IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/agisys/v180y2020ics0308521x19306687.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Exploring solution spaces for nutrition-sensitive agriculture in Kenya and Vietnam

Author

Listed:
  • Timler, Carl
  • Alvarez, Stéphanie
  • DeClerck, Fabrice
  • Remans, Roseline
  • Raneri, Jessica
  • Estrada Carmona, Natalia
  • Mashingaidze, Nester
  • Abe Chatterjee, Shantonu
  • Chiang, Tsai Wei
  • Termote, Celine
  • Yang, Ray-Yu
  • Descheemaeker, Katrien
  • Brouwer, Inge D.
  • Kennedy, Gina
  • Tittonell, Pablo A.
  • Groot, Jeroen C.J.

Abstract

Smallholder agriculture is an important source of livelihoods in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. In these regions the highest concentrations of nutritionally vulnerable populations are found. Agricultural development needs to be nutrition-sensitive, and contribute simultaneously to improving household nutrition, farm productivity and environmental performance. We explored the windows of opportunities for farm development and the potential of crop diversification options for meeting household dietary requirements, whilst concurrently improving household economic performance in contrasting smallholder farm systems in Kenya and Vietnam. Farm and household features and farmer perspectives and priorities were integrated into a farm-household model that allowed quantification of a diverse set of nutritional, labour and productive indicators. Using a multi-objective optimization algorithm, we generated ‘solution spaces’ comprising crop compositions and management configurations that would satisfy household dietary needs and allowed income gains. Results indicated site-specific synergies between income and nutritional system yield for vitamin A. Diversification with novel vegetables could cover vitamin A requirements of 10 to 31 extra people per hectare and lead to greater income (25 to 185% increase) for some households, but reduced leisure time. Although the Vietnamese sites exhibited greater nutrient system yields than those in Kenya, the household diets in Kenya had greater nutrient adequacy due to the fact that the Vietnamese farmers sold greater proportions of their on-farm produced foods. We conclude that nutrition-sensitive, multi-method approaches have potential to identify solutions to simultaneously improve household income, nutrition and resource management in vulnerable smallholder farming systems.

Suggested Citation

  • Timler, Carl & Alvarez, Stéphanie & DeClerck, Fabrice & Remans, Roseline & Raneri, Jessica & Estrada Carmona, Natalia & Mashingaidze, Nester & Abe Chatterjee, Shantonu & Chiang, Tsai Wei & Termote, Ce, 2020. "Exploring solution spaces for nutrition-sensitive agriculture in Kenya and Vietnam," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:agisys:v:180:y:2020:i:c:s0308521x19306687
    DOI: 10.1016/j.agsy.2019.102774
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308521X19306687
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.agsy.2019.102774?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. J.C.J. Groot & W.H.A. Rossing & M. Tichit & N. Turpin & A. Jellema & J. Baudry & P.H. Verburg & L. Doyen & G.W.J. van de Ven, 2009. "On the contribution of modelling to multifunctional agriculture: Learning from comparisons," Post-Print hal-00455433, HAL.
    2. Ahmed, Akhter U. & Hill, Ruth Vargas & Smith, Lisa C. & Wiesmann, Doris M. & Frankenberger, Tim & Gulati, Kajal & Quabili, Wahidand & Yohannes, Yisehac, 2007. "The world's most deprived: Characteristics and causes of extreme poverty and hunger [In Chinese]," 2020 vision discussion papers 43Ch, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    3. Alderman, Harold, et al, 1995. "Unitary versus Collective Models of the Household: Is It Time to Shift the Burden of Proof?," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 10(1), pages 1-19, February.
    4. Jeroen C. J. Groot & José Cortez-Arriola & Walter A. H. Rossing & Ricardo D. Améndola Massiotti & Pablo Tittonell, 2016. "Capturing Agroecosystem Vulnerability and Resilience," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(11), pages 1-12, November.
    5. Sibhatu, Kibrom T. & Qaim, Matin, 2018. "Review: Meta-analysis of the association between production diversity, diets, and nutrition in smallholder farm households," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 1-18.
