On-farm diversity and market participation are positively associated with dietary diversity of rural mothers in southern Benin, West Africa

The objective was to address the following questions: (1) to what extent varying opportunities for market participation influence the portfolio of domesticated, semi-domesticated and wild plant species (OFD) that rural HHs grow or collect? (2) do these opportunities influence the variety of foods (MD) that women of reproductive age purchase?; and (3) how do the OFD a household maintains and the variety of foods these women purchase influence their dietary diveristy (DD)? Data are based on observational research with a design to test hypotheses related to these 3 questions. Househould(HH) survey with a stratified random sample of 652 rural households over two seasons in 3 districts with different levels of urbanization and different distances to a central market place within each district, representing different opportunities for market participation.The focus was on mothers within the households, but information on husbands was also elicited. The survey elicited information on all useful plant species grown and collected by the mother and the father in a HH during the previous agricultural season, Qualitative food consumption data of the mother were documented using a structured food frequency questionnaire over a 7-day recall period. Data on all food items consumed were recorded in a completely disaggregated way, including different preparations of the same species, and the origin of the foods consumed: self-production, purchase, gathering, or gift. Quantitative data on foods consumed were collected from a 24-hour food recall of the mother using standard procedures. Additional socioeconomic information was also collected, including all market places visited in the 15 days prior to the interview.

本研究旨在解答以下三个核心问题：(1) 差异化的市场参与机会，会在多大程度上影响农村家庭种植或采集的栽培、半栽培及野生植物物种（OFD）组合？(2) 此类市场机会是否会影响育龄女性购买的食物种类（MD）？(3) 家庭留存的上述植物物种组合以及育龄女性购买的食物种类，会对其膳食多样性（Dietary Diversity, DD）产生何种影响？本数据集基于旨在验证上述三项研究假设的观测性研究。研究采用家庭（Household）问卷调查方法，以分层随机抽样选取652户农村家庭，在两个农业季内对3个不同城市化水平、且各辖区内距核心集市距离各异的行政区开展调研，以此设置差异化的市场参与机会场景。调研重点关注受访家庭中的母亲，但同时也收集了丈夫的相关信息。本次问卷收集了受访家庭中父母双方在上一农业季种植与采集的所有有用植物物种相关信息。研究采用结构化食物频率问卷，通过7天回忆法记录母亲的定性食物消费数据。所有食用食物的相关数据均以完全细分的方式记录，涵盖同一物种的不同烹制方式，以及食物的来源：自产、购买、采集或馈赠。研究通过标准流程开展母亲24小时食物回忆调查，以收集食用食物的定量数据。调研同时收集了额外的社会经济信息，包括受访前15天内母亲到访过的所有集市相关数据。