AUTHOR=Nandi Ravi , Nedumaran Swamikannu 

TITLE=Rural Market Food Diversity and Farm Production Diversity: Do They Complement or Substitute Each Other in Contributing to a Farm Household's Dietary Diversity?

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems

VOLUME=Volume 6 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/sustainable-food-systems/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2022.843697

DOI=10.3389/fsufs.2022.843697

ISSN=2571-581X

ABSTRACT=The majority of the undernourished people live in rural Asia and Africa, and many of them are smallholder farmers and consume a significant share of what they produce. It is specifically true in India. In the context of increasing commercial production systems, it is less known about how much food consumed from a particular food group was purchased and what proportion was from own production among farm households, and how it changes seasonally. Whether the rural market food diversity is complementary or substitutes to farm production diversity in contributing household’s diet. We employed mixed methods to answer these questions. The results reveal that crop diversity has significantly declined from a highly diverse to the less diverse production system. Resulting on average 23% contribution (mainly starchy staples) from own-farm production, while 77% calories consumed from market purchases which are more diverse and nutritious foods. The market food diversity is more important and it is complementary to own-farm production. Besides, our study shows mere market access (the most widely used proxy indicator in the literature) is not a guaranty of the availability of diverse nutritious food in the specific market as market food diversity varies from market to market and seasons. It is proposed that improving crop diversity especially in the context of commercial production systems and strengthening rural markets is needed. Besides, incentivizing retail business and also subsidizing nutritious and/biofortified food in a rural area must be a part of strategies to improve nutrition in rural India.