Seasonality and nutrition-sensitive farming in rural Northern Ghana.

Unlabelled: In rural sub-Saharan Africa, where malnutrition in all its forms is rife, the greatest gap between the availability of foods and the foods needed for a nutritious diet are faced during the 'hunger season'. We investigated what rural households in Northern Ghana would need to grow to ensure year-round availability of a nutrient adequate diet or the income required to fulfil their dietary needs. We applied linear programming to model different scenarios and interventions.

PROTOCOL: Measuring diet-related consumer behaviours relevant to low- and middle-income countries to advance food systems research: An evidence and gap map.

This is the protocol for a evidence and gap map. The main objective of this evidence and gap map is to provide access to a systematic overview of available indicators for diet-related consumer behaviours relevant to LMICs, to support policy makers and researchers to develop, monitor and revise food policies and programmes to leverage food systems transformations for healthier and more sustainable diets.

Current and potential role of grain legumes on protein and micronutrient adequacy of the diet of rural Ghanaian infants and young children: using linear programming.

Background: Grain legumes are appreciated for their contribution to dietary protein and micronutrient intake in addition to their benefits in providing income and replenishing soil fertility. They offer potential benefits in developing countries where future food demand is increasing and both undernutrition and overweight co-exist. We studied the current and potential role of grain legumes on protein, both quantity and quality, and micronutrient adequacy in the diet of rural Ghanaian infants and young children.

Food and nutrient gaps in rural Northern Ghana: Does production of smallholder farming households support adoption of food-based dietary guidelines?

Food-based dietary guidelines (FBDGs) provide guidance to policy makers, the private sector and consumers to redesign food systems and to improve diets of vulnerable populations. As appropriate FBDGs are based on the actual dietary patterns and their costs, it is assumed that the recommended foods are available, affordable and acceptable for the population under study. Using quantitative dietary intake data of young children in rural Northern Ghana, we developed local FBDGs and studied whether these are supported by the diversity and quantity of the production of a household among 329 households.

Grain legume cultivation and children's dietary diversity in smallholder farming households in rural Ghana and Kenya.

Boosting smallholder food production can potentially improve children's nutrition in rural Sub-Saharan Africa through a production-own consumption pathway and an income-food purchase pathway. Rigorously designed studies are needed to provide evidence for nutrition impact, but are often difficult to implement in agricultural projects.Within the framework of a large agricultural development project supporting legume production (N2Africa), we studied the potential to improve children's dietary diversity by comparing N2Africa and non-N2Africa households in a cross-sectional quasi-experimental design, followed by structural equation modelling (SEM) and focus group discussions in rural Ghana and Kenya.