A well-rounded diet plays a crucial role in alleviating hunger and malnutrition. Researchers recommend that small-scale farmers in developing nations should aim to produce a wide variety of foods for personal consumption. Nevertheless, a recent study challenges this advice to some degree. It suggests that having good access to local markets may be more significant than simply cultivating a diverse range of crops on individual farms. Enhanced market operations can lead to a broader selection of foods available in the community, benefiting everyone. The findings are detailed in the journal Nature Food.
Having an imbalanced diet can adversely affect health, yet many individuals, particularly in economically disadvantaged countries, struggle with insufficient variety in their meals. This is especially true for households of smallholder farmers, which represent a large segment of the globally malnourished population. One recommended approach to tackle this issue is encouraging these farmers to cultivate as many different foods as possible for their own use. However, how effective is this approach, and might there be better options available?
To explore this question, researchers from the University of Bonn accessed an extensive dataset. They examined surveys from nearly 90,000 households across Africa, predominantly smallholders. The data, gathered from 2008 to 2022, includes findings from Ethiopia, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Uganda. “The surveys provided valuable insights into the variety of crops and animal species the farmers raised,” states Prof. Dr. Matin Qaim from the Center for Development Research (ZEF). “Additionally, they contained information regarding the food consumption patterns of each household.”
Wider crop and livestock diversity has a minimal impact
The analysis revealed that farmers who engaged in a broader range of crop and livestock production did benefit from a more balanced diet. “However, this effect was relatively minor,” notes ZEF researcher Dr. Thanh Tung Nguyen, who collaborated on the study with Qaim. “Smallholder farming in Africa is already quite diverse. Having better access to local and regional markets is more crucial than striving for greater variety on every single farm. These markets enable farmers to sell any excess produce and purchase the foods they lack.”
In fact, an evaluation of the dietary habits of farming households indicated that markets generally play a more pivotal role in achieving a healthy diet than the food they grow themselves. On average, personal production represented merely about one-third of the total food consumed by the surveyed households. The closer households were to a local market, the more they enriched their diets with purchased foods—a trend consistent across all six nations included in the study. “The research highlighted how critical access to local and regional markets is for maintaining a good quality diet,” asserts Nguyen. However, many regions still face inadequate infrastructure, with poor road conditions making market access difficult, resulting in spoilage or damage to goods during transportation.
Regional food diversity supersedes individual farm diversity
The researchers advocate for a shift in focus from solely enhancing diversity on individual farms to improving infrastructure, thereby facilitating better market access for the populace. If a farmer grows too many different crops, it may even be counterproductive due to varying cultivation needs and required expertise. “It’s more effective to concentrate on the crops that thrive well under local conditions and sell any surplus,” Nguyen explains. While it remains sensible to diversify crop production from environmental and risk management perspectives, the necessity for every small farm to grow all foods for a healthy diet is not needed.
Matin Qaim, who is also involved in the transdisciplinary research area (TRA) “Sustainable Futures” and the PhenoRob Cluster of Excellence, notes, “It suffices if a sufficiently diverse range of foods is produced at the regional level, allowing local households to purchase dietary variety from markets.” This approach encourages a division of labor, serving not only as a strategy to enhance dietary quality but also as a means to foster broader economic development.
