Summary. Dietary diversity is associated with household or individual food availability and intake of nutrients from different food groups and is an important component of nutritional outcome. This study examined the Nutrient Adequacy Ratio (NAR) and the Mean Adequacy Ratio (MAR) of three dietary diversity indices and their relationship with the nutritional status of adolescents and adults in rural regions of two states in India, Wardha district in Maharashtra and Koraput district in Odisha, in 2014. Individual dietary diversity was calculated using 24-hour diet recall (FS 24hr ) data and household dietary diversity was measured with food frequency data using Berry's index (DDI) and food scores (FS FFQ ). The nutritional status of individuals was assessed using anthropometric indices. The diets in both locations were cereal dominated. It was observed that 51% of adolescent boys and 27% of adolescent girls had 'thinness' and stunting. The prevalence of undernutrition was higher among adult women (48%) than adult men (36%). The mean diversity indices were FS 24hr of 8, DDI of 89-90 and FS FFQ of 64-66 in the two locations. The FS 24hr was found to be positively correlated with the NAR of all nutrients while DDI and FS FFQ were correlated with seven and six nutrients, respectively. The DDI and FS 24hr showed an association with MAR if the two locations were combined together. Sensitivity and specificity analysis showed that FS 24hr gave more true positives than false positives and the area under the Receiver Operating Characteristic curve was 0.68, implying that this measure truly differentiates individuals having low dietary diversity with low MAR from those with low dietary diversity and a high MAR. All three measures of dietary diversity showed a linear association with the nutritional outcomes of adults, while in the adolescent group only DDI showed a relationship. It is concluded that 24-hour diet recall is a good measure for studying the relationship between dietary diversity and nutritional status in adults.

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Food and nutrition security are intimately interconnected, since only a food based approach can help in overcoming malnutrition in an economically and socially sustainable manner. Food production provides the base for food security as it is a key determinant of food availability. This paper deals with different aspects of ensuring high productivity and production without associated ecological harm for ensuring adequate food availability. By mainstreaming ecological considerations in technology development and dissemination, we can enter an era of evergreen revolution and sustainable food and nutrition security. Public policy support is crucial for enabling this.

The Covid19 pandemic should be seen as a wake-up call for humanity, to reflect, rethink and redesign food systems that are safe, healthy, sustainable, and beneficial to all. This crisis has disrupted food supply chains, affecting lives and livelihoods. Hunger and malnutrition is expected to increase and the poor and vulnerable will suffer the most. There is urgent need to build resilient food systems. A location specific farm-system-for-nutrition approach, based on sustainable use of natural resources and local agri-food value chains can help improve household diet diversity and address nutrition deficiencies. The food-based approach can improve preparedness and resilience of communities to withstand the challenge posed by crises in general, and COVID19 in particular.

Agriculture is the primary livelihood of a majority of the population in South Asia. The region also houses a large population of undernourished people. The farming system for nutrition (FSN) model envisages developing and demonstrating a sustainable framework of farming to improve nutritional outcomes that can be used for upscaling and wider adoption. Agricultural intervention and farming systems research in India has been largely focused on enhancing production, productivity and profitability of crop and animal resources without much emphasis on better nutritional outcomes. The FSN model has been conceptualized to develop location-specific inclusive models to address the nutritional needs of farm and non-farm families based on their resource endowments and surrounding environment. The main components of the model are as follows: (1) survey to identify the major nutritional problems, (2) design suitable agricultural interventions to address the problems, (3) include specific nutritional criteria in the design, (4) improve small farm productivity and profitability, (5) undertake nutrition awareness programmes and (6) introduce monitoring systems for assessing impact on nutrition outcomes. The objective is to demonstrate feasibility of nutrition-sensitive agriculture. The proposed model is being tested in two select locations to demonstrate improvement in nutrition status through improved agricultural production system, dietary diversification, income enhancement, greater nutrition awareness and changed behaviour patterns, to be evaluated through a set of objective indicators.

Farming is the main livelihood of a majority of people in India. The country is also home to a large population of undernourished people. This indicates potential for mainstreaming the nutrition dimension in the farming system to impact on nutrition outcomes. A Farming System for Nutrition (FSN) study was conducted in two agro-ecologically different locations from 2013–2018, to explore the feasibility of nutrition-sensitive agricultural interventions. The baseline survey in 2013–2014 revealed that the population in the study area was largely undernourished and that household diets were cereal-dominated. The FSN model was designed in consultation with community members, to increase availability of nutrient-dense cereals and pulses, by enhancing production and crop diversification at the farm level, promoting cultivation of nutrient-rich fruits and vegetables in nutrition gardens and supporting interventions to promote access to animal foods. Nutrition awareness initiatives were undertaken to build capacity at the local level and translate production diversity to consumption diversity. An endline survey was conducted in 2017 (July-October), following three years of intervention. Crop, vegetable and animal food production and food consumption was compared with the baseline data. There was evidence of higher production and consumption of nutrient rich foods, improved household dietary diversity; and understanding and acceptance of nutrition-sensitive agriculture. The number of items consumed under each food group, frequency of consumption of food and average per capita intake of nutrient-rich foods were found to have improved. The results provide evidence regarding feasibility of location-specific FSN models to promote sustainable and healthy diets, using locally available plant and animal food resources, to address nutrition deficiencies in farm families.

Despite rapid economic growth, undernutrition rates in South Asia remain among the highest in the world. It is also seen that both rural and urban populations in developing countries are increasingly dependent on markets for food. This makes examining the potential of different agri-food models to deliver nutritious foods relevant. This article examines the value chains of two fortified foods manufactured by private sector business in India using the conceptual framework in Maestre, Poole and Henson (2017), to understand their potential to reach economically poor households. We find that both value chains have potential but are unsuccessful in reaching nutritionally vulnerable populations. In both cases, a favourable institutional environment can enable them to have a pro-nutrition and pro-poor focus. A proactive state role and regulation are called for to provide the necessary institutional environment to ensure that private business-led value chains focus on enhanced intake of nutritious food by low-income households.