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  • Publication | 2025

Analysis of nutrition-sensitive public expenditure in Ethiopia's agrifood sector to enable healthy diets

Global Food and Nutrition Security

This study aims to provide an analysis of nutrition-sensitive public expenditure in the food and agriculture sector in Ethiopia, to inform and support the optimization of spending in the agrifood sector and increase the availability and affordability of healthy diets to improve nutrition outcomes. The methodology applied in this study draws upon the framework outlined in the "Nutrition-sensitive investments in agriculture and food systems: Budget analysis guidance note" and uses the Monitoring and Analysing Food and Agricultural Policies (MAFAP) programme dataset on public expenditure in the food and agriculture sector in Ethiopia. Referred to as the FAO-adapted Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) 3-step approach, the process entails: 1) defining the perimeter of the analysis; 2) for those expenditures within the food and agriculture perimeter, classify them into either nutrition-sensitive (such as urban horticulture), potentially nutrition-sensitive (cash transfer programmes), or non-nutrition; and 3) vetting and validating the results through a workshop and making a decision on those budget lines where uncertainties remain after the desk-based analysis. As a result, we add a nutrition marker to the dataset covering five fiscal years (2016/2017–2020/2021) in Ethiopia. The findings reveal that nutrition-sensitive agricultural initiatives are not sufficiently prioritised in government spending. Although efforts have been made to promote such investments, their relative budgetary allocation remains low compared to other expenditure areas. The study concludes that increased financial commitment is needed to support programmes that promote healthy diets and improve long-term nutrition outcomes.