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IFAD RESEARCH SERIES 4 - The effects of smallholder agricultural involvement on household food consumption and dietary diversity: evidence from Malawi

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  • Benfica, R.
  • Kilic, T.

Abstract

Ceteris paribus, a 10 per cent increase in on-farm income share increases food consumption per capita by 2.9 per cent, calorie intake per capita per day by 1.7 per cent, and leads to small improvements in dietary diversity. There are significant differences in the relationship between on-farm income shares and caloric shares: a positive and significant relationship with the shares from energy-dense and low-protein cereals and grains, but not significant with shares from nuts/pulses and sugars. Negative relationships are found with shares from roots/tubers, vegetables/fruits, oils/fats and meat/fish/milk. While food consumption and dietary diversity increase with agricultural involvement, the quality of diets is an issue. As purchased calories are associated with richer/high-quality diets, particularly rich in protein, households with lower dependency on agriculture access those diets more easily. This highlights the importance of income diversification to dietary diversity. It also calls for the development and support of nutrition-sensitive agricultural value chains, nutrition education and crop diversification programmes to improve household food and nutrition security.

Suggested Citation

  • Benfica, R. & Kilic, T., 2016. "IFAD RESEARCH SERIES 4 - The effects of smallholder agricultural involvement on household food consumption and dietary diversity: evidence from Malawi," IFAD Research Series 280041, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
  • Handle: RePEc:ags:unadrs:280041
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.280041
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    Cited by:

    1. Badrun Nessa Ahmed & Hermann Waibel, 2019. "The role of homestead fish ponds for household nutrition security in Bangladesh," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 11(4), pages 835-854, August.
    2. Sayla Khandoker & Alka Singh & Shivendra Kumar Srivastava, 2022. "Leveraging farm production diversity for dietary diversity: evidence from national level panel data," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 10(1), pages 1-20, December.
    3. Mwale, Martin & Kamninga, Tony Mwenda & Cassim, Lucius, 2021. "The Effects of the Malawi Farm Input Subsidy Program on Household per-Capita Consumption Convergence," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 315045, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    4. 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.
    5. Sukhwinder Singh & Nikhil Srinivasapura Venkateshmurthy & Kerry Ann Brown & Avinav Prasad Maddury & Rajesh Khatkar & Prashant Jarhyan & Dorairaj Prabhakaran & Sailesh Mohan, 2023. "Agricultural and Socioeconomic Factors Associated with Farmer Household Dietary Diversity in India: A Comparative Study of Visakhapatnam and Sonipat," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-17, February.

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    Keywords

    Agricultural and Food Policy;

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