Piyush Mehta, Marc Muller, Meredith T. Niles, Kyle Frankel Davis
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Irrigation expansion has been promoted as a way to improve global nutrition and health by increasing food production and income. However, its impact on the health and nutrition of local communities is unclear and might vary substantially across contexts, depending on who reaps the benefits and how. Here we combine georeferenced survey data from 9,144 rural communities (70,817 households) across 26 global south countries with data on global patterns of irrigation infrastructure changes to examine linkages between irrigation expansion and local changes in child diet diversity—a key indicator of micronutrient intake and development. We found a positive link between irrigation and child diet diversity, with substantial