When the WHO or public health authorities make dietary recommendations, it’s for the health of the people. But when dietary interventions force the market to shift, what happens to producers?
Author Mark Kurlansky, in Salt: A World History, describes iodized salt as the health intervention that hurt Chinese smallholder salt producers.
“The WHO and UNICEF urge salt producers to include iodine in their salt to prevent goiter, an enlargement of the thyroid gland. Since everyone uses salt, it is an ideal distribution vehicle. They claim that 1 billion people worldwide are at risk of iodine deficiency. In addition to thyroid enlargement, symptoms of iodine deficiency can include nervousness, increased and irregular heart rate, and muscle weakness. Iodine deficiency can also lead to mental disability in children.”
“Chapter 23: The Last Salt Days of Zigong”. In: Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky
Iodine deficiency is no joke.
In 1995, the Chinese government mandated that all salt must be fortified with iodine to address iodine deficiencies across China. For rural smallholder salt producers with the most basic production techniques, this was a death-sentence to their livelihoods. As history has been wrought with politicians trying to control and tax the profitable salt trade, these producers were suspicious that the Chinese government had ulterior motives.
Suspicions aside, this example highlights the need for systems-thinking approaches to resilient food and nutrition secure communities.
When public health initiatives cause a rapid and wide-spread shift in diets, what happens to producers? Who is responsible for assisting producers to shift towards alternative livelihoods?
It is better to build resilience before crisis occur.
Smallholders with multiple income streams from a variety of crops are likely to be more resilient to abrupt market changes than those relying on only one product.
International development organizations design interventions with the Golden Rule: “Do no harm”. This extends to knock-on effects that can trickle up the value-chain.
In the case of iodinized salt in China: the overall Chinese population may now have a reduced risk of iodine deficiency, but smallholder salt producers are now at greater risk of nutritional deficiencies, since they have less income to spend on food.
Likewise, should fish consumption increase, the consumption of other foods will decrease. What will happen to beef producers’ livelihoods if their customers start to choose fish over beef? Good for the planet, human health, and fish producers… But unfortunate for the beef producers.
Food systems are integrated, and must be treated as such.
Interdisciplinary teams are essential to consider knock-on effects of interventions to support public health as well as livelihoods across stakeholders and the value-chain.
Fish By The Pounds 