Pathways to better nutrition in South Asia: Evidence on the effects of food and agricultural interventions

Dizon, Felipe; Josephson, Anna; Raju, Dhushyanth

doi:10.1016/j.gfs.2020.100467

Cited by 18 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 64 publications

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“…Low dietary diversity defined as <4 dietary diversity score and high dietary diversity defined as ≥4 dietary diversity score out of a total of 8. Singh et al, 2020;Dizon et al, 2021). Cross-sectional, nationally representative data from 2004/2005 indicated that crop diversity was positively associated with dietary diversity (beta coefficient from OLS regression was 0.32, p < 0.01), especially intake of pulses, and the effect was slightly larger among marginal/small farmers as compared to large farmers (Bhagowalia et al, 2012).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Interestingly, we did not find a significant association between livestock ownership and dietary diversity in this sample. Livestock ownership may impact dietary diversity through acting as a source of animal-source foods but also through the generation of income (Dizon et al, 2021). Similar to kitchen gardens, livestock ownership is typically viewed as a complement to crop diversity in enhancing dietary diversity.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There are multiple pathways from agriculture to nutrition (Dizon et al, 2021); among them, the link between crop diversity and dietary diversity has been a major focus of research in the past 10 years. However, a recent meta-analysis of 45 studies from 26 countries found little evidence that diversifying production has a meaningful impact on dietary diversity-and if it does, the impact is very small (Sibhatu and Qaim, 2018).…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Therefore, continuing to elucidate the relationship between crop diversity and dietary diversity is important in this context. There are two pathways by which crop diversification can influence dietary diversity: (1) through own-consumption and (2) through household income and the purchasing of food from markets (Dizon et al, 2021). The first of these pathways is important when access to markets is limited, such was the case during the COVID-19 lockdown.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Impact of Crop Diversity on Dietary Diversity Among Farmers in India During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Connors

Jaacks

Prabhakaran

et al. 2021

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.

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Crop diversity is thought to have small, positive impacts on dietary diversity among farming households, particularly when market access is restricted. Policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic severely restricted market access. To date, no study has explored the relationship between crop and dietary diversity in this context. To address this gap, we used longitudinal data collected from 833 farmers across 12 states in India at three time points between May and August 2020. Dietary diversity was measured using a modified version of the FAO Minimum Dietary Diversity score for women, which has been used in representative samples of the Indian population in both men and women. Eight food groups were included: (1) starchy staples (rice, wheat, and potatoes), (2) pulses, (3) nuts, (4) vegetables, (5) fruits, (6) dairy, (7) eggs, and (8) fleshy foods (meat, poultry, and fish). Multivariate polynomial logistic regression was used to estimate the association between crop and dietary diversity. Models were adjusted for educational attainment, caste, farm size, having a kitchen garden, and livestock ownership. Participants were, on average, 42.2 years old and 94.2% were male. Dietary diversity decreased over the study period, especially between baseline and follow-up 1, when lockdown measures were the most restrictive (34.2% of participants experienced a decline compared to 16.1% from follow-up 1 to follow-up 2). Compared to farmers who cultivated 1 crop (monocroppers), farmers who cultivated 2 crops or 3 or more crops were significantly less likely to experience a decline in dietary diversity from baseline to follow-up 1: adjusted relative risk (RR) (95% confidence interval [CI]), 0.52 (0.35, 0.78) and 0.48 (0.31, 0.75), respectively. There was no significant association between crop diversity and change in dietary diversity from follow-up 1 to follow-up 2, when phased re-opening had begun. These findings suggest that farmers with greater crop diversity in India were more resilient to market disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, while the links between crop and dietary diversity may be small under normal circumstances, diversifying production systems may play an increasingly important role, as there is greater uncertainty due to global events such as pandemics and climate change.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Impact of Crop Diversity on Dietary Diversity Among Farmers in India During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Connors

Jaacks

Prabhakaran

et al. 2021

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Any research relates to food security issue(s), especially the importance of global food security to the world population is highly required. Currently, most of the problems relating to malnutrition and undernourishment in food security are noticeable in most countries in Africa, South-East Asia, and West Asia ( Biswas et al, 2021 ; Dizon et al, 2021 ; Nasrudin et al, 2020 ; NOE et al, 2020 ; Prosekov and Ivanova, 2018 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%