IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v16y2024i3p1040-d1326410.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Do Wealth and Market Access Explain Inconsistent Relationships between Crop Diversity and Dietary Diversity? Evidence from 10 Sub-Saharan African Countries

Author

Listed:
  • Isabel Juliet Curtin

    (Department of Community Development and Applied Economics, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405, USA)

  • Daniel Tobin

    (Department of Community Development and Applied Economics, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405, USA)

  • Travis Reynolds

    (Department of Community Development and Applied Economics, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405, USA)

Abstract

Despite the robust literature base that has explored links between household crop diversity and children’s dietary diversity, evidence continues to yield mixed results regarding the efficacy of crop diversity in improving childhood dietary outcomes. Given the variance in the association between agrobiodiversity and dietary diversity, we identified wealth and distance to markets as potential factors that may impact these relationships. Through a series of Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regressions, this study examines the associations between crop diversity and dietary diversity among households at different levels of wealth in 10 sub-Saharan African countries. Drawing on the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series and Demographic and Health Surveys system, we find that the significance and direction of the association between crop diversity (as proxied using the Simpsons Diversity Index) and children’s dietary diversity (as measured using the Household Dietary Diversity Score) vary by wealth quintile across countries and households: in richer households, crop diversity has a negative effect on dietary diversity, and in poorer households, there is no significant effect. This study indicates the need to understand contextual factors that impact the relationship between agricultural diversity and dietary diversity to inform development policies.

