They can aslo include broad based causes
including poverty, illiteracy, gender inequality, good gevernace and infrastructure.

• Women empowerment – Women’s empowerment: women’s own power of self-

determination and decision-making, including aspects of their control of assets,
income, time, labour and knowledge.

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 Food and Nutrition Policy

FEDERAL DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF ETHIOPIA

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