10 minute abstract-driven presentations.  

Speakers and Presentations:

Chair: Y.N. Ghimire, Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC)

• Ramya Ambikapathi, Harvard University, USA
  Agriculture to Nutrition-ATONU: Market availability modifies home production diversity’s effects on dietary diversity among women in Ethiopia

• Devendra Gauchan, Bioversity International, Nepal
  Exploring linkages of production diversity with household nutrition and management of crop biodiversity in the rural remote mountains of Nepal
  Recording / Slides

• Bill Pritchard, University of Sydney, Australia 
  Is household production of food for ownconsumption purposes a predictor of food security and dietary diversity? Household survey results from rural Myanmar
  Recording / Slides

• Abu Hayat Md. Saiful Islam, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Bangladesh
  Farm Diversification and Food and Nutrition Security in Bangladesh: Empirical Evidence from a Nationally Representative Household Panel Data
  Recording / Slides

Abstracts:

Agriculture to Nutrition-ATONU: Market availability modifies home production diversity’s effects on dietary diversity among women in Ethiopia

Ramya Ambikapathi, Harvard University, USA

Introduction: In Ethiopia, women’s dietary diversity (DD) is low, primarily due to poor food availability and access – both at home and at the market level. Recent studies have found that farm diversity is positively associated with women’s DD, but these effects are small, and plateau at a certain threshold, suggesting that a multitude of other factors affect dietary diversity. These factors include market access, technology, livestock ownership, and women’s role in decision making.

Methods: The aim of this study is to estimate the impact of market, on farm crop and livestock diversity on: (1) dietary diversity, and (2) consumption of individual food groups (flesh meat, eggs, vitamin A rich foods) among 2103 women 18-49 years of age enrolled in the Agriculture to Nutrition (ATONU) study in Ethiopia. Women’s dietary diversity (DD) was calculated using the 24-hour recall where consumed food was categorized into ten food groups, where minimum dietary diversity (MDD-W) was defined as consumption of 5+ food groups. Market diversity, collected at the village level was categorized into ten food groups similar to the women's DD. Low market diversity was defined as less than four food groups. Household livestock diversity was defined in three ways: (1) tropical livestock units, (2) unweighted sum of livestock owned, and (3) ownership of cattle, poultry and goat/sheep. Household crop diversity was calculated by seasons, main/rainy (Meher) and minoy/dry (Belg), and were grouped into seven food groups (without animal source foods). Multivariate models adjusted for size of land owned, agro-ecological zone, region, asset quintiles, household size, head of household’s age, woman’s age, head of household status, type of: drinking water, toilet, wall, roof, electricity access, and running water.

Findings and Interpretations: Overall, only five percent of women met the minimum dietary diversity, and the most commonly consumed food groups were staples and legumes. Mean crop diversity during the main season was 1.41, and during the minor season lower with 0.41 crop food groups. Median livestock ownership was four types of animals, where chickens and cows were most commonly owned animals. Median one-year market diversity of food groups was 5 (IQR: 3,7). Adjusted models indicate that low market diversity was associated with 0.15 increase in DD (p<0.000) in the minor season, while in the major season, there was 0.21 increase of DD (p<.05), particularly at lower crop diversity. Cattle and poultry ownership increased DD significantly by 0.21 and 0.39, respectively, while goat/sheep ownership did not have an effect. In parallel models, other definitions of livestock diversity were also positively and significantly associated with woman’s DD. Older women had lower DD (0.008, p-value of 0.076), along with women who lived in households made with traditional walls (0.18, p-value of 0.097), and plastic sheeting (0.58, p-value of 0.002). Size of land owned (0.012, p-value of 0.025) and belonging to a higher asset quintile group were positively associated with DD (0.28, p-value of 0.000).

Conclusions: This study is one of first to estimate the direction and the magnitude of the impact of market diversity on the relationship between home production diversity and dietary diversity. These results show that low market diversity increases DD, especially when the home crop diversity is also low. This may be due to increased home consumption as a result of lower market access or the lack of substantial income from selling crops at a market with lower diversity or income from selling crops is not invested in food due to lack of choices at the market. Further sensitivity analysis of diversity definitions at the Page | 47 market and home production will characterize the robustness of these findings. We also aim to examine factors associated with consumption of individual food groups, and in particular, assess the specificity of food crops grown with foods consumed. The results of this analysis will add an important paradigm shift to the nutrition-sensitive agriculture frameworks that target vulnerable rural populations.

Exploring linkages of production diversity with household nutrition and management of crop biodiversity in the rural remote mountains of Nepal

Devendra Gauchan, Bioversity International, Nepal

Introduction: The smallholder farmers in high mountain regions of Nepal depend on traditional food crops (buckwheat, beans and amaranths) for their local food and nutrition security where production, access and availability of major cereals (rice, wheat, maize) and conventional vegetables (leafy green and others) are limited due to remoteness, marginal risk-prone environments and poverty. However, presently the information is scant about production of traditional crops and factors driving their consumption for food and green vegetables including biodiversity of these crops. This study aims to assess relationship between production diversity with consumption and maintenance of crop biodiversity in mountain farms in Nepal.

