Achieving Nutritional Autonomy for All

Malaunay, France, October 21, 2016 /3BL Media/ – Nutriset, the world leader in research and manufacturing of products for the prevention and treatment of malnutrition, has joined the Business Call to Action (BctA) with a commitment to reach 79 million malnourished children by 2026. To achieve this, it will empower local partners in its PlumpyField® network to procure 6,900 tons of raw materials for nutrition products each year.

Launched in 2008, the Business Call to Action (BCtA) aims to accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by challenging companies to develop inclusive business models that engage people with less than US$8 per day in purchasing power as consumers, producers, suppliers and distributors. It is supported by several international organizations and hosted by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Child malnutrition affects 195 million children and kills almost 3 million under 5 each year. The international community has been battling acute malnutrition for decades, but critical needs persist, even as developing economies are seeing rapid growth. Ready-to-use nutritional foods and supplements have enabled humanitarian actors to scale up home-based and medically supervised treatment instead of treating malnourished children in hospital.

For over thirty years, family-owned Nutriset has pioneered research and development of specialized products for the treatment and prevention of malnutrition, including the renowned ready-to-use therapeutic food Plumpy’Nut® which revolutionized the treatment of severe acute malnutrition of children. In line with SDG 2: End hunger, Nutriset is scaling up its impact by engaging local small businesses around the world to strengthen local economies while producing foods that match cultural tastes.

In 2005, Nutriset launched the inclusive PlumpyField® initiative to transfer its knowledge and technology to local producers of its nutrition products. Within ten years, PlumpyField® developed into a franchise-like network that includes partners in Haiti, Burkina Faso, Niger, Sudan, Madagascar, Ethiopia, India and the United States, with founding member Nutriset as the coordinating partner.

Now producing nutrition products within several countries affected by malnutrition, the PlumpyField® network offers localized, sustainable solutions to malnutrition that build food value chains and drive economic development – tackling the underlying causes of malnutrition and establishing a foundation for sustainable food security in these countries.

“In order to determine how best to create local impacts through its products, Nutriset is working across the entire food value chain, from individual growers to the children who consume its products,” said Adeline Lescanne-Gautier, General Manager of Nutriset. “This has allowed members of the PlumpyField® network to locally source 19,300 tons of raw materials and reach nearly 37 million children, and this number is set to rise dramatically in the future.”

PlumpyField® members receive regular training to ensure that the local manufacturing of Nutriset products follows high quality standards and optimum industrial processes. In addition to working with producers of peanuts, a major ingredient in Nutriset products, the network is also integrating other raw materials such as chickpeas, rice and lentils to offer alternative recipes for diverse food cultures. With increasing urbanization in developing countries, the company is focusing on solutions that maintain traditional diets while meeting the needs of city dwellers.

“Local food producers have enormous potential to address nutritional gaps”, said BCtA Programme Manager Paula Pelaez. “By engaging local entrepreneurs in improving nutrition within their own countries’, Nutriset and its network of local partners PlumpyField®are making a concrete step towards SDG 2. We look forward to working with them to maximize these impacts.”

The PlumpyField® network acts as a catalyst for a range of stakeholders, from farmers to manufacturers, policy makers and beneficiaries. By transferring proven technology and know-how to the local level, the network empowers independent producers and contributes to building autonomous food value chains that can meet their countries’ nutrition needs into the future. In order to scale up the model, PlumpyField® will expand these supply chains and partnerships to benefit from local knowledge and promote nutritional autonomy for all

For further information:

Business Call to Action: Tatiana Bessarabova at tatiana.bessarabova@undp.org

Nutriset: Erwan Chapuis, International Development Director at echapuis@nutriset.fr

Membership in the Business Call to Action does not constitute a partnership with its funding and programme partners, UNDP or any UN agency.

About the Business Call to Action (BCtA): Launched at the United Nations in 2008, the Business Call to Action (BCtA) aims to accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by challenging companies to develop inclusive business models that offer the potential for both commercial success and development impact. BCtA is a unique multilateral alliance between key donor governments including the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), UK Department for International Development, US Agency for International Development, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Government of Finland, and the United Nations Development Programme — which hosts the secretariat. For more information, please visit www.businesscalltoaction.org or on Twitter at @BCtAInitiative.

About Nutriset: Established in 1986, Malaunay, France-based Nutriset is the world leader in research and manufacturing of nutritional products used in humanitarian and development settings. Its expertise covers a range of fields, from nutritional research to agro-engineering, international logistics and social marketing. After developing Plumpy’Nut®, the first ready-to-use therapeutic food for treating severe acute malnutrition, Nutriset initiated PlumpyField®, a unique franchise-like network of local producers of Nutriset’s national products. By 2016, the network included partners in Haiti, Burkina Faso, Niger, Sudan, Madagascar, Ethiopia, India and the United States, with Nutriset as the coordinating partner. Products manufactured by PlumpyField® are distributed in nearly 100 countries. For more information on Nutriset and its PlumpyField® partners, visit: www.nutriset.fr.