The Role That Local Food Plants Can Play in Improving Nutrition Security and Alleviating Seasonal Scarcity in Rural Communities: A Multi-Country Study

An adequate nutrient intake and a balanced diet form a prerequisite for maintaining a healthy lifestyle and preventing diseases. Local, yet often underutilised, food plants can contribute to ensuring dietary diversity and hence combating food and nutrition insecurity in rural households of low- and middle-income countries. However, the consumption and use of many local food plants is often stigmatised in local culture or threatened by socio-economic and agroecological changes. This paper presents data from the work of Sowing Diversity = Harvesting Security (SD=HS) programme, that used a Farmer Field School (FFS) approach to improve dietary diversity and quality using local agrobiodiversity in six low- or mid-income countries. The baseline study, that preceded the project’s implementation, gathered FFS participants' perceptions of malnutrition, local food plant consumption, and coping strategies to deal with food scarcity periods. The analysis of such perceptions allowed evaluating the actual and potential role of local agrobiodiversity and showed opportunities to promote the use of local food plants as a strategy to efficiently and affordably address food and nutrition insecurity, particularly in times of food scarcity.