Tree Cover and Nutrition in IndonesiaAmy Ickowitz, CIFOR

Presentation for World Congress on AgroforestryNew Delhi, February 11, 2014

• Prevalence of stunting in children under 5: • 25.2% and 39.2% in urban and rural areas • 29% of Indonesian households have a caloric intake

below RDA

• Poor dietary quality• About 40% of Indonesians suffer from one or more

micronutrient deficiencies , the most common : • iron, vitamin A, zinc and iodine

• The average Indonesian consumes 102 kg of rice per year with very low quantities of vegetables, fruits and animal source foods (BPS 2008)

Food Security and Nutrition in Indonesia

• This study (Ickowitz, Rowland, Powell, and Sunderland) explores whether trees and forests contribute to better nutrition in Indonesia

• There is much rhetoric on forests vs. food security• The kind of food security often referenced in these kinds

of arguments is calories • But when we broaden the focus to include dietary quality,

the importance of micronutrient-rich foods becomes apparent

• If we focus on consumption of fruits, vegetables, and animal source foods, it is possible that forests actually make a contribution to food security

Forests, Trees, and Nutrition

Why might forests and tree-filled landscapes be important for dietary quality?

Collection of nutritious NTFPs Farming mosaics may promote

more diverse diets Agro-forestry and fruit production Ecosystem services of forests for

agriculture Availability of fuel wood May provide ‘back up’ foods for

lean season

Several papers discuss some of these plausible links (Colfer et al., 2005; Vinceti et al., 2008; Arnold et al., 2011), but little empirical evidence

Johnson et al. (2013) finds that net forest loss associated with less dietary diversity in Malawi

Recent paper by CIFOR food security team finds that there is a positive relationship between tree cover and child dietary diversity in a sample of 21 countries in Africa

Is there evidence?

• Children living near forests in Indonesia have better quality diets than children living in other rural areas because

• They have access to micronutrient-rich forest foods (wild fruits, vegetables, bushmeat)

• More likely to practice shifting cultivation and/or agroforestry which more likely to offer greater variety of foods

Hypothesis

• Also likely to be income poor and have less market access• So possible that others can afford to buy more,

nutritious foods in markets• Are micronutrient-rich foods readily available in

rural markets?• Can the relatively poor afford them?• Do they choose to buy them?

But…

We merge• Indonesian Demographic Health Survey (DHS) data from

2003 • Frequency child ate from various food groups in the last 7

dayswith• GLCF MODIS data (250 m resolution) on percentage tree

cover • Along with several other variables from various data sets

• We run several regressions to see if there is a statistically significant relationship between frequency of consumption of various foods and tree cover

Testing the hypothesis

• Number of times in the last 7 days child (between 1 and r5 years old) ate:

• Vitamin A rich fruits• Vitamin A rich vegetables• Green leafy vegetables• Animal Source Foods• Legumes • Dairy• Grains

• We restrict sample to rural areas and only one observation per mother

Dependent Variables

Independent Variables% Tree CoverChild characteristics

Age Age squared Currently breastfeeding sex

Household Characteristics Wealth index Mother’s education Father’s education Muslim

Community Characteristics % 5km band overlapping with palm oil

concession Distance to coast Distance to city Aridity Elevation

25 Regional Dummies

Sample: about 3000 children between ages 13 and 59 months in 25 provinces across Indonesia

Main Result

There is a statistically significant positive relationship between % tree cover and frequency of consumption of:• Vitamin-A rich fruits• Animal Source Foods

There is a statistically significant positive relationship between the % of a village’s area that overlapped with an oil palm concession and the frequency of consumption of Dairy Legumes Vitamin-A rich vegetables

Another interesting result

• Vitamin-A rich fruits• Wild forest or agro-forest?

• Animal Source Foods• Bushmeat or fish

• Legumes• Tofu and tempeh

• Dairy• Powdered and condensed milk

Conjectures and unanswered questions

We have found preliminary support for the hypothesis that forests are important for nutrition in Indonesia We need more detailed and fine-grained data

to help us understand how and why children in areas with more tree cover in Indonesia consume fruits and animal source foods more frequently

We also found preliminary evidence that oil palm concessions are associated with more frequency of consumption of other foods

Are there trade-offs? If so, what do these mean for dietary quality? What do these mean for discussions of forests

and foods security?

Conclusions

THINKING beyond the canopy

Thank you!