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Diet diversity in pastoral and agro-pastoral households in Ugandan rangeland ecosystems

Diet diversity in pastoral and agro-pastoral households in Ugandan rangeland ecosystems

Mayanja, Maureen, Rubaire-Akiiki, Chris, Morton, John ORCID: 0000-0002-8013-5794, Young, Stephen and Greiner, Ted (2015) Diet diversity in pastoral and agro-pastoral households in Ugandan rangeland ecosystems. Ecology of Food and Nutrition, 54 (5). pp. 529-545. ISSN 0367-0244 (Print), 1543-5237 (Online) (doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/03670244.2015.1041135)

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Abstract

We explore how diet diversity differs with agricultural seasons and between households within pastoral and agro-pastoral livelihood systems, using variety of foods consumed as a less complex proxy indicator of food insecurity than benchmark indicators like anthropometry and serum nutrients. The study was in the central part of the rangelands in Uganda. Seventy nine households were monitored for three seasons, and eight food groups consumed during a 24 hour diet recall period used to create a household diet diversity score (HDDS). Mean HDDS was 3.2, varied significantly with gender, age, livelihood system and season (p < .001, F = 15.04), but not with household size or household head’s education level. Agro-pastoralists exhibited lower mean diet diversity than pastoralists (p < .01, F = 7.84) and among agro-pastoralists, households headed by persons over 65 years were most vulnerable (mean HDDS 2.1). This exploratory study raises issues requiring further investigation to inform policies on nutrition security in the two communities.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: [1] Copyright: © Maureen Mayanja, Chris Rubaire-Akiiki, John Morton, Stephen Young, and Ted Greiner. This is an Open Access article. Non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly attributed, cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way, is permitted. The moral rights of the named author(s) have been asserted. [2] Acknowledgements (funding): Fieldwork for this study was funded by Africa Innovation Institute, Uganda under an IDRC supported project. The first author is a Commonwealth Splitsite Scholar at the Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich, partially funded by the UK government, and a PhD student at Makerere University, Uganda partially funded by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York.
Uncontrolled Keywords: food insecurity, household diet diversity, livelihood system, pastoral, seasonal variation
Subjects: H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor
H Social Sciences > HM Sociology
H Social Sciences > HT Communities. Classes. Races
S Agriculture > S Agriculture (General)
Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group: Faculty of Engineering & Science
Faculty of Engineering & Science > Natural Resources Institute
Last Modified: 03 Aug 2020 06:57
URI: http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/13775

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