A study, conducted by researchers from CIRAD, IRD and the Tunisian Institute of Nutrition and Food Technologies (INNTA), shows systematic positive correlations between the diversity of production on the farm and the diversity of the feeding the women of 290 family farms in the governorate of Sidi Bouzid, Tunisia.
These results, published in the journal Plos One on February 8, 2022, also highlight the role of education level and household income in dietary diversification.
The food security of agricultural households is achieved, on the one hand, through their own food production and, on the other hand, through income from the sale of the food produced. A component of this food security, the diversity of the diet makes it possible to reflect the nutritional intake of populations. In this study, the scientists sought to know the determining factors of a diversified diet. They carried out a survey of 290 women, all aged between 20 and 50 and living in agricultural households in central-eastern Tunisia.
“The Jasmine Revolution, which launched the so-called “Arab Spring” movement, started at the end of 2010 in the rural region of Sidi Bouzid, where farmers faced major inequalities in access to land and irrigation” , recalls Cédric Gaillard, economist at CIRAD and first author of the article. Very dependent on agriculture, the population has also come up against the rise in the price of basic foodstuffs, which are insufficiently produced locally. As a result, the level of food insecurity has soared.
Conducted between November 2014 and January 2016, the surveys sought to provide information on the food situation of women in the region, a fragile population with an often precarious status.
Low diversity of agricultural production but high food diversity
The agricultural activities of the family farms surveyed are mainly oriented towards olive growing (olive cultivation) and animal husbandry. Despite this low diversity of production, the research team found that women in agricultural households had a sufficiently diversified diet, indicating that their food is mainly provided by visiting markets. “We were able to observe that the markets in the governorate of Sidi Bouzid all offered a wide variety of food products, accessible to family budgets”, specifies Eric Verger, researcher in nutrition at the IRD and co-author of the study.
A positive correlation
The links between production and dietary diversity are tenuous, but scientists have nevertheless found a systematic and positive correlation. “The originality of our study is above all methodological because we rely on five indicators of production diversity. These indicators measure different dimensions of diversity, such as direct access to diversified products through agriculture or the diversity of sources of agricultural income,” notes Cédric Gaillard. Each indicator studied is positively correlated with the diversity of women’s diets. The link is weak but systematic.
The diversity of women’s diets is therefore acquired through economic access to the supply available on the markets, but also through the consumption of products from their own farms. For example, the women who consume the most dairy products are those who live on dairy farms.
The diversification of production at the farm level, therefore, remains a major issue of resilience, explains Cédric Gaillard: “As in other regions of the world, the diversification of agriculture at the farm level promotes the nutritional quality of food for women farmers and constitutes at least partial protection against the volatility of food prices on the markets”.
The importance of household education and wealth levels
Since women’s agricultural jobs are still very precarious in the region (where women only benefit from the status of “agricultural worker”), the study underlines the importance of education, which offers women the possibility of accessing off-farm jobs. Indeed, beyond the diversity of food production, the diversity and level of income of women in agricultural households are intrinsically linked to greater diversity and quality of food.
