Linkages between dietary diversity and indicators of agricultural biodiversity in Burkina Faso

This paper assesses the relationships between women’s dietary diversity and various indicators of agricultural biodiversity in farms of the Hauts-Bassins, a cotton-growing region in rural western Burkina Faso. A sample of 579 farms representative of the region was surveyed at three different periods of the year. Using a qualitative 24-h dietary recall, we computed a women’s dietary diversity score (WDDS-10) based on ten food groups. We used four crop diversity indicators: crop count (CC), Simpson’s index (SI), nutritional functional diversity (NFD) and production diversity score (PDS) based on the same food groups as in the WDDS-10. We also counted the number of agroforestry tree species that provide food and the number of animal species raised. Mean WDDS-10 was low (3.4 ± 1.5 food groups) and did not vary between seasons, whereas the food groups consumed changed according to harvests. Farm production is based on cereals and cotton with low diversity (on average 2.2 ± 1.0 food groups were cultivated on each farm). Results of mixed models showed that WDDS-10 is positively associated with PDS and the number of agroforestry trees species. In this area, dietary diversity of women in farming households depends on the on-farm production of nutritionally diverse crops, partly because when a crop is produced some of it is usually consumed by the members of the farm household. In addition, WDDS-10 was found to be negatively associated with cotton production when managed by male farm heads, but positively when managed by women. Our results show that assessing the relationships between WDDS-10 and agricultural biodiversity depends on how the latter is assessed. In Burkina Faso, enhancing agricultural biodiversity, especially nutrient-dense crops and agroforestry trees, could be an appropriate way to improve dietary diversity.