Methods: This study is based on the statistically representative survey of 328 farm households from four representative districts of high altitude regions (1500-3000 msl) of remote mountains. The survey was carried out using proportionate random sampling of 72-90 households from one selected representative VDC of Humla, Jumla, Lamjung and Dolakha districts representing western, central and eastern mountains. The survey was carried out using specifically designed questionnaire on household socioeconomic features, land use, tenancy, market factors, crop varieties grown, seed sources, food sufficiency, production diversity and household consumption of vegetables. The information was supplemented from participatory rural appraisals, field monitoring visits, stakeholder consultation and literature review on mountain production systems. Nutrition security is assessed from own production and household sufficiency and consumption of green leafy and other vegetables and pulse production. Tobit regression model is used to assess factors driving household area allocation for production, while Probit model is used to analyse farm household’s decision to consume green leafy vegetables of these traditional crops (amaranths, buckwheat, beans) and Poison (Count) regression model is used to analyse household’s decision to maintain cultivar diversity of these crops. The findings of the regression results and descriptive statistics are tabulated and presented in tables and figures

Findings and Interpretations: Farmers in high mountains of Humla, Jumla, Lamjung and Dolakha are maintaining fairly good intraspecific diversity of amaranth, beans and buckwheat and consuming them at the household level both as staple foods and green vegetables. The average food staple, pulse and vegetable availability and sufficiency period from their own production from these crops is less than 4 months in Humla and Jumla and 5-6 months in Lamjung and Dolakha. A positive relationship was found between production of traditional crops for both green vegetables and food grains with household self-consumption and farm household maintenance of crop diversity. Factors influencing traditional crop production, consumption and cultivar diversity of these traditional crops are related with farmers’ age, farm size, agroecology, women members in the households, vegetable and pulse sufficiency level and market distance. However the extent of influence of these factors to production, consumption and crop diversity management at the household varied with crop types and agroecology. Households in high mountains of Jumla and Humla (Karnali region) are more likely to allocate larger proportion of farm area, cultivate and consume amaranth, buckwheat and beans for both food and vegetables as compared to those farm households in relatively lower mountains of Lamjung and Dolakha.

Conclusions: A positive relationship between production diversity with household self-consumption and farm household maintenance of traditional crop diversity was obtained. Key factors driving production, consumption and maintenance of crop biodiversity are related with farm size, family size, agroecology and market distance. Households located farther away from market in higher mountains of Karnali region (Jumla and Humla) and those with larger cultivated farms and family size and women members in the households cultivate, consume and maintain more diversity of crop cultivars. Therefore, increased production diversification of traditional crops with improved technologies and practices to remote agricultural dependent households having more family labor availability with working women in agriculture can enhance household consumption of green leafy portion of Page | 50 the crops and maintain traditional crop diversity. This will require an increase need of developing and promoting diverse set and choices of varieties of traditional crops (amaranth, buckwheat and beans) with different maturity and planting seasons to increase diversity-rich production of these crops for green vegetables and promote yearround consumption of these crops for enhanced nutrition of rural remote households. Such strategy will also support in maintaining greater local crop biodiversity and improve resilience of smallholder farming systems to unpredictable environmental changes in Nepal Himalayas.

Is household production of food for own consumption purposes a predictor of food security and dietary diversity? Household survey results from rural Myanmar

Bill Pritchard, University of Sydney, Australia 

Introduction: This paper uses newly collected household survey data from Myanmar to investigate whether household food own-production diversity and household livelihood diversity are associated with superior dietary diversity and food security. The investigation is informed by research that suggests positive associations between dietary diversity and own-production diversity (Arimond and Ruel, 2004; Malapit et al., 2015; Jones, 2017), and tentative indications that this is also true for livelihood diversity (Ng’endo et al., 2015), hence raising questions about the relative influences of direct production and market-based pathways for dietary diversity (Fanzo, 2017), and how this connects to householders’ perceptions of food security.

Methods: The authors undertook a household survey of 3,320 households in rural Myanmar in February-April 2016. Six townships (rural regions) were identified as representative of three distinct agro-economic zones (dry zone, hilly region and delta) and 20 villages per township were selected in each using a proportion-to-population sampling design. Thirty households per village were randomly sampled using the female responsible for food preparation as the respondent. An expansive definition of food own-production incorporated plant cultivation and livestock husbandry in fields and home gardens, and wild foods acquired in forests, vacant lands, or captured/caught. Dietary diversity was used as a proxy for diet quality (Carletto et al., 2015) and measured using the categories of the Minimum Dietary Diversity for Women (MDD-W) methodology (Arimond et al., 2010). Food security measurements assessed perceived anxiety over food access, using an adapted, 11 question version of the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) method (Coates et al., 2007; Na et al., 2015). Data was analysed using multivariate regression analysis. The key dependent variable was the number of food groups (defined by the MDD-W method) produced for own-consumption. The independent variables included measures of food security, household dietary diversity and controls for households’ socio-economic and demographic characteristics.

