Household food production is positively associated with dietary diversity and intake of nutrient-dense foods for older preschool children in poorer families: Results from a nationally-representative survey in Nepal

Abstract

BackgroundNutrition-sensitive interventions supporting enhanced household food production have potential to improve child dietary quality. However, heterogeneity in market access may cause systematic differences in program effectiveness depending on household wealth and child age. Identifying these effect modifiers can help development agencies specify and target their interventions.ObjectiveThis study investigates mediating effects of household wealth and child age on links between farm production and child diets, as measured by production and intake of nutrient-dense food groups.MethodsTwo rounds (2013 and 2014) of nationally representative survey data (n = 5,978 observations) were used to measure production and children’s dietary intake, as well as a household wealth index and control variables, including breastfeeding. Novel steps used include measuring production diversity in terms of both species grown and food groups grown, as well as testing for mediating effects of family wealth and age of child.ResultsWe find significant associations between child dietary diversity and agricultural diversity in terms of diversity of food groups and of species grown, especially for older children in poorer households, and particularly for fruits and vegetables, dairy and eggs. With each additional food group produced, log-odds of meeting minimum dietary diversity score (≥4) increase by 0.25 (p = 0.01) for children aged 24–59 months. For younger children aged 18–23 months there is a similar effect size but only in the poorest two quintiles of household wealth, and for infants 6–18 months we find no correlation between production and intake in most models.ConclusionsChild dietary intake is associated with the composition of farm production, most evident among older preschool children and in poorer households. To improve the nutrition of infants, other interventions are needed; and for relatively wealthier households, own farm production may displace market purchases, which could attenuate the impact of household production on child diets.

Factors associated with dietary diversity and length‐for‐age z‐score in rural Ethiopian children aged 6–23 months: A novel approach to the analysis of baseline data from the Sustainable Undernutrition Reduction in Ethiopia evaluation

“…Consumption of fruits and vegetables improves micronutrient status and immune function and may support child growth (Aguayo, Nair, Badgaiyan, & Krishna, ). A previous study in Ethiopia also reported that higher vegetable and fruit dietary consumption is associated with increased LAZ and reduced risk of stunting (Melaku et al, ), consistent with findings from Nepal and northern Ghana (Mulmi et al, ; Saaka, Osman, & Hoeschle‐Zeledon, ).…”

Seasonality and food security among smallholder rural households in eastern Ethiopia: evidence from panel data analysis

“…This shows that as households increase the number of food groups produced, the probability of improving dietary diversity and food security increases. This suggests that an increase in the diversification of food production increases the food security which is consistent with previous studies on the relationship between food security and farm production diversity (Islam et al 2018;Hirvonen and Hoddinott 2017;Mulmi et al 2017;Sibhatu et al 2015).…”

Impacts of Caregivers’ Nutrition Knowledge and Food Market Accessibility on Preschool Children’s Dietary Diversity in Remote Communities in Southeast Nigeria

“…This formed part of the motivation of this study, which was to analyze the nutritional outcome of households living in remote rural communities. Some studies [74,75] acknowledged the importance of focusing on the more vulnerable groups in such research.…”