Crop Production Diversity and the Well-being of Smallholder Farm Households in Nigeria
DOWNLOADMay 13, 2024 - Ibukun James Olaoye, Sarah Edore Edewor, Tarana Chauhan, David Stifel
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EmailGrowing more than one crop species at a time is a common production strategy observed among smallholder farmers throughout sub-Saharan Africa, including Nigeria (Isbell et al., 2021). More than four out of five farming households in Nigeria practice crop diversification (CD). Smallholder farm households (cultivate ≤ 5ha) are even more likely to practice CD, as they cultivate about three crop species on average and more than 9 out of 10 grow more than one crop (LSMS waves 1-3). CD involves the simultaneous cultivation of a variety of crop species that suit local conditions. It serves as a strategy to mitigate and cope with both socioeconomic and environmental shocks and risks (Labeyrie et al., 2021). CD does not only foster cooperation among crops, it also lowers the risk of pest and disease outbreaks caused by climate variability. Furthermore, it reduces farmers’ vulnerability to crop failure when relying on one crop species.
CD contributes to more diverse diets for households, especially in settings where the food produced is for home consumption (Debela et al., 2021). Thus, CD may enhance household food consumption by increasing both the quantity (calories) and variety of food consumed. However, the effect of production diversity on dietary diversity may weaken and even disappear for households with access to food markets (Hirvonen and Hoddinott, 2017). This is because, market access allows farming households to separate their production decisions from their consumption decisions, so they can focus on maximizing farm profit and then enjoying healthy varied diets through food purchases (Khonje et al., 2022).
Although we cannot conclude on the extent of the effect of practicing CD on household well-being, because even when the associations between CD and the quality of household diets is positive, households may need to grow nine additional crops to increase the number of food groups consumed by one (Sibhatu and Qaim, 2018b). The associations are often insignificant when CD is measured by crop group rather than species count (Sibhatu and Qaim, 2018a). Besides, crop diversity may even “entrench poverty” by limiting household specialization and profit maximization, even when there is a valid reason for engaging in CD (Appiah-Twumasi and Asale, 2022). Likewise, households that embrace CD may encounter income losses due to poor production pattern choices (Kiani et al., 2021). Thus, there’s still debate as to whether CD contributes to improved household well-being, motivating the need to better understand the channels through which crop diversity can improve households’ dietary diversity.
