Campaigners from the US sustainable food think tank 'Food Tank' have suggested people worldwide should eat more vegetables. The campaign organisation announced on Wednesday that it is partnering with AVRDC-The World Vegetable Centre, which promotes vegetable production and consumption.

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Food Tank pointed to U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation figures, which estimate insufficient consumption of healthy fruit and vegetables is responsible for 2.7 million avoidable deaths every year in the form of gastrointestinal cancers, heart disease and strokes in Western nations. Food campaigners including sustainable farming advocate and philosopher Vandana Shiva have blamed malnutrition in part on the encroachment of monoculture systems and intensive agriculture into areas (mostly in developing countries) where multicrop farming formerly supplied local populations with a variety of healthy vegetables.

Food Tank agreed that "vegetable production can be one of the most sustainable and affordable ways of alleviating micronutrient deficiencies among the poor." Micronutrient deficiencies are estimated to affect around two billion people worldwide, and can lead to problems with mental and physical development in children and building up resistance to disease. 

AVRDC Director General Dyno Keatinge says, "Vegetables are our best source of the vitamins, micronutrients, and fibre the human body requires for health. They add much-needed nutritional diversity to diets."

Furthermore, the Washington DC-based think tank pointed out that vegetable growing presents one important means of improving biodiversity in farming, which in turn makes systems more resilient to the effects of climate change and drought and can improve soils.

Speaking in March 2012, professor Tim Lang, credited as the inventor of the 'food mile' concept, said of the need for a cohesive food policy in the UK, "What matters to me is growing plants; it's plants we need to grow, these are the foundation of human health and a good food economy."

Earlier in the year, he proclaimed, "A good thing for UK food security would be to turn your pig farm into a horticulture farm."

Food Tank's Danielle Nierenberg expounded on the barriers to rolling out support for more horticulture production. She said, "Unfortunately, many research institutes and the funding and donor communities still tend to focus on calories, rather than nutrients. Starchy staple crops receive the bulk of research dollars, and there is very little investment in what makes those crops taste good or nutritious."

This, she claims, means that over past years the food output of the world's major agricultural regions has become focused on producing raw commodities, rather than nutrient-rich crops such as more nutritious protein-rich grains and vegetables.

Nierenberg concluded "Vegetables are not only a key ingredient in healthy diets, but they can also improve economic and environmental sustainability in rich and poor countries, helping nourish both people and the planet."