SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Sustain. Food Syst.
Sec. Nutrition and Sustainable Diets
Volume 9 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2025.1542711
This article is part of the Research TopicEvidence Synthesis For Sustainable Agriculture And Food SystemsView all 6 articles
Systematic review for seasonal crop diversity influence on the double burden of malnutrition in rural communities
Provisionally accepted
- 1School for Sustainable Futures, Amritapuri, India
- 2School of Agricultural Sciences, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham University, Coimbatore, Kerala, India
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
This systematic review investigates the influence of seasonal crop diversity on the double burden of malnutrition in rural communities across low-and middle-income countries. The review analysed n = 22 peer-reviewed studies published in the online databases of Scopus, PubMed, Google scholar, and the Food and Agriculture Organisation's sub websites, Hinari and Agora between January 2017 and April 2024. The review used the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses 2020 set of guidance, to explore how variations in seasonal crop production affect dietary diversity and nutritional outcomes among vulnerable populations. Article quality appraisal using the EPHPP (Effective Public Health Practice Project) tool revealed mixed methodological rigour across 8 domains in underpowered studies (n = 18, weak), (n = 4, moderate), and (n = 0, strong) emphasizing the need to exercise caution in findings. Findings indicate that increased seasonal crop diversity correlates with improved dietary practices and food security. Yet, challenges of resource access and market constraints hindered these benefits. The systematic review further identified critical gaps in current research and emphasized the need for integrated strategies that promote seasonal crop diversity as a tool to combat malnutrition effectively. The insights gained aimed to inform policy decisions and guide future research efforts focused on enhancing nutrition during conditionally lean seasons.
Keywords: Double burden of malnutrition, dietary diversity, Low-and middle-income countries, Rural communities, seasonal crop diversity, Systematic review
Received: 10 Dec 2024; Accepted: 26 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Mutandani, Thirukkumar, Murugasridevi and Sudheesh. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Veryson Mutandani, School for Sustainable Futures, Amritapuri, India
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.