Diversified production of smallholders in northwest Ethiopia: Implications for nutrition-sensitive agriculture

Nutrition-sensitive agriculture is a production approach to ensure the production of a variety of affordable, nutritious, culturally appropriate, and safe foods in adequate quantity and quality to meet dietary requirements. The objective of the study is to assess the nutrition sensitivity of smallholder production in northwest Ethiopia. Data were generated from 478 randomly sampled households using a structured questionnaire-based survey. The analysis was performed using the production diversity score and Simpson’s Diversity Index. Results revealed that smallholder households, on average, produce 6.08 food groups. The food group production diversity index of smallholders is 88.6%. Poisson regression analysis results also show that demographic and socioeconomic factors are affecting on-farm production diversity. The study concludes that smallholder agricultural production in northwest Ethiopia is nutrition-sensitive and can supply a minimum dietary diversity to households.