Diet, Income, and Agriculture in an Eastern Caribbean Village

Abstract

This study of a Vincentian community in the Eastern Caribbean explores the impacts of income on dietary quality and food import dependency. It finds that two forms of income—total household income and the income that women control—are positively correlated with total dietary diversity as well as with frequency of consumption of numerous imported foods. However, no relation is evident between banana incomes and consumption of imported foods, thus questioning the general belief in the literature that the growth of banana production has been responsible for increasing dependence on food imports in the Windward Islands. The beneficial impacts of income on dietary quality that have been found in many other developing areas are more limited here because malnutrition is not a widespread problem. But income is closely linked to consumption of foods that contribute to overnutrition and obesity, growing concerns in the English-speaking Caribbean.