Rural households in Africa often grow lots of different types of crops on their smallholdings.
Photo: © S. Koppmair/Uni Bonn

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Africa – better roads promote greater dietary diversity

A balanced diet is important for reducing hunger and malnutrition. Researchers thus advocate that small farmers in low- and middle-income countries should try to produce as many different foods as possible for their own consumption. However, a new study suggests that good access to regional markets is more important than farmers growing a large diversity of crops on their own smallholding.

An unbalanced diet is bad for your health, but many people have a lack of variety on their plates, especially in poorer countries. One possible solution to this problem is for the farmers to grow as many different foods as possible for their own consumption. But how effective is this measure, and are there possibly better alternatives?

To answer this question, researchers at the University of Bonn in Gemany unearthed a comprehensive treasure trove of data. They analysed surveys of almost 90,000 households in Africa, most of whom were smallholders. The data was collected between 2008 and 2022 in Ethiopia, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda.

The results are now being published in the journal “Nature Food”.

“Among other things, the surveys provided insights into the number of crops the farmers cultivated and the number of animal species they kept,” explains Professor Dr Matin Qaim from the Center for Development Research (ZEF) at the University of Bonn. “In addition, the data contained information on the types of food being consumed in each household.”

Greater diversity on farmers’ fields has only a minor effect
 

The analysis demonstrated that farmers who produced a more diverse range of crops and animals on their farms did indeed have a more balanced diet as a result. “However, this only had a small effect,” says ZEF researcher Dr. Thanh Tung Nguyen, who carried out the study together with Qaim. “Ensuring good access to local and regional markets is more important than further improving the diversity on every single farm” says Nguyen. “These markets not only allow farmers to sell their surplus food but also enable them to purchase those foods that they are lacking.”

Indeed, an analysis of the foods consumed by farm households showed that markets are in most cases already more important today for a healthy diet than the farmer’s own food production. On average, farmers’ own production accounted for only around one third of the foods consumed in the farm households analysed. The nearer the households were to a local market, the more their diets were enriched with purchased foods. This was true for all six of the countries covered by the research.

However, there is still a lack of suitable infrastructure in many areas. The roads to the market are often so bad that the journey takes a long time and some of the products spoil or get damaged on the way.

Diversity in the region is more important than diversity in every single field
 

The researchers recommend that the focus should not only be placed on improving diversity in farmers’ fields but above all on improving infrastructure and thus giving people better access to markets. If the range of products grown by an individual farmer is too diverse, this could even be disadvantageous because each crop has its own needs and requires special expertise. “It is better to focus on those crops that flourish particularly well in the local conditions and then sell any surplus food,” explains Nguyen. At the same time, it definitely makes sense to diversify the crops to a certain extent both from an environmental perspective and to reduce the risks for farmers.

“However, it is certainly not necessary for every small farm to grow all of the products people need for a healthy diet themselves,” says Qaim, who is also a member of the transdisciplinary research area (TRA) “Sustainable Futures” and the PhenoRob Cluster of Excellence. “It is sufficient for a large enough range of foods to be produced across the region as a whole, because then local households can purchase food diversity at markets.” Trading food in this way enables a division of labour and is thus not only an important tool for improving people’s diets but also helps to promote economic development overall.


(University of Bonn/wi)

Reference:

Thanh-Tung Nguyen and Matin Qaim: Local and regional food production diversity are positively associated with household dietary diversity in rural Africa; Nature Food;  2 January 2025

https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-024-01096-6 (Open Access)

More information:

Link to the transdisciplinary research area (TRA) at Bonn University

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