Although dramatic increases in maize yields since the implementation of the Farm Income Subsidy Program (FISP)—the major national program that subsidizes fertilizer and improved seed primarily for maize cultivation—have likely enhanced household maize self-sufficiency (Chibwana et al. 2012), Malawian diets remain poorly diversified. Indeed, the contribution of foods other than maize to national per capita dietary energy supply appears to have actually decreased slightly in recent years.
Poorly diversified diets characterized by an overreliance on starchy staples are a red flag for malnutrition. Conversely, diets which include a variety of foods are considered important for positive health. Diets which include nutrient-rich legumes and animal-source foods as well as vitamin-rich fruits and vegetables are associated with micronutrient adequacy and reductions in chronic undernutrition (Arimond and Ruel 2004; Thompson and Amoroso 2011).
While crop diversification is an explicit goal of the Government of Malawi, continued support to achieving maize self-sufficiency through the provision of input subsidies also remains a strong policy objective (MOAFS 2011). Theoretically, these two objectives are not mutually exclusive; increasing maize yields through intensification methods, such as those involving increased use of inorganic fertilizer and improved seed facilitated by the FISP subsidies, could potentially free land resources for cultivation of other, more nutrient-dense food crops (Arndt, Pauw, and Thurlow 2013). However, this hypothesis assumes that diversification in household-level production of food crops does, indeed, lead to diversification in the diets of individuals, with possible subsequent positive results their nutritional status.
Evidence on this assumption is scant. Although a large number of empirical studies analyze the determinants of crop diversification or dietary diversity, only a handful assess causal linkages between the two (Herforth and Harris 2014; Hirvonen and Hoddinott 2014; Remans et al 2014). For Malawi specifically, a recent study presented new evidence on precisely this pathway. Using the nationally-representative IHS3 survey data, Jones, Shrinivas, and Bezner-Kerr (2014) found that farm production diversity was associated with greater household-level dietary diversity.