    6. Arthi, Vellore & Beegle, Kathleen & De Weerdt, Joachim & Palacios-López, Amparo, 2018. "Not your average job: Measuring farm labor in Tanzania," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 160-172.
    7. Stephens, Emma C. & Jones, Andrew D. & Parsons, David, 2018. "Agricultural systems research and global food security in the 21st century: An overview and roadmap for future opportunities," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 1-6.
    8. Ahmed, Akhter U. & Hill, Ruth Vargas & Smith, Lisa C. & Wiesmann, Doris M. & Frankenberger, Tim & Gulati, Kajal & Quabili, Wahidand & Yohannes, Yisehac, 2007. "The world's most deprived: Characteristics and causes of extreme poverty and hunger," 2020 vision discussion papers 43, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    9. Jones, Andrew D. & Shrinivas, Aditya & Bezner-Kerr, Rachel, 2014. "Farm production diversity is associated with greater household dietary diversity in Malawi: Findings from nationally representative data," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 1-12.
    10. Sibhatu, Kibrom T. & Krishna, Vijesh V. & Qaim, Matin, 2015. "Farm Production Diversity and Dietary Diversity in Developing Countries," 2015 AAEA & WAEA Joint Annual Meeting, July 26-28, San Francisco, California 205286, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    11. Ditzler, Lenora & Komarek, Adam M. & Chiang, Tsai-Wei & Alvarez, Stéphanie & Chatterjee, Shantonu Abe & Timler, Carl & Raneri, Jessica E. & Carmona, Natalia Estrada & Kennedy, Gina & Groot, Jeroen C.J, 2019. "A model to examine farm household trade-offs and synergies with an application to smallholders in Vietnam," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 49-63.
    12. Groot, Jeroen C.J. & Oomen, Gerard J.M. & Rossing, Walter A.H., 2012. "Multi-objective optimization and design of farming systems," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 63-77.
    13. Rajendran, Srinivasulu & Afari-Sefa, Victor & Bekunda, Mateete & Dominick, Inviolate & Lukumay, Philipo Joseph, 2014. "Does crop diversity contribute to dietary diversity? Evidence from integration of vegetables into maize based farming systems in Tanzania," 88th Annual Conference, April 9-11, 2014, AgroParisTech, Paris, France 170542, Agricultural Economics Society.
    14. Udry, Christopher & Hoddinott, John & Alderman, Harold & Haddad, Lawrence, 1995. "Gender differentials in farm productivity: implications for household efficiency and agricultural policy," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 20(5), pages 407-423, October.
    15. Margaret Grosh & Paul Glewwe, 2000. "Designing Household Survey Questionnaires for Developing Countries," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 25338.
    16. Mutoko, Morgan C. & Hein, Lars & Bartholomeus, Harm, 2014. "Integrated analysis of land use changes and their impacts on agrarian livelihoods in the western highlands of Kenya," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 1-12.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Wilson Charles Wilson & Maja Slingerland & Frederick P. Baijukya & Hannah Zanten & Simon Oosting & Ken E. Giller, 2021. "Integrating the soybean-maize-chicken value chains to attain nutritious diets in Tanzania," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 13(6), pages 1595-1612, December.
    2. Deolu-Ajayi, Ayodeji O. & Aranguiz, Adolfo Alvarez & Alho, Carlos Francisco Brazão Vieira & Siegmund-Schultze, Marianna & Ndambi, Asaah & Selassie, Yihenew G. & Abebe, Yenesew & Groot, Jeroen C.J. & H, 2023. "Integrated analysis of opportunities and trade-offs for mixed crop-livestock farm types in Amhara, Ethiopia," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 208(C).
    3. Paul, B.K. & Epper, C.A. & Tschopp, D.J. & Long, C.T.M. & Tungani, V. & Burra, D. & Hok, L. & Phengsavanh, P. & Douxchamps, S., 2022. "Crop-livestock integration provides opportunities to mitigate environmental trade-offs in transitioning smallholder agricultural systems of the Greater Mekong Subregion," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).
