Crop Diversity, Dietary Diversity, and Nutritional Intake: Evidence on Inter-Linkages Across the Rural–Urban Interface of Bengaluru

Abstract

In India, the linkages between agriculture and nutrition are complex and often debated in the policy discourse. Over the past two decades, agricultural production and per capita availability of food grains have increased. In this context, the study has examined the food consumption patterns, the relationship between agricultural production and dietary diversity, and the impact of dietary diversity on nutritional intake. It used a sample of 1275 households in the rural–urban interface, within two transects north and south of Bengaluru. Based on a 14-day food consumption recall, the Simpson Index of Dietary Diversity was used to analyze the dietary diversity and Herfindahl Index was employed to assess the diversity in crop production. The dietary diversity is a good indicator for assessing nutritional adequacy, as it is positively associated with energy and nutrients intake. An estimate of diversity scores revealed that the dietary diversity was marginally higher in northern transect (0.80) compared to the southern transect (0.79). Within the transects, the highest dietary diversity was observed in urban areas, while production diversity was higher in the rural than in the transition area. The findings showed that agricultural production diversity is a major determinant of dietary diversity which in turn has a strong effect on calorie and protein intake. Promoting agricultural diversification will thus help enhancing food and nutrition security in the country.