What is an RUTF?

RUTFs are calorie-rich, vitamin- and mineral-enriched foods designed to treat severe acute malnutrition in children. They generally come in a durable sachet, have a multi-year shelf life, and have no need for refrigeration or preparation. (Henry & Macbeth, UNICEF)

Evaluation

These products have been found to be highly effective as a medical tool for treating wasting in children. Millions of children have benefitted from RUTFs.

However, RUTFs are unlikely to solve nutritional deficiencies faced by entire refugee populations for numerous reasons. 

• First, providing RUTF for the entire population would be cost-prohibitive. In a report on the treatment of acute malnutrition in Northern Nigeria, RUTFs were singled out as the biggest driver of cost.

• Second, RUTFs were designed as a targeted intervention for severely malnourished individuals. Their calorie-dense nutritional content may not be suitable to the population at large.

• Third, RUTFs do not represent a sustainable solution. Dislike for the taste of RUTFs had been found to reduce adherence to feeding guidelines by HIV patients. A population could not be expected to be satisfied eating out of these sachets every day, except in the most dire of circumstances.

What does homestead gardening entail?

Many refugees grow household micro-gardens to produce food. This practice allows families to take ownership of their food intake. 

Humanitarian agencies have attempted to encourage this in some contexts. For instance, in Bangladesh, the FAO distributes seeds to households to grow,  and in 2018 the IOM started a Micro Gardening Scheme. Unfortunately, neither have been forthcoming with detailed evaluations of these programs.

Evaluation

Between 2015-2016, the FAO spent $150,000 in Lebanon on “improving the nutrition of Syrian refugees and host communities through garden walls”. Its objective was to promote diversified and high-quality diets amongst the landless households that they engaged.

However, the project only reached 170 beneficiaries - thus implying a cost of almost $900 per beneficiary (likely too expensive to scale). Worse, the FAO determined that only 36% of the micro-gardens had performed successfully, raising questions about whether it this can be a reliable source of nutrition.

Even in their optimistic projections, the FAO suggested that yields for leafy vegetables could reach 10kg per square metre, per year. This is less than 10% the yield of any of the vertical farming techniques that From Seed to Shelter is exploring.

In sum, homestead gardening is too expensive, too prone to failure, and too low-yielding to be a scalable solution that mitigates undernutrition in refugee communities. 

What is reforestation?

Reforestation is the process of replanting degraded land with trees. This has been used in some contexts as a way of restoring the local habitat, creating livelihood opportunities for refugees, reducing disaster risks, and providing sustenance to communities. Some large projects have taken place in Bangladesh, Burundi, and Cameroon.

Evaluation

While reforestation is important for the overall wellbeing of communities and the planet, it faces significant limitations as a strategy for ensuring food security.

• First, reforestation requires access to a large amount of land. This is the case in some camp contexts, but many will face constraints preventing this from being feasible.

• Second, many trees grown will take over 5 years to bear fruit. In the short term, these forests will not provide a reliable source of sustenance.

What do these projects entail?

Several urban farming projects have already been undertaken by different organisations. Most commonly, hydroponic farming is used as a means of producing food in some refugee camps. (UNRWA, UNSDG, ACTED) One innovation includes utilising old foam mattresses as the growth medium, helping to recycle humanitarian waste.

Evaluation

Limited studies assessing the efficacy of existing  urban farming solutions exist. 

However, the focus of many of the projects appears to be more on the mental health benefits that emerge from making urban farming accessible as opposed to the production of healthy foods.

In this vein, the focus of notable projects (such as 'Desert Garden' by Sheffield University) has been to make hydroponic farming possible at a household level, as opposed to an industrial operation optimising for scale of food produced.  

There appears to be a dearth of intensive projects of this nature that can realistically cater to the nutritional needs of communities.

What is permaculture?

Permaculture farming is a sustainable agricultural approach that mimics natural ecosystems. In practice, this means intercropping, minimizing waste, and designing systems that regenerate soil, conserve water, and support natural ecosystems. (Greenly, GroCycle) Some NGOs have attempted to introduce these techniques to refugee communities for their adoption within camps. (Devex, Permaculture for Refugees)

Evaluation

Permaculture gardens have been found to effectively supplement the food rations received by refugees in Uganda. They also contribute to community cohesion and environmental rehabilitation. 

However, some of the barriers that remain for their ability to scale across urgent contexts include:

• They require households to have access to plots of land that they can farm with.

  • This is the case in contexts like Uganda, where the government has a long-standing policy of providing each household with a plot of 900 square metres to farm on.

• It can take months to a year for individuals to learn permaculture techniques.

What does this entail?

In some locations, refugee communities have access to large plots of land and can farm as local farmers would ordinarily. Farmers are able harvest produce for their own sustenance and also sell produce on the local market. Some refugees rear livestock as well.

Evaluation

Refugee communities having the opportunity to farm as they would in their home country is a positive thing. However, there are limitations to this being a commonly adopted practice:

• First, it requires a large amount of land as conventional farms are not as efficient as urban farms.

• Second, large-scale farming requires inclusive policies that do not exist in many settings.

• Third, conventional farming requires a favourable climate. Many refugee camps exist in arid environments that would make farming difficult.