Findings and Interpretations: Data underline the complex pathways linking dietary diversity, food production, livelihoods and food security. Preliminary findings indicate: (1) Production of food for own-consumption was found to be statistically significant for dietary diversity. Average MDD-W scores in all townships were higher for households that produced/sourced food for own-consumption, compared to those that did not. (2) For households producing/sourcing foods for own consumption, positive associations exist between the diversity of production/sourcing, and the diversity of consumption, indicating the character of food own-production, not just its presence/absence, matters for dietary diversity. (3) Households with farm-based livelihood arrangements were not found to have more diverse diets or greater food security than others, which emphasizes the power of the non-farm economy as an agent of change in rural Myanmar. (4) In five of the six townships, whether or not a household produces/sources food for own-consumption seems to exert no influence on food security. This suggests that livelihood factors, not the capacity to produce/source one’s own food, shape respondents’ anxiety over access to food. Further analysis will assess the sensitivity of all these preliminary findings to other socio-economic variables captured by the survey.

Conclusions: Survey data paint a picture where food production for own-consumption exerts some positive influence for dietary diversity, but not for food security. These insights are contextualized by international research asserting a decoupling of the food and livelihood circumstances of rural households from the requirement to produce/source foods from land to which they have access via ownership, rental or communal rights. For Myanmar, the findings suggest tentative comparability with processes of agriculture-nutrition disconnection, documented in India. They imply a need for policy-making to be appreciative of the complex pathways linking agriculture, nutrition and livelihoods, in this crucial period of Myanmar’s history.

Farm Diversification and Food and Nutrition Security in Bangladesh: Empirical Evidence from a Nationally Representative Household Panel Data

Abu Hayat Md. Saiful Islam, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Bangladesh

Introduction: Research shows that links between agricultural and nutritional outcomes are less clear. The evidence is often anecdotal and based on country case studies, making it impossible to compare results within countries (Carletto et al, 2016; Yosef et al. 2015) driving the need for more research in country specific settings. Most of the related studies have used cross-sectional data (e.g. Sibhatu et al, 2015; Koppmair et al, 2017). This research has used two wave panel data from Bangladesh to examine the link between farm diversification and nutrition outcomes.

Methods: To investigate the relationships between food and nutrition (FN) and farm diversification, we define food and nutrition security indicators for households, women and children (FNit) as a function of household farm diversification (HFDit), individual variables (Iit), household demographic characteristics (Hit), and community variables (Cit). FNit = b0 + b1HFDit + b2 Iit + b3 Hit + b4Cit +ci+ εit (1) We expect that farm diversity is positively correlated with household, maternal and child dietary diversity. The equation (1) is estimated by applying different forms of Fixed Effects model (e.g. poisson fixed effect for dietary diversity score) depending on the nature of dependent variables. We suspect that more progressive and efficient households are more likely to diversify their farm. In that case, the estimated farm diversity effect would suffer from systematic selection bias. To overcome the selection bias problem we have used a fixed-effects (FE) estimator including year dummies which leads to a two-way FE model. FE models have recently been used to control for selection bias in different contexts (e.g., Crost et al., 2007; Jorgenson and Birkholz, 2010; Kouser and Qaim, 2011; Kathage and Qaim, 2012).

Findings and Interpretations: For measuring the key independent variable i.e. farm diversification, we use the number of crop and livestock species produced on a farm and in a robustness check we also use number of food crop species produced and Margalef species richness index. On the other hand for measuring the key outcome variable i.e. dietary diversity, we have used the food variety score (no. of food items consumed) and the dietary diversity score (no. of food groups consumed). The Poisson fixed effect regression result by using the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) Bangladesh Integrated Household Survey (BIHS) two round nationally representative panel data shows that farm production diversification is positively associated with dietary diversity of household, women and child. Furthermore the role of other factors that may influence dietary diversity, such as market access measured by distance from market and households selling and buying status, off farm income, agricultural technology adoption and other socio-economic variables, is also analysed. The estimation coefficient for farm production diversification remains more or less the same.

Conclusions: Like many other developing countries, Bangladeshi farmers have diversified into higher-value crops and the agricultural sector has experienced a structural transformation. Diversification towards non-farm activities are seen as an important future strategy for farmers to reduce dependence on agricultural production as a source of income. Despite the growing importance of these activities, very little attention is paid to this topic and very little is known about the role that they play in the income of food and nutrition security of rural households in Bangladesh. We use two waves of panel data from the Bangladesh Integrated Household Survey (BIHS), a unique and nationally representative sample of farming households in Bangladesh, implemented by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) to investigate relationships between production diversity on food and nutrition security measured by household, maternal and child dietary diversity. The result shows that farm production diversification is positively associated with household, maternal and child dietary diversity. Thus increasing farm production diversity may be the most effective strategy to improve diets in smallholder farm households along with improving access to markets, technology adoption and diversity income towards off farm sources.