Dietary Diversity in Bangladesh: Evidence from the Nutritional Surveillance Project

Recent surveys show that about half of preschool children and mothers in rural Bangladesh are undernourished. Households consume low-quality diets with little diversity because they lack the resources to grow or purchase micronutrient-rich foods. The low dietary intake of micronutrients has negative consequences for child growth and development and for women’s health and productivity. This chapter explores the quality and diversity of the diet in rural Bangladesh and examines some determinants and outcomes of dietary quality and diversity using surveillance data collected by the NSP. The analysis used data that the NSP collected on preschool children, mothers, and their households during 66 rounds of data collection in rural Bangladesh between January 1991 and December 2001. Data from 1999–2001 show that both the frequency and the diversity of nonrice food intake in rural Bangladesh are low. When rice prices fall, functionally landless households are able to spend more on nonrice foods. As household expenditure on nonrice foods increases, the frequency and diversity of nonrice foods in the household diet increase, and the percentage of underweight children decreases. Fewer than 10 percent of rural households have improved or developed homestead gardens; in 2000 these households consumed nonrice foods more frequently and had a more diverse diet than households with traditional homestead gardens or no gardens at all. NSP findings show that dietary quality, including diversity of diet, is an important factor contributing to nutritional status in Bangladesh. Homestead gardening has the potential to improve the nutritional status of household members, but traditional gardening practices need to be developed so that households produce a wide variety of vegetables and fruits throughout the year. The NSP has 12 years of experience in nutritional surveillance and can provide the mechanism to monitor and evaluate the impact of policies and programs on nutrition and food security.