Farm production diversity and women's dietary diversity: Evidence from central Tunisia

PLoS One. 2022 Feb 7;17(2):e0263276. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0263276. eCollection 2022.

Abstract

In the context of studies on the effects of agricultural production diversity, there are debates in the scientific community as to the level of diversification appropriate for improving dietary diversity. In Tunisia, agriculture is a strategic sector for the economy and a critical pillar of its food sovereignty. Using instrumental variable methods to account for endogeneity, we have estimated the association between agricultural production diversity and women's dietary diversity among smallholder farming households in the Sidi Bouzid governorate (central Tunisia). Although we found a low level of agricultural production diversity and a fairly diversified diet among women, we observed a systematic weak positive association between five different indicators of agricultural production diversity and women's dietary diversity. We observed a stronger positive association between women's dietary diversity and women being more educated and households being wealthier. Neither diversity of food supplies in food markets nor market distance were associated with women's dietary diversity, whereas we observed a higher level of consumption of some products (dairy) when they were produced on the farm.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Agriculture* / methods
  • Animals
  • Animals, Domestic
  • Crops, Agricultural* / classification
  • Crops, Agricultural* / supply & distribution
  • Dairy Products / supply & distribution
  • Diet Surveys
  • Diet* / standards
  • Diet* / statistics & numerical data
  • Eating / physiology
  • Family Characteristics
  • Farms
  • Female
  • Food Supply*
  • Humans
  • Middle Aged
  • Models, Theoretical
  • Nutrition Assessment
  • Nutritional Status
  • Rural Population / statistics & numerical data
  • Tunisia / epidemiology
  • Women's Health
  • Young Adult

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR, French National Research Agency) as part of the MEDINA research project, ‘Promoting sustainable food systems in the Mediterranean for good nutrition and health’ (ANR-12-TMED-0004-01); INNTA (Tunisian National Institute of Nutrition and Food Technology); and Bioversity International. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.