A Nutrition-Sensitive Agriculture Initiative in Ethnic Communities of Northern Thailand: Local Perspectives and Future Prospects

2021 ◽  
pp. 037957212110251
Author(s):  
Anna Roesler ◽  
Lisa G. Smithers ◽  
Prasit Wangpakapattanawong ◽  
Vivienne Moore
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Dietary Diversity ◽  
Home Gardens ◽  
Farm Labor ◽  
Ethnic Communities ◽  
Future Prospects ◽  
Spare Capacity ◽  
Northern Thailand ◽  
Hill Tribes ◽  
Nutrition Sensitive

Background: Nutrition-sensitive agriculture (NSA) interventions can contribute to improved food security and household dietary diversity. As well as undertaking trials, contextual factors that influence sustainability need to be scoped. Objective: To explore locals’ views of an NSA initiative, designed to improve food security and reduce malnutrition in children younger than 5 years, scoping future prospects 6 months after the conclusion of the trial. Methods: The initiative that was formally trialed over 6 months (November 2014 to April 2015) entailed keeping hens and home gardens. It occurred in the ethnic hill tribes of northern Thailand. In November 2015, 20 in-depth interviews were undertaken with villagers who had been involved in the initiative. Dialogue occurred in Thai with assistance of a translator and was recorded, transcribed, and translated to English. A detailed thematic analysis was undertaken. Results: Eggs produced by the hens were appreciated and fed to children, and the message of providing children with an egg a day was widely remembered. Subsequently, the hens ceased laying or died. The home gardens had seasonal scarcity of water. Less visible, but fundamental, women lacked time for these activities due to heavy burdens of farm labor. Conclusion: Keeping hens has potential to become a sustainable activity. Home gardens need water infrastructure to be viable. Women do not necessarily have spare capacity for such initiatives. The required labor needs deliberation by villagers.

Stunting, dietary diversity and household food insecurity among children under 5 years in ethnic communities of northern Thailand

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 772-780 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna L Roesler ◽  
Lisa G Smithers ◽  
Prasit Wangpakapattanawong ◽  
Vivienne Moore
Keyword(s):  
Food Insecurity ◽  
Child Nutrition ◽  
Dietary Diversity ◽  
Ethnic Communities ◽  
Cross Sectional Survey ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Northern Thailand ◽  
Households With Children ◽  
Minimum Dietary Diversity ◽  
Children Under 5

ABSTRACT Background The aim of this study was to describe stunting in infants and young children in the ethnic communities of northern Thailand and to explore associations with dietary diversity and household factors including food security. Methods A cross-sectional survey of households with children under 5 years from eight villages. Adult respondents provided information on foods consumed by each child and details of the household. Heights and weights of children were measured. Results Adults from 172 households and 208 children participated. Overall, 38% of children were stunted. Exclusive breastfeeding was rare, but the proportion consuming breastmilk at 24 months (75%) was high. Few children (7%) aged 6–11 months met minimum dietary diversity. Stunted children were less likely than non-stunted children to meet minimum dietary diversity (63 versus 82%). Widespread food insecurity did not discriminate between stunted and non-stunted children. Stunting was elevated when households had little land and few animals. Conclusions Stunting was widespread in children under 5 years of age, in part reflecting poor dietary diversity, especially at age 6–11 months. Stunting was worst in households with least assets. Small increases in land or animals, or equivalent resources, appear to be required to improve child nutrition in extremely poor families.

scholarly journals Impact of Adopting Improved Seeds on Access to Broader Food Groups Among Small-Scale Sorghum Producers in Tanzania

SAGE Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 215824402097999
Author(s):  
Aloyce R. Kaliba ◽  
Anne G. Gongwe ◽  
Kizito Mazvimavi ◽  
Ashagre Yigletu
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Dietary Diversity ◽  
Sampling Technique ◽  
Inverse Probability Weighting ◽  
Reproductive Age ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Probability Weighting ◽  
Food Groups ◽  
Inverse Probability ◽  
Double Robust

In this study, we use double-robust estimators (i.e., inverse probability weighting and inverse probability weighting with regression adjustment) to quantify the effect of adopting climate-adaptive improved sorghum varieties on household and women dietary diversity scores in Tanzania. The two indicators, respectively, measure access to broader food groups and micronutrient and macronutrient availability among children and women of reproductive age. The selection of sample households was through a multistage sampling technique, and the population was all households in the sorghum-producing regions of Central, Northern, and Northwestern Tanzania. Before data collection, enumerators took part in a 1-week training workshop and later collected data from 822 respondents using a structured questionnaire. The main results from the study show that the adoption of improved sorghum seeds has a positive effect on both household and women dietary diversity scores. Access to quality food groups improves nutritional status, food security adequacy, and general welfare of small-scale farmers in developing countries. Agricultural projects that enhance access to improved seeds are, therefore, likely to generate a positive and sustainable effect on food security and poverty alleviation in sorghum-producing regions of Tanzania.

scholarly journals Autosomal Microsatellite Investigation Reveals Multiple Genetic Components of the Highlanders from Thailand

