The role of vegetables in Asia’s food and nutrition security
Creators: name: Wopereis, MCS
name: Van Zonneveld, M
name: Kuo, CG
name: Larrousse, D
name: Schreinemachers, P
Publisher: name: Singapore
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: VEGETABLES
subject: Vegetables
subject: Asia
subject: Crop diversity
subject: Terrestrial herbaceous plants
subject: Aquatic plants
subject: Nutritional value
subject: Micronutrients
subject: Antioxidants
subject: Phytochemicals
subject: Malnutrition
subject: Chronic diseases
subject: World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines
subject: EAT-Lancet Commission
subject: Global Burden of Disease study
subject: Dietary risks
subject: Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs)
subject: Cost of healthy diet
subject: Malnutrition in Asia
subject: Hidden hunger
subject: Overweight and obesity
subject: Public health issues
subject: Economic impact of diabetes
subject: Vegetable value chain
subject: Smallholder farmers
subject: Labor-intensive agriculture
subject: Income generation
subject: Rice-based agriculture
subject: Food security
subject: Vegetable production systems
subject: Food and nutrition security
subject: Environmental footprint
subject: Policy and decision-making
subject: Food diversity and sustainability
subject: Vegetables in diets
subject: Future prospects for vegetables

description: There are an estimated 150 species of vegetables cultivated in Asia [Ma et al., 2009]. Major vegetables (e.g. tomato, chili and pepper, onion, cabbage, and cucumber) and vegetables of sub-regional importance (e.g. pumpkin, bitter gourd, mungbean, vegetable soybean, okra, kangkong, amaranth) are terrestrial herbaceous plants, whereas other vegetables include aquatic plants (e.g. water bamboo, watercress, lotus); lower-vascular plants (ferns); ocean algae (e.g. kelps, seaweeds); and saprophytic fungi (mushrooms). Edible plant parts include sprouts, seedlings, leaves, petioles, heads, fronds, stems, pseudostems, non-starchy roots, rhizomes, corms, non-starchy tubers, bulbs, flowers, fruits, seeds, and fungal fruiting bodies that contain diverse types and different concentrations of beneficial compounds. This enormous diversity of vegetables in Asia is a great asset; it provides many opportunities to adapt to local growing conditions, adding color, flavor, nutrients and health qualities to people’s diets [Rubatzky and Yamaguchi, 1999]. Vegetables have tremendous nutritional value. They provide important sources of essential micronutrients (vitamins and minerals), plant-based proteins, edible fibers and antioxidants, all of which are vital to healthy development, disease prevention, and wellbeing. For instance, the antioxidant properties of phytochemicals inherent in various vegetables have protective functions against the oxidation of omega-3 oils, essential for good health [Cheng et al., 2022]. An adequate vegetable intake therefore helps to protect against malnutrition in all its forms, as well as against chronic and noncommunicable diseases. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends a daily minimum fruit and vegetable (F&amp;V) intake of 5 portions or 400 g per adult per day, including at least 3 portions of vegetables (~240 g) [WHO/FAO, 2003]. The EAT-Lancet Commission on Healthy Diets from Sustainable Food Systems and the Global Burden of Disease study [Afshin et al., 2019] even recommended daily mean intakes of fruit and vegetables of 300 g and 360 g, respectively. Globally, dietary risks are among the top-5 global health risk factors, with over 3.5 million deaths and 99 million Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs). Each DALY represents the loss of the equivalent of one year of full health attributable to poor quality diet [Afshin et al., 2019]. However, the reality is that 3 billion people on our planet are unable to afford a healthy diet. More than half of them (1.9 billion people) live in Asia - the majority in South Asia (1.3 billion people, 57% of the South Asia population), followed by Southeast Asia (0.32 billion, 46% of the Southeast Asia population) and East Asia (0.23 billion, 16% of the East Asia population). This is strongly related to the cost of food with dairy, F&amp;V and protein-rich foods accounting for more than 79% of the cost of diets across Asia [FAO et al., 2021]. Asia’s population is affected by multiple forms of malnutrition - hunger, hidden hunger (lack of micronutrients) and overweight and obesity. Half of the world’s undernourished people are living in the Asia and Pacific region (about 351M people): South Asia counts the largest number (257M), followed by Southeast Asia (65M) while the numbers in East Asia are very small [FAO et al., 2021]. These numbers have fallen rapidly since the 1990s and the burden of hidden hunger, measured in DALYs, has surpassed that of chronic hunger across Asia. South Asia has the highest burden of hidden hunger of all regions in the world [Lenaerts and Demont, 2021]. For example, 56M children under five years of age affected by stunting (one dimension of hidden hunger) are living in South Asia [FAO et al., 2021]. Because of the rapidly increasing consumption of highly processed food and consumption of salt, sugar and sugar-sweetened drinks, malnutrition has increased in all Asian countries over the last 20 years. Overweight and obesity now affect between 20% and 55% of adult populations in Asia. This has become an enormous public health issue. Diabetes alone is associated with US$ 321 billion of economic loss in East Asia and the Pacific in 2015 and is projected to reach US$ 800 billion by 2030. Comparative figures in South Asia are US$ 26 billion, projected to reach US$ 84 billion by 2030 [Bommer et al., 2018]. Besides their importance for healthy lives, vegetables are also important to raise the living standards and resilience of smallholder farmers and other actors along the vegetable value chain. Vegetables can be grown on small spaces and profits per hectare are 3-14 times higher in vegetable production than in rice production [Schreinemachers et al., 2018]. However, Asia’s agriculture remains strongly rice-based (and based on wheat in parts of South Asia). While rice production is key to national food security, most rice farmers have remained poor and food insecure as productivity growth has been accompanied by price declines benefiting consumers rather than producers [Timmer, 2009]. Given that vegetables can be grown on relatively small areas of land and are labor intensive, opportunities for jobs and income generation are important considerations in particular in low- and middle-income countries. The objective of this chapter is to: (i) describe the diverse and colourful world of vegetables in terms of varieties, production systems and diets in Asia and the drivers of change; (ii) analyze how to reduce the vegetable dietary gap across Asia, enabling healthier lives, with maximum benefits to people’s livelihoods and with minimal environmental footprint; (iii) highlight enablers and constraints related to the policy and decision-making environment; and (iv) reflect on future prospects related to the role of vegetables to boost food and nutrition security in Asia. While the chapter focuses on vegetables, many of the issues equally apply to fruit.