    4. Adelhart Toorop, Roos & Ceccarelli, Viviana & Bijarniya, Deepak & Jat, Mangi Lal & Jat, Raj Kumar & Lopez-Ridaura, Santiago & Groot, Jeroen C.J., 2020. "Using a positive deviance approach to inform farming systems redesign: A case study from Bihar, India," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    5. Eric O. Verger & Cédric Gaillard & Andrew D. Jones & Roseline Remans & Gina Kennedy, 2021. "Construction and Interpretation of Production and Market Metrics Used to Understand Relationships with Dietary Diversity of Rural Smallholder Farming Households," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-21, August.
    6. Schreefel, L. & de Boer, I.J.M. & Timler, C.J. & Groot, J.C.J. & Zwetsloot, M.J. & Creamer, R.E. & Schrijver, A. Pas & van Zanten, H.H.E. & Schulte, R.P.O., 2022. "How to make regenerative practices work on the farm: A modelling framework," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 198(C).
    7. Junuthula, Shirisha & Kumari, Veenita & Srinivasan, Chittur, 2023. "Identification of Nutrition-Sensitive Agriculture (NSA) Knowledge Gaps in the Integration of Nutrition into Training by Agricultural Extension Advisory Services (EAS) Providers in India," 97th Annual Conference, March 27-29, 2023, Warwick University, Coventry, UK 334565, Agricultural Economics Society - AES.
    8. Ashisa K. Prusty & Ravisankar Natesan & Azad S. Panwar & Mangi L. Jat & Jagdish P. Tetarwal & Santiago López-Ridaura & Roos Adelhart Toorop & Jelle van den Akker & Jashanjot Kaur & Prakash C. Ghasal &, 2022. "Redesigning of Farming Systems Using a Multi-Criterion Assessment Tool for Sustainable Intensification and Nutritional Security in Northwestern India," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-16, March.
    9. Lairez, Juliette & Jourdain, Damien & Lopez-Ridaura, Santiago & Syfongxay, Chanthaly & Affholder, François, 2023. "Multicriteria assessment of alternative cropping systems at farm level. A case with maize on family farms of South East Asia," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 212(C).
    10. Schreefel, L. & van Zanten, H.H.E. & Groot, J.C.J. & Timler, C.J. & Zwetsloot, M.J. & Schrijver, A. Pas & Creamer, R.E. & Schulte, R.P.O. & de Boer, I.J.M., 2022. "Tailor-made solutions for regenerative agriculture in the Netherlands," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 203(C).
    11. Ifeoluwapo Oluwaseun Amao & Adebayo Isaiah Ogunniyi & George Mavrotas & Abiodun Olusola Omotayo, 2023. "Factors Affecting Food Security among Households in Nigeria: The Role of Crop Diversity," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-21, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ditzler, Lenora & Komarek, Adam M. & Chiang, Tsai-Wei & Alvarez, Stéphanie & Chatterjee, Shantonu Abe & Timler, Carl & Raneri, Jessica E. & Carmona, Natalia Estrada & Kennedy, Gina & Groot, Jeroen C.J, 2019. "A model to examine farm household trade-offs and synergies with an application to smallholders in Vietnam," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 49-63.
    2. Tesfaye, Wondimagegn & Tirivayi, Nyasha, 2020. "Crop diversity, household welfare and consumption smoothing under risk: Evidence from rural Uganda," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    3. Del Prete, Davide & Ghins, Léopold & Magrini, Emiliano & Pauw, Karl, 2019. "Land consolidation, specialization and household diets: Evidence from Rwanda," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 139-149.
    4. Chrisendo, Daniel & Krishna, Vijesh V. & Siregar, Hermanto & Qaim, Matin, 2020. "Land-use change, nutrition, and gender roles in Indonesian farm households," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    5. Eric O. Verger & Cédric Gaillard & Andrew D. Jones & Roseline Remans & Gina Kennedy, 2021. "Construction and Interpretation of Production and Market Metrics Used to Understand Relationships with Dietary Diversity of Rural Smallholder Farming Households," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-21, August.
