Farm Production Diversity and Dietary Diversity in Developing Countries

Enhancing the diversity of agricultural production systems is increasingly recognized as a potential

means to sustainably provide diversified food for rural communities in developing countries, hence

ensuring their nutritional security. However, empirical evidences connecting farm production

diversity and farm-households’ dietary diversity are scarce. Using comprehensive datasets of

market-oriented smallholder farm households from Indonesia and Kenya, and subsistence farmers

from Ethiopia and Malawi, the present study is carried out with an objective to investigate the effect

of farm production diversity on households’ dietary diversity, and the role of market access and

other potential influencing factors. Often, farmers from the market-oriented production systems are

found consuming more diversified diet than those from the subsistence systems. Even among the

subsistence farms, the crucial role of farm diversity to augment dietary diversity is mixed and

evident only among those who have limited access to food markets. While farm diversity enhances

dietary diversity of Indonesian and Malawian households either through direct consumption,

and/or by increasing and stabilizing farm income - which is also dependent on the type of crop on

the farm. In Kenya and Ethiopia however no meaningful connection could be found. The study

concludes that the link between farm production diversity and dietary diversity does not universally

exist and diversifying diets through farm diversification need not require that the production system

should be subsistence in nature.