Suggested Citation

  • Isabel Juliet Curtin & Daniel Tobin & Travis Reynolds, 2024. "Do Wealth and Market Access Explain Inconsistent Relationships between Crop Diversity and Dietary Diversity? Evidence from 10 Sub-Saharan African Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-13, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:3:p:1040-:d:1326410
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/3/1040/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/3/1040/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David E. Sahn & H. Alderman, 1998. "Nutritional Status and Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa," World Bank Publications - Reports 9899, The World Bank Group.
    2. Emile A. Frison & Jeremy Cherfas & Toby Hodgkin, 2011. "Agricultural Biodiversity Is Essential for a Sustainable Improvement in Food and Nutrition Security," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 3(1), pages 1-16, January.
    3. Daniel A. Mekonnen & Elise F. Talsma & Laura Trijsburg & Vincent Linderhof & Thom Achterbosch & Aafke Nijhuis & Ruerd Ruben & Inge D. Brouwer, 2020. "Can household dietary diversity inform about nutrient adequacy? Lessons from a food systems analysis in Ethiopia," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 12(6), pages 1367-1383, December.
    4. Abu Hayat Md. Saiful Islam & Joachim Braun & Andrew L. Thorne-Lyman & Akhter U. Ahmed, 2018. "Farm diversification and food and nutrition security in Bangladesh: empirical evidence from nationally representative household panel data," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 10(3), pages 701-720, June.
    5. Maryia Bakhtsiyarava & Kathryn Grace, 2021. "Agricultural production diversity and child nutrition in Ethiopia," 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 1407-1422, December.
    6. Davis Muthini & Jonathan Nzuma & Rose Nyikal, 2020. "Farm production diversity and its association with dietary diversity in Kenya," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 12(5), pages 1107-1120, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Muhammed Abdella Usman & Daniel Callo-Concha, 2021. "Does market access improve dietary diversity and food security? Evidence from Southwestern Ethiopian smallholder coffee producers," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 9(1), pages 1-21, December.
    2. Sikhulumile Sinyolo & Conrad Murendo & Admire Mutsa Nyamwanza & Sithembile Amanda Sinyolo & Catherine Ndinda & Chijioke Osinachi Nwosu, 2021. "Farm Production Diversification and Dietary Diversity among Subsistence Farming Households: Panel Data Evidence from South Africa," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-14, September.
    3. Fábio T. F. Silva & Alexandre Szklo & Amanda Vinhoza & Ana Célia Nogueira & André F. P. Lucena & Antônio Marcos Mendonça & Camilla Marcolino & Felipe Nunes & Francielle M. Carvalho & Isabela Tagomori , 2022. "Inter-sectoral prioritization of climate technologies: insights from a Technology Needs Assessment for mitigation in Brazil," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 27(7), pages 1-39, October.
    4. Lipy Adhikari & Sabarnee Tuladhar & Abid Hussain & Kamal Aryal, 2019. "Are Traditional Food Crops Really ‘Future Smart Foods?’ A Sustainability Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(19), pages 1-16, September.
    5. Silvia Scaramuzzi & Sara Gabellini & Giovanni Belletti & Andrea Marescotti, 2021. "Agrobiodiversity-Oriented Food Systems between Public Policies and Private Action: A Socio-Ecological Model for Sustainable Territorial Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-32, November.
    6. Johannes Kotschi & Bernd Horneburg, 2018. "The Open Source Seed Licence: A novel approach to safeguarding access to plant germplasm," PLOS Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(10), pages 1-7, October.
    7. Bai, Yunli & Zeng, Xuanye & Zhang, Linxiu & Song, Yiching & Zeng, Xuanye, 2021. "Domestic decision-making, crop diversity, and household dietary diversity: Evidence from five developing countries in Asia," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 315393, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    8. Ming Tang & Huchang Liao & Zhengjun Wan & Enrique Herrera-Viedma & Marc A. Rosen, 2018. "Ten Years of Sustainability (2009 to 2018): A Bibliometric Overview," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-21, May.
    9. Anna-Lisa Noack & Nicky Pouw, 2015. "A blind spot in food and nutrition security: where culture and social change shape the local food plate," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 32(2), pages 169-182, June.
    10. Jay Bost, 2013. "Persea schiedeana : A High Oil “Cinderella Species” Fruit with Potential for Tropical Agroforestry Systems," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(1), pages 1-13, December.
    11. Kliem, Lea & Sagebiel, Julian, 2023. "Consumers' preferences for commons-based and open-source produce: A discrete choice experiment with directional information manipulations," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    12. Zewen Hei & Huimin Xiang & Jiaen Zhang & Kaiming Liang & Jiawen Zhong & Meijuan Li & Xiaoqiao Ren, 2021. "Intercropping of Rice and Water Mimosa ( Neptunia oleracea Lour.): A Novel Model to Control Pests and Diseases and Improve Yield and Grain Quality while Reducing N Fertilizer Application," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-17, December.
    13. Amelie Bernzen & Ellen Mangnus & Franziska Sohns, 2022. "Diversify, produce or buy? An analysis of factors contributing to household dietary diversity among shrimp and non-shrimp farmers in coastal Bangladesh," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 14(3), pages 741-761, June.
    14. 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.
    15. Andrieu, N. & Blundo-Canto, G. & Cruz-Garcia, G.S., 2019. "Trade-offs between food security and forest exploitation by mestizo households in Ucayali, Peruvian Amazon," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 64-77.
    16. Martin Weih & Alison J. Karley & Adrian C. Newton & Lars P. Kiær & Christoph Scherber & Diego Rubiales & Eveline Adam & James Ajal & Jana Brandmeier & Silvia Pappagallo & Angel Villegas-Fernández & Mo, 2021. "Grain Yield Stability of Cereal-Legume Intercrops Is Greater Than Sole Crops in More Productive Conditions," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-18, March.
    17. Kuntashula, Elias & Mwelwa-Zgambo, Lukonde, 2022. "Impact of the farmer input support policy on agricultural production diversity and dietary diversity in Zambia," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    18. Ramazan Çakmakçı & Mehmet Ali Salık & Songül Çakmakçı, 2023. "Assessment and Principles of Environmentally Sustainable Food and Agriculture Systems," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-27, May.
    19. Stan Selbonne & Loïc Guindé & François Causeret & Pierre Chopin & Jorge Sierra & Régis Tournebize & Jean-Marc Blazy, 2023. "How to Measure the Performance of Farms with Regard to Climate-Smart Agriculture Goals? A Set of Indicators and Its Application in Guadeloupe," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-21, January.
    20. Maria Gialeli & Andreas Y. Troumbis & Constantinos Giaginis & Sousana K. Papadopoulou & Ioannis Antoniadis & Georgios K. Vasios, 2023. "The Global Growth of ‘Sustainable Diet’ during Recent Decades, a Bibliometric Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-23, August.

    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:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:3:p:1040-:d:1326410. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.