Abstract

Diversifying the production of crops might play an important role in reducing hunger and malnutrition. Our understanding of the importance, nature, magnitude and food security implications of crops’ diversification is however affected by a lack of cross country comparable studies. While diversifying crops is theoretically recognized to be an important strategy to overcome many challenges daily faced by rural households, empirical analysis are still limited and circumscribed to small geographical areas. Empirical evidence is hence too incomplete to allow us to draw more generalized conclusions.

Using a dataset bringing together comparable and nationally representative household survey data for 8 developing and transition countries, this paper analyzes in a comparative international perspective the importance that crops’ diversification have for rural dwellers.

The analysis shows that diversifying crops play an important role in increasing agricultural income and household’s dietary diversity thus mitigating the effects of micronutrients’ deficiencies. Farmers who produce and consume diverse crops improve their own health and that of their families’ members via a more diversified diet and at the same time increase their agricultural incomes.

The diversification’s potentials should not be over-emphasized, as its contribution to household nutrition leads to improvements in the range of 5 to 10 percent. At the same time, as diversification is estimated to remarkably increase agricultural income, its potential should not be weaken either, especially in those countries and for those households for which agriculture provides a not negligible share of income and constitutes the base of their existence.