    6. Orkhan Sariyev & Tim K. Loos & Ling Yee Khor, 2021. "Intra-household decision-making, production diversity, and dietary quality: a panel data analysis of Ethiopian rural households," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 13(1), pages 181-197, February.
    7. Natalia Estrada-Carmona & Jessica E. Raneri & Stephanie Alvarez & Carl Timler & Shantonu Abe Chatterjee & Lenora Ditzler & Gina Kennedy & Roseline Remans & Inge Brouwer & Karin Borgonjen-van Berg & El, 2020. "A model-based exploration of farm-household livelihood and nutrition indicators to guide nutrition-sensitive agriculture interventions," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 12(1), pages 59-81, February.
    8. Muthini, Davis & Nzuma, Jonathan & Qaim, Matin, 2020. "Subsistence production, markets, and dietary diversity in the Kenyan small farm sector," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    9. Gazali Issahaku & Lukas Kornher & Abu Hayat Md. Saiful Islam & Awal Abdul-Rahaman, 2023. "Heterogeneous impacts of home-gardening on household food and nutrition security in Rwanda," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 15(3), pages 731-750, June.
    10. Sukhwinder Singh & Andrew D. Jones & Ruth S. DeFries & Meha Jain, 2020. "The association between crop and income diversity and farmer intra-household dietary diversity in India," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 12(2), pages 369-390, April.
    11. Dang, Hai-Anh H & Carletto, Calogero, 2022. "Recall Bias Revisited: Measure Farm Labor Using Mixed-Mode Surveys and Multiple Imputation," IZA Discussion Papers 14997, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Lovo, Stefania & Veronesi, Marcella, 2019. "Crop Diversification and Child Health: Empirical Evidence From Tanzania," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 168-179.
    13. Ayenew, Habtamu Yesigat & Biadgilign, Sibhatu & Schickramm, Lena & Sauer, Johannes & Abate Kassa, Getachew, 2017. "Production Diversification, Dietary Diversity And Food Poverty: Empirical Evidence From Ethiopia And Tanzania," 57th Annual Conference, Weihenstephan, Germany, September 13-15, 2017 262007, German Association of Agricultural Economists (GEWISOLA).
    14. Janvier Mwisha-Kasiwa & Cédrick Kalemasi-Mosengo & Oasis Kodila-Tedika, 2023. "Understanding the link between gendered access to agricultural land and household nutrition outcomes in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 23/075, African Governance and Development Institute..
    15. Adelhart Toorop, Roos & Ceccarelli, Viviana & Bijarniya, Deepak & Jat, Mangi Lal & Jat, Raj Kumar & Lopez-Ridaura, Santiago & Groot, Jeroen C.J., 2020. "Using a positive deviance approach to inform farming systems redesign: A case study from Bihar, India," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    16. Priyanka Parvathi, 2018. "Does mixed crop‐livestock farming lead to less diversified diets among smallholders? Evidence from Laos," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 49(4), pages 497-509, July.
    17. Martin C. Parlasca & Oliver Mußhoff & Matin Qaim, 2020. "Can mobile phones improve nutrition among pastoral communities? Panel data evidence from Northern Kenya," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 51(3), pages 475-488, May.
    18. Yonas Alem, 2015. "Poverty Persistence and Intra-Household Heterogeneity in Occupations: Evidence from Urban Ethiopia," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(1), pages 20-43, March.
    19. Scott, Lucy, 2014. "Transfers for extreme poverty reduction: Implications for patron-client relationships in the context of Bangladesh's agricultural reformation," WIDER Working Paper Series 029, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    20. Keenan, Michael & Karanja, Stanley & Pamuk, Haki & Ruben, Ruerd, 2021. "Smallholder Farming Households' Make-or-Buy Decisions: Linking Market Access, Production Risks, and Production Diversity to Dietary Diversity," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 315349, International Association of Agricultural Economists.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:agisys:v:180:y:2020:i:c:s0308521x19306687. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/agsy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.