Maize Hybrids, Diversity of Diets and Sources of Vitamin A among Smallholder Farmers in Zambia

Since a 1994 study by Kumar, we are not aware of analyses that have related the adoption of hybrid seed to dietary diversity and smallholder farmers in Zambia, despite the policy importance of nutrition and food security. We apply various econometric approaches to test the relationship of hybrid seed use to dietary diversity and diversity in sources of Vitamin A among smallholder maize growers in Zambia, based on a survey of 1,128 households. Four dietary diversity indicators are defined according to recent research advances: food group diversity, vitamin A diversity, food frequency, and frequency of consuming vitamin A-fortified food. Growing hybrid seed, whether measured as a binary variable or in terms of quantities planted, is strongly and positively related to all four indicators. Findings are robust to econometric models. Although it is often hypothesized that growing hybrids promotes crop specialization and reduces the range of on-farm food sources, these results suggest that instead, hybrid growers enjoy a greater range of food sources from farm production, market purchase, or both. In Zambia, smallholder maize farmers who do not grow hybrid seed are therefore a disadvantaged group, not only with respect to maize productivity, but other key, diet-related welfare indicator