Mission and vision of the PlumpyField network

A fast-expanding network

Since its launch in 2005, the PlumpyField® network has been constantly expanding in response to the success of ready-to-use therapeutic foods in the treatment or prevention of severe malnutrition.

  • Production: from an initial 125 MTs in 2005, the network's production has risen significantly, with 7,700 MTs in 2010 and 11 676 Mts in 2011.
  • Production capacities are increasing rapidly thanks to the growth of the network’s current members and expansion into new countries:

    • 7,500 Mts in 2009;
    • 20,000 Mts in 2010;
    • 29,560 Mts in 2011
    • 55,960 Mts in 2014, i.e. 54% of world capacity for manufacture of Plumpy®-type products.

The mission of the PlumpyField® network is to improve access to innovative nutritional solutions meeting international quality standards through local production, close to the populations requiring them.

In 2011, out of a total of 46,000 MTs of Plumpy’Nut® produced worldwide, 11 676 MTs were made in developing countries.

Since Plumpy’Nut® was first developed in 1996, the possibility of making the product locally has been central to the principle of nutritional autonomy upheld by Nutriset. Following initially small-scale trials (Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Niger, Malawi and Sudan), Nutriset formalised this technology-sharing approach in 2005 by creating the Plumpy’Nut® in the Field network, since renamed PlumpyField®.

Partners for nutritional autonomy

The introduction of the local manufacture of Plumpy® range products improves the response to nutritional emergencies, makes it easier to tackle chronic malnutrition outside emergency periods, boosts local economies – including raw material production sectors – and fosters the incorporation of ready-to-use nutritional supplements in national nutrition strategies.

The PlumpyField® network now includes 12 manufacturing partners in developing countries as well as a non-profit organization based in the United States, Edesia. Other Plumpy®-type products (Plumpy’Doz®, Plumpy'Sup®, Nutributter®, Grandibien®) are also available from members of the network. Moreover, supported by Nutriset, a number of partners in the PlumpyField network are involved in social marketing projects to set up innovative distribution systems for products aimed at the prevention of malnutrition.