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Diversity in local food production combats obesity in the Caribbean

 

In the Caribbean region, the combination of increased imports of processed foods and limited consumption of healthy foods, such as fresh fruit and vegetables, has contributed to a growing problem of obesity. Around 30% of the adult population is estimated to be obese, and rates of overweight or obesity in children (around 25%) are increasing rapidly.

In response, the Farm to Fork project—a multisector, integrated approach to food and nutrition security in the Caribbean—worked with smallholder farmers in St Kitts-Nevis and Trinidad and Tobago, and in Guyana and St Lucia to develop year-round production of fruit and vegetables to supply the national school feeding programs, as a step toward improving children’s nutrition and dietary diversity.

Read the complete story of change: Diversity in local food production to combat obesity (PDF, 560 KB).

This document is part of the Stories of Change series that shares some of the emerging outcomes from research supported in Latin America and the Caribbean by the Canadian International Food Security Research Fund, ​a program of Canada's International Development Research Centre, undertaken with financial support from the Government of Canada, provided through Global Affairs Canada.