Genes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 383
Author(s):  
Aornpriya Mawan ◽  
Nonglak Prakhun ◽  
Kanha Muisuk ◽  
Suparat Srithawong ◽  
Metawee Srikummool ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Structure ◽  
Genetic Relationships ◽  
Forensic Investigation ◽  
Northern Thailand ◽  
Hill Tribe ◽  
Genetic Components ◽  
Large Populations ◽  
Population Interactions ◽  
Hill Tribes ◽  
The Hill

The hill tribes of northern Thailand comprise nine officially recognized groups: the Austroasiatic-speaking (AA) Khmu, Htin and Lawa; the Hmong-Mien-speaking (HM) IuMien and Hmong; and the Sino-Tibetan-speaking (ST) Akha, Karen, Lahu and Lisu. Except the Lawa, the rest of the hill tribes migrated into their present habitats only very recently. The Thai hill tribes were of much interest to research groups focusing on study of cultural and genetic variation because of their unique languages and cultures. So far, there have been several genetic studies of the Thai hill tribes. However, complete forensic microsatellite database of the Thai hill tribes is still lacking. To construct such database, we newly generated 654 genotypes of 15 microsatellites commonly used in forensic investigation that belong to all the nine hill tribes and also non-hill tribe highlanders from northern Thailand. We also combined 329 genotypes from previous studies of northern Thai populations bringing to a total of 983 genotypes, which were then subjected to genetic structure and population relationships analyses. Our overall results indicated homogenous genetic structure within the HM- and Tai-Kadai (TK)-speaking groups, large genetic divergence of the HM-speaking Hmong but not IuMien from the other Thai groups, and genetic heterogeneity within the ST- and AA-speaking groups, reflecting different population interactions and admixtures. In addition to establishing genetic relationships within and among these populations, our finding, which provides a more complete picture of the forensic microsatellite database of the multiple Thai highland dwellers, would not only serve to expand and strengthen forensic investigation in Thailand, but would also benefit its neighboring countries of Laos and Myanmar, from which many of the Thai hill tribes originated and where large populations of these ethnic groups still reside.

scholarly journals Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on agricultural production, livelihoods, and food security in India: baseline results of a phone survey

Food Security ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lindsay M. Jaacks ◽  
Divya Veluguri ◽  
Rajesh Serupally ◽  
Aditi Roy ◽  
Poornima Prabhakaran ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Agricultural Production ◽  
Dietary Diversity ◽  
The Past ◽  
Phone Survey ◽  
Extra Food ◽  
The Government ◽  
Time Of Year ◽  
Livestock Products ◽  
The Impact

AbstractThe aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on agricultural production, livelihoods, food security, and dietary diversity in India. Phone interview surveys were conducted by trained enumerators across 12 states and 200 districts in India from 3 to 15 May 2020. A total of 1437 farmers completed the survey (94% male; 28% 30–39 years old; 38% with secondary schooling). About one in ten farmers (11%) did not harvest in the past month with primary reasons cited being unfavorable weather (37%) and lockdown-related reasons (24%). A total of 63% of farmers harvested in the past month (primarily wheat and vegetables), but only 44% had sold their crop; 12% were still trying to sell their crop, and 39% had stored their crop, with more than half (55%) reporting lockdown-related issues as the reason for storing. Seventy-nine percent of households with wage-workers witnessed a decline in wages in the past month and 49% of households with incomes from livestock witnessed a decline. Landless farmers were about 10 times more likely to skip a meal as compared to large farmers (18% versus 2%), but a majority reported receiving extra food rations from the government. Nearly all farmers reported consuming staple grains daily in the past week (97%), 63% consumed dairy daily, 40% vegetables daily, 26% pulses daily, and 7% fruit daily. These values are much lower than reported previously for farmers in India around this time of year before COVID-19: 94–95% dairy daily, 57–58% pulses daily, 64–65% vegetables daily, and 42–43% fruit daily. In conclusion, we found that the COVID-19 lockdown in India has primarily impacted farmers’ ability to sell their crops and livestock products and decreased daily wages and dietary diversity.

The Role of Women in Improving Access to Food at the Household Level in Mandeni Local Municipality, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-155
Author(s):  
Nondumiso Thabisile Mpanza ◽  
Mfaniseni Wiseman Mbatha
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Home Gardens ◽  
Household Food Security ◽  
Exploratory Research ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Household Level ◽  
Role Of Women ◽  
Access To Food

This paper censoriously assesses the role of women in improving access to food at the household level. The role of women is essential in the production of food as caretakers of household food security. However, their role is not well recognised, more especially in policymaking and resource allocation. This study was conducted through a qualitative approach with an exploratory research design. The participants were sampled with convenience sampling and interviewed with semi-structured interviews. Content analysis was employed as a tool for data analysis. The study adopted feminisation of poverty as a primary theory of this paper. Certain aspects of the study reveal that women have been struggling to access food from the diversity of retail vents that are obtainable in town because of low income and limitations of transport service. This is a constraint to women who depend on the off-farm sources of income because their household’s livelihood depends on purchasing food from retail vents. Those who rely on home gardens were experiencing low productivity and the unsustainability of their gardens. This has been caused by water scarcity and climate change. Therefore, women must be provided with training that seeks to develop their skills on how to make effective use of home gardens so that food security can be ensured.

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