The contribution of agriculture to household dietary diversity: evidence from smallholders in East Hararghe, Ethiopia

How close are we to self-provisioning? A look at the livelihood strategies of rural households in the Southern Andean region of Colombia

“…The importance of the level of education is consistent with studies, which have demonstrated the positive in uence of the education of heads of household on dietary outcomes or family nutrition (Mango et al 2014;Vaitla et al 2019). For example, Aweke et al (2020) found that household head literacy correlated positively with levels of self-provisioning.…”

“…The combination of policies that promote agro-industry as an alternative model for the growth of agriculture has degraded the diversi cation of practices aimed at self-provisioning, which explains why 75% of the products come from direct purchases in grocery stores. Levels of self-provisioning in rural families in the department of Huila are critical; only 8.6% of food is produced on the farm, which generates a high dependency on external food purchases (Aweke et al 2020). This behavior is consistent with the ndings of Álvarez et al (2007), who indicate that a signi cant proportion of peasants in Colombia do not cultivate their own land.…”

“…While the world is largely dependent on markets to meet its food needs, a signi cant number of rural households, mainly in developing countries, are highly dependent on their own food production (Aweke et al 2020). This practice is referred to as self-provisioning (Álvarez et al 2007;Sacco dos Anjos et al 2010).…”

“…According to FAO, "food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to su cient, safe and nutritious food that meets their daily energy needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life" (FAO 2011). However, the lack of self-provisioning does not necessarily generate food insecurity, since food can be accessed through the market, requiring income from a variety of sources, including off-farm work (Aweke et al 2020). Phenomena such as disasters and crises, caused by adverse weather conditions, natural hazards, economic crises, and con icts can alter access to food.…”

Can household dietary diversity inform about nutrient adequacy? Lessons from a food systems analysis in Ethiopia

“…A meta-analysis of studies from low-and middle-income countries shows that increasing production diversity is not a universally-applicable tool to improve diets and nutrition (Sibhatu and Qaim 2018). For example, based on survey data from rural households in East Hararghe zone in Ethiopia, Aweke et al (2020) find that households heavily depend on the market to supplement their own food production, and that size of landholding and farm income are strongly associated with food consumption. This implies that improving diets and nutrition status in the population partly relies on other components of the food systems.…”