The document explores the complexities of food access and security in sub-Saharan Africa, highlighting the roles of home production and purchasing power. It presents findings from an analysis of nearly 8000 households, revealing that livestock keepers have more diverse diets, and emphasizes the importance of both farm sourcing and purchasing channels for dietary diversity. Extra income does not always lead to increased food diversity, indicating that interventions must consider nuanced pathways to improve food security.

1. The pathways from intervention to improved food security are
not fully understood.
Food access channels are mediated by home production and
purchasing power.
Using RHOMIS, we can assess the influence that farm type has
on food sourcing behaviour.
We analysed data from almost 8000 households from 8
countries in SSA
• Livestock keepers, on average, have more diverse diets in
the lean period. Diverse cropping households have the
highest maximum diversity
• Farm sourcing is important for plant based and animal
based products.
• The purchased channel was important for sourcing meat,
‘other vegetables’ and legumes
• Fruit and eggs were included in more diverse diets
• Extra income does not necessarily translate into increased
diversity of food purchases
Food access channels in tropical sub-
Saharan Africa
Simon Fraval and Mark van Wijk
International Livestock Research Institute
Poster presentation from the IFPRI-FAO conference on Accelerating the End of
Hunger and Malnutrition, 28-30, November 2018.
This document is licensed for use under the Creative
Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence.
November, 2018.
Introduction
Diet Diversity
Key observations
● Simon Fraval - simonfraval@gmail.com
● Mark Van Wijk - M.VanWijk@cgiar.org
● Box 30709 Nairobi Kenya ● +254 20 422 3000
● ilri.org
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