Abstract
The study was to determine the role of Dietary diversity (DD), household food security (HFS), and agricultural biodiversity (AB) on stunted growth in children. Two cross‐sectional studies were undertaken 6 months apart. Interviews were done with mothers/caregivers and anthropometric measurements of children 24–59 months old. HFS was assessed by household food insecurity access scale (HFIAS). A repeated 24‐h recall was used to calculate a dietary diversity score (DDS). Agricultural biodiversity (AB) was calculated by counting the number of edible plants and animals. The study was undertaken in resource‐poor households in two rural areas in Kenya. Mothers/Care givers and household with children of 24–59 months of age were the main subjects. The prevalence of underweight [WAZ <−2SD] ranged between 16.7% and 21.6% and stunting [HAZ <−2SD] from 26.3% to 34.7%. Mean DDS ranged from 2.9 to 3.7 and HFIAS ranged from 9.3 to 16.2. AB was between 6.6 and 7.2 items. Households with and without children with stunted growth were significantly different in DDS (P = 0.047) after the rainy season and HFIAS (P = 0.009) in the dry season, but not with AB score (P = 0.486). The mean AB for households with children with stunted growth were lower at 6.8, compared to 7.0 for those with normal growth, however, the difference was insignificant. Data indicate that households with children with stunted growth and those without are significantly different in DDS and HFIAS but not with AB. This suggests some potential in using DDS and HFIAS as proxy measures for stunting.
Highlights
Despite strides made to reduce global hunger through, among others, increased cereal production, vulnerable people on a global scale are still hungry
The United Nations General Assembly declared 2010 to be the International Year of Biodiversity. This provided an unprecedented opportunity to raise awareness and promote the role that agricultural biodiversity plays in the lives of people, those in low income countries (Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) 2010) Agricultural biodiversity is the basis of the food chain which contributes to food and livelihood security, especially in the developing countries which highly depend on own food supply and food-based strategies rooted in the sustainable use of biological resources to improve local diets (Wispelwey and Deckelbaum 2009)
The findings indicated that almost 50% of changes in dietary intake of preschool children were due to agricultural biodiversity
Summary
Despite strides made to reduce global hunger through, among others, increased cereal production, vulnerable people on a global scale are still hungry. The United Nations General Assembly declared 2010 to be the International Year of Biodiversity. This provided an unprecedented opportunity to raise awareness and promote the role that agricultural biodiversity plays in the lives of people, those in low income countries (Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) 2010) Agricultural biodiversity is the basis of the food chain which contributes to food and livelihood security, especially in the developing countries which highly depend on own food supply and food-based strategies rooted in the sustainable use of biological resources to improve local diets (Wispelwey and Deckelbaum 2009). The findings indicated that almost 50% of changes in dietary intake of preschool children were due to agricultural biodiversity.
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