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This paper provides new empirical evidence on the nexus between farm production diversification and household diet diversity in East Africa. Starting with a conceptual framework for the pathways from agriculture to nutrition, we use data collected from a sample of ultra-poor, labor constrained families living in five rural districts of Kenya. We find production diversification to be positively and significantly associated with household diet diversification, with poultry ownership most strongly correlated. These findings suggest that supporting investments in diversified livelihood systems in general and in small livestock assets such as poultry in particular are viable intervention classes to improve household food security and nutrition for very poor, marginalized smallholders., FAO Document Repository: http://www.fao.org/3/a-i6852e.pdf

Developing country food systems have changed dramatically since the Green Revolution period. At the same time, malnutrition still represents a challenge and is now understood to encompass the three simultaneous dimensions of undernourishment, micronutrient deficiencies, and over-nutrition manifest in overweight and obesity. These changes in food systems and in the understanding of the global malnutrition challenge necessitate fresh thinking about food systems-based strategies to reduce malnutrition. This paper introduces a special section that offers such new perspectives. We discuss trends with respect to indicators of the triple burden of malnutrition to understand the extent of global malnutrition challenges and then relate those to food systems transformation in developing countries., FAO Document Repository: http://www.fao.org/3/CA2273EN/ca2273en.pdf