The Pathway And Impact:From Crop Diversity To Household Diet And Nutrition

Grain production and consumption sustain a large proportion in world.Food security is at top priority for national economy and people's livelihood.At present,China has basically achieved a balance between food crop supply and demand and has ensured China's grain self-safety.However,along with the rapid economy development and the improving of people's income,the dietary and nutritional status of residents has been undergoing transformation.New requirements of nutritional security had been imposed on food security during the period,which requires "eating enough" and "eating healthily" while "eating well".More people pay attention to the food nutrition issues like household diet and nutrition,crop diversity and nutrition,food production system and so on.In this research micro-data obtained from the field survey of rural areas in Hubei province from May to July 2019 has been used.We analyzed the food consumption habits and dietary structure of residents in different villages,and used Chinese Diet Balance Index(DBI)to evaluate the dietary quality of residents in three typical villages in Hubei province.Then,this study established an analytical framework to identify the effects of crop diversity on rural residents' nutrition intake from two aspects: food consumption effect and agriculture income-increasing effect.Four nutritional indexes of dietary diversity,calorie intake,shares of calorie from protein and fat had been used to examine the impacts of crop diversity.The results showed that :(1)The dietary quality in Hubei was in the moderate state of imbalance.Residents were in excessive intake of cereals,poultry and cooking spices,accompanying by low-level excessive intakes of fruits and dairy products.There were significant differences of the imbalance of food intake in different regions.The dietary imbalance in county Jianshi is more serious,and proportion of residents with moderate imbalance is large.And the dietary of residents in county Chongyang is relatively reasonable.Regional diet customs and geographical factors were the main reasons for the dietary differences.(2)From the pathway of direct consumption of agricultural products,the crop diversity was positively related to dietary diversity and share of calorie from protein.The effects of crop diversity on nutrition and health of rural residents varied among different income groups.Except for the fifth quintile people,the crop diversitywas positively related to dietary diversity.Share of calorie from protein was positively related to crop diversity in the third and fifth quintiles people.Crop diversity was negatively related to share of calorie from fat in the poorest quintile people while positively related to share of calorie from fat in the second quintile low income residents.On farm income was positively related to dietary diversity,calorie intake,share of calorie from fat,and negatively related to share of calorie from protein.Livestock income was negatively related to dietary diversity.(3)From the perspective of the impact of income,large-scale agricultural production had low crop diversity and high agricultural income.Both Family income and agricultural income were positively related to dietary diversity,calorie intake and share of calorie from protein.The increase of agricultural income was conducive to improve the purchase of protein-rich animal foods and soybean products,but it also increases the fat intake.In the case of the fat macronutrient accounts for 42.95% of the total calorie intake,excessive fat intake was not conducive to health.(4)Market was an important factor affecting the nutrition and health of rural residents.Market index was positively related to dietary diversity,calorie intake,shares of calorie from protein.And the effect was stronger than crop diversity only from the model estimation coefficient.Based on the research results,this study produced some implications for improving nutrition and health of local residents: firstly,varies intervention activities need to be conduct in the rural area to promote residents' nutrition knowledge,and guide rural residents to change their consumption concept,and gradually establish a balanced diet pattern.Secondly,enhance rural residents' ability to increase income,expand the non-agricultural employment,achieving multiple income generation.Thirdly,we should pay attention to the development and utilization of rural marginal plots,and appropriately develop diversified self-sufficient agricultural products,such as developing garden planting and breeding.Fourthly,by taking advantage of the situation and combining local characteristics,we conclude that building a new diversified and multi-functional market will help to enrich the food supply.