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 decisionmaking power and ethnicity.
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1080/03670244.2016.1200037Altmetric score:
Dimensions Citation Count:
Publication year
2016
Authors
Ng’endo, M.; Bhagwat, S.; Keding, G.B.
Language
English
Keywords
food consumption, species richness, dietary intake, small scale farming, rural communities, household income, food security, soil nutrients, soil, health
Geographic
Kenya
