CIFOR scientist Amy Ickowitz discusses the relationship between tree cover and consumption of micronutrient-rich foods.Micronutrient deficiency remains a serious problem in Indonesia with approximately 100 million Indonesians suffering from one or more micronutrient deficiencies. Indonesia is also experiencing rapid deforestation at a time when there is growing recognition of the contribution of forests and trees to food security and nutrition. In rural areas with poor market access, forests may provide an essential source of nutritious food. To investigate if there is an association between forests and the consumption of nutritious foods in Indonesia, we looked at the relationship between tree cover and the frequency of consumption of micronutrient-rich foods by children between the ages of one and five years. We used frequency of consumption data from the 2003 Indonesia Demographic Health Survey (DHS) combined with GIS tree cover data for 2003 from the Global Land Cover Facility (GLCF). Our results show that tree cover is positively associated with the frequency of vitamin A rich fruit and animal source food consumption. Our results suggest that Indonesian children living in areas with high tree cover have more micronutrient-rich diets.Moderator: Terry Sunderland, Principal Scientist, CIFOR.Speaker: Amy Ickowitz, Scientist, CIFOR.Date: 24 June 2014Location: CIFOR Headquarters, Bogor, Indonesia. For more information got to http://www.cifor.org
