Undernutrition and low dietary diversity remain big problems in many developing countries. A large proportionof the people affected are smallholder farmers. Hence, it is often assumed that further diversifying small-farmproduction would be a good strategy to improve nutrition, but the evidence is mixed. We systematically reviewstudies that have analyzed associations between production diversity, dietary diversity, and nutrition insmallholder households and provide a meta-analysis of estimated effects. We identified 45 original studies re-porting results from 26 countries and using various indicators of diets and nutrition. While in the majority ofthese studies positive results are highlighted, less than 20% of the studies report consistently positive and sig-nificant associations between production diversity and dietary diversity and/or nutrition. Around 60% reportpositive associations only for certain subsamples or indicators, the rest found no significant associations at all.The average marginal effect of production diversity on dietary diversity is positive but small. The mean effect of0.062 implies that farms would have to produce 16 additional crop or livestock species to increase dietarydiversity by one food group. The mean effect is somewhat larger in Sub-Saharan Africa than in other regions, buteven in Africa farms would have to produce around 9 additional species to increase dietary diversity by one foodgroup. While results may look differently under very specific conditions, there is little evidence to support theassumption that increasing farm production diversity is a highly effective strategy to improve smallholder dietsand nutrition in most or all situations.
C’est en 1954 que les paysans de la Commune rurale de l’Imanan, située dans l’Ouest du Niger, ont commencé la culture de pomme de terre. Partie d’une simple culture d’appoint associée à d’autres spéculations, la production de pomme de terre...
In this review, we examine the debate surrounding the role for organic agriculture in future food production systems. Typically represented as a binary organic–conventional question, this debate perpetuates an either/or mentality. We question this framing and examine the pitfalls of...
Many of the world’s food-insecure and undernourished people are smallholder farmers in developing countries. This is especially true in Africa. There is an urgent need to make smallholder agriculture and food systems more nutrition-sensitive. African farm households are known to...
L’agriculture familiale est l’une des formes d’organisation de l’agriculture à travers le monde. Elle se décline en fait en une multiplicité de types concrets repérables au niveau des exploitations agricoles . L’absence de définition standardisée de l’agriculture familiale opérationnelle dans...
Objective
The association between farm production diversity and dietary diversity in rural smallholder households was recently analysed. Most existing studies build on household-level dietary diversity indicators calculated from 7d food consumption recalls. Herein, this association is revisited with individual-level 24...