title: Influence of Seasonal On-Farm Diversity on Dietary Diversity: A Case Study of Smallholder Farming Households in Western Kenya.
abstract: This study explored the associations between dietary patterns and farm diversity as well as socioeconomic variables during two seasons in rural Western Kenya. As a mean of two surveys, the average dietary diversity scores (DDS) of households and women were low, implying low household economic access to food and low women's dietary quality. The Food Consumption Score (FCS) showed that acceptable levels of food consumption were realized over seven consecutive days in the 2014 survey by the majority of households (83%) and women (90%). While there was no strong association between the food scores and seven farm diversity indicators, both food scores were significantly associated with the household's wealth status, ethnicity of both the household head and the spouse, and the education level of the spouse. For holistic household food and nutrition security approaches, we suggest a shift from a focus on farm production factors to incorporating easily overlooked socioeconomic factors such as household decision-making power and ethnicity.
authors.affiliation: a School of Geography and the Environment , University of Oxford , Oxford , United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Mary
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ng'endo
authors.affiliation: a School of Geography and the Environment , University of Oxford , Oxford , United Kingdom.|b Department of Geography , The Open University , Milton Keynes , United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Shonil
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bhagwat
authors.affiliation: c Nutrition and Marketing Diversity Programme , Bioversity International , Nairobi , Kenya.
authors.forename: Gudrun B
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: Keding
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture / Q000191:economics; D018556:Crops, Agricultural / Q000191:economics / Q000254:growth & development*; D003657:Decision Making; D003906:Developing Countries; D004032:Diet / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology; D000072001:Diet, Healthy / Q000191:economics / Q000208:ethnology; D004522:Educational Status; D005191:Family Characteristics / Q000208:ethnology; D005260:Female; D005523:Food Supply / Q000191:economics; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D007630:Kenya; D008297:Male; D009749:Nutrition Surveys; D010349:Patient Compliance / Q000208:ethnology; D012423:Rural Health / Q000191:economics / Q000208:ethnology; D012621:Seasons; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D062211:Spatio-Temporal Analysis; D000078329:Workforce
keywords: Dietary diversity score; food consumption score; functional diversity; rural Kenya; species richness