“Filling the maize basket” supports crop diversity and quality of household diet in Malawi

Snapp, Sieglinde S.; Fisher, Monica

doi:10.1007/s12571-014-0410-0

Cited by 110 publications

(129 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…There is a relatively large body of literature that has analysed effects of agricultural technology adoption on farm incomes, but only a few studies have looked more specifically at the link between technology adoption and household food security or nutrition ( 28 , 50 , 51 ) . In Malawi, the government has recently promoted different technologies to sustainably increase agricultural productivity and reduce poverty.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Second, farm households in Malawi are primarily subsistence-oriented. Third, several previous studies on the link between farm production and dietary diversity used household-level data from Malawi’s Living Standards Measurement Survey ( 19 , 28 , 29 ) . Focusing on the same setting with individual-level data and alternative indicators has advantages in terms of comparability.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Farm production, market access and dietary diversity in Malawi

Koppmair

Kassie

Qaim

2016

Public Health Nutr.

282

263

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ObjectiveThe association between farm production diversity and dietary diversity in rural smallholder households was recently analysed. Most existing studies build on household-level dietary diversity indicators calculated from 7d food consumption recalls. Herein, this association is revisited with individual-level 24 h recall data. The robustness of the results is tested by comparing household- and individual-level estimates. The role of other factors that may influence dietary diversity, such as market access and agricultural technology, is also analysed.DesignA survey of smallholder farm households was carried out in Malawi in 2014. Dietary diversity scores are calculated from 24 h recall data. Production diversity scores are calculated from farm production data covering a period of 12 months. Individual- and household-level regression models are developed and estimated.SettingData were collected in sixteen districts of central and southern Malawi.SubjectsSmallholder farm households (n 408), young children (n 519) and mothers (n 408).ResultsFarm production diversity is positively associated with dietary diversity. However, the estimated effects are small. Access to markets for buying food and selling farm produce and use of chemical fertilizers are shown to be more important for dietary diversity than diverse farm production. Results with household- and individual-level dietary data are very similar.ConclusionsFurther increasing production diversity may not be the most effective strategy to improve diets in smallholder farm households. Improving access to markets, productivity-enhancing inputs and technologies seems to be more promising.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Farm production, market access and dietary diversity in Malawi

Koppmair

Kassie

Qaim

2016

Public Health Nutr.

282

263

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“…There is considerable debate regarding implementation of the input subsidy program and also its subsequent impact with regards to improving access to inputs, and overall agricultural productivity. Survey findings suggest farmers are growing more modern maize varieties, although the impact on drought-resilience has been moderate and disappointment among some farmers has led to disadoption (Snapp and Fisher, 2015). Subsidy impact on fertilizer access appears to vary markedly from year to year and with farmer socio-economic status (Tchale, 2009; Whiteside, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Smallholder Farms and the Potential for Sustainable Intensification

et al. 2016

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The sustainable intensification of African agriculture is gaining momentum with the compelling need to increase food and agricultural production. In Southern Africa, smallholder farming systems are predominately maize-based and subject to erratic climatic conditions. Farmer crop and soil management decisions are influenced by a plethora of complex factors such as market access resource availability, social relations, environment, and various messages on sustainable farming practices. Such factors pose barriers to increasing sustainable intensification in Africa. This paper characterizes smallholder farming practices in Central Malawi, at Africa Research in Sustainable Intensification for the Next Generation (Africa RISING) project sites. We present findings from a survey of 324 farmers, located within four Africa RISING sites selected in a stratified random manner to represent (1) low agricultural potential (high evapotranspiration, variable rainfall), (2) medium agricultural potential (two sites), and (3) high agricultural potential (well-distributed rainfall). Soil fertility was low overall, and certain farming practices appeared to limit the sustainability of agricultural production. Nearly half of farmers did not value legume residues as a high nutrient value resource for soil amelioration, as legume residues were removed (17.9%) or burned (21.4%). Conversely, maize residues were rarely removed (4.5%) or burned (10.4%). We found that farmers do not allocate soil amendment resources to legume fields (zero instances of mineral fertilizer or manure application to legumes compared to 88 and 22% of maize systems, respectively). Policy makers in Malawi have led initiatives to intensify agricultural systems through subsidizing farmer access to mineral fertilizer as well as maize hybrid seed, and only rarely to improved legume seed. In this survey, farmers allocate mineral fertilizer to maize systems and not legume systems. There is urgent need to invest in education on sustainable reinvestment in natural resources through complementary practices, such as maximization of biological nitrogen fixation through improved legume agronomy and better organic resource and crop residue management. Recent efforts by Malawi agricultural services to promote doubled-up legumes as a sustainable intensification technology are encouraging, but benefits will not accrue unless equal attention is given to an extension campaign on management of organic resources such as crop residues.

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“…In their recent letter, Verger et al have questioned this approach, arguing that HDDS is a proxy indicator for household economic access to food and not for dietary quality (3) . In reality, the HDDS with twelve food groups is often used as an indicator of dietary quality at the household level (4)(5)(6) , while there is no international consensus on which food groups to include in studies regarding individual diets (7,8) . One of the objectives of our article was to directly compare householdlevel and individual-level results.…”

Section: Madammentioning

confidence: 99%