Agriculture and Environment Strategy 2009-2014
partners to meet the needs of pregnant and lactating women, children under age 5, people living with HIV, and the elderly.
Current Focus In an effort to improve the basic health, hygiene, and diets in poor rural communities, CRS works to introduce integrated packages that promote better hygiene behaviors and infrastructure, improved dietary diversity and feeding practices, and better access to clean water. CRS is also encouraging initial analyses of barriers to healthy nutrition behaviors. This work helps people to understand more about the benefits of good nutrition, identifies ways to overcome barriers to good nutrition, and promotes positive behavior changes associated with good health practices. This work helps people to understand
Crop and diet diversity. In areas that have particularly degraded soils and
more about the benefits of good
limited crop diversity, CRS is promoting kitchen and community gardens to
nutrition, identifies ways to overcome
Where possible, households are also encouraged to invest in small-livestock
encourage households to grow a range of vegetables to supplement their diets. schemes, to provide eggs, milk, and occasionally meat. CRS is also involved
barriers to good nutrition, includes access to safe water, and promotes positive behavior changes associated with good health practices.
in the production and marketing of vitamin and mineral-rich plant products such as orange-fleshed sweet potato (a good source of vitamin A) and beans (rich in iron), through our associations with partners such as CIAT and West Africa Rice Development Association (WARDA) that are involved in the Harvest Plus Project. Making production easier. Interventions include the promotion of “babyfriendly farms” that facilitate exclusive breastfeeding while women work in the fields; food conservation methods that enable food to be stored for eating during hungry seasons; and the organization of Junior Farmer Field Schools that target orphans and vulnerable children. CRS also demonstrates laborsaving farming methods, such as trench and keyhole gardens that enable the elderly and chronically ill, including people living with HIV, to grow nutritious foods for their households. Integration with water and sanitation programming. While much of CRS’ agricultural work focuses on water for productive purposes, we develop programs that consider multiple uses of water. CRS’ water and sanitation programs are vital to ensuring that people have proper biological utilization of nutritious foods. These efforts aim to improve the health of vulnerable people and avert the harmful effects that poor diet can have on children’s development. By integrating this health-focused work into our agricultural programs, we also
24