EFFECT OF CROP DIVERSITY ON RURAL FARMING HOUSEHOLDS’ DIETARY DIVERSITY IN KOGI STATE, NIGERIA

Dietary diversity is crucial particularly in developing world where diets consist of mainly starchy staples and lack nutrient rich foods for improved dietary diversity and quality, the importance of crop diversity in nutrition and health needs to be clearly understood. The study examined the effect of crop diversity on rural farm household dietary diversity in Agricultural Development Project ZONE B of Kogi State, Nigeria. Primary data was used for the study. A total sample size of 120 farmers was used for the study. Data was collected with the use of structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, Simpson’s index, household dietary diversity scores (HDDS) and Poisson regression model were used in the analysis. Based on the result from the analysis,majority of the farmers in the study area were male (75.83%), the mean age was 47years, majority of the farmers were married with an average household size of 8 members. The mean crop diversity index of the farmers was estimated at 0.69. The dietary diversity scores among respondent households were found averagely to be 9. The crop diversity practiced among the respondents was found in this study to have positive and significant effect on the dietary intake of the rural farm households. The study concluded that crop diversity have positive effect on rural farm household dietary diversity in Zone B Kogi State ADP at 1% significance level. The study recommended that policies geared towards improving smallholder farmers` crop diversity should be encouraged in the study area to improve farmers’ dietary diversity.