Vijaya Bhaskar, A.V. and Nithya, D.J. and Raju, S. and Bhavani, R.V.
(2017)
Establishing integrated agriculture-nutrition programmes
to diversify household food and diets in rural India.
Food Security, 9 (5).
pp. 981-999.
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Abstract
Agriculture is the predominant livelihood for 70 %
of the population living in rural India, and food expenses
occupy a major proportion of their household budget. Rural
household diets suggest that agricultural growth has contributed
to increasing calorie intake with very minimal effect on
the intake of protein and micronutrients. This in turn causes
weak positive impact of agriculture on household dietary diversity
and nutrient adequacy. Given the prevalence of high
levels of under-nutrition and a large population dependent on
agriculture, recent thinking globally on leveraging agriculture
for nutrition security has encouraged the agricultural sector to
realign its focus not only to increase food production, but also
to address under-nutrition. Against this background, an exploratory
study was conducted in resource poor villages of
Wardha and Koraput districts in the states of Maharashtra
and Odisha in India, to investigate how location-specific
Farming System for Nutrition (FSN) interventions can
potentially improve the diversity of household diets and
nutrition outcomes. A detailed baseline study was undertaken
to identify the existing disconnect between agriculturenutrition
linkages. In the study locations, the proportion of
all forms of under-nutrition, vitamin A deficiency and
iron-deficiency anaemia among children <5-years of age appeared
unacceptably high. A high prevalence rate of chronic
energy deficient (CED) women and anaemic pregnant women
was also observed. A higher risk of under-nutrition and micronutrient deficiency among household members was associated
with substandard living conditions of the surveyed
households. Cropping systems in Wardha were primarily
dominated by rain-fed commercial cash crops while rain-fed
subsistence farming predominated in Koraput. Households in
both study locations were found to have cereal-dominated
diets with average daily consumption of pulses, fruits and
vegetables, and milk and milk products well below the recommended
daily intake level, indicating low dietary diversity. In
both Wardha and Koraput, CED in adults (>18 years) significantly
increased as the dietary diversity score (DDS) decreased
from high to low. In Koraput, the prevalence rate of
anaemia in adolescent girls and women significantly increased,
as the DDS decreased. We conclude that food and
diets lacking diversity and without nutrition-sensitive farming
systems (either commercial- or subsistence-based) may not be
appropriate to improve household nutrition and health status.
Our findings provide a basis for structuring integrated
agriculture-nutrition programmes or a FSN approach to diversifying
household food and diets, for improving nutrition and
health in India.
| Item Type: |
Article
|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: |
Farming system, Nutrition security, Koraput,
Wardha, Dietary diversity, Household food security |
| Author Affiliation: |
Department of Ecological Plant Protection, University of Kassel, Nordbahnhofstr.1a, 37213 Witzenhausen, Germany |
| Subjects: |
Postharvest Management |
| Divisions: |
General |
| Depositing User: |
Mr T L Gautham
|
| Date Deposited: |
21 Aug 2018 04:32 |
| Last Modified: |
21 Aug 2018 04:32 |
| URI: |
http://eprints.icrisat.ac.in/id/eprint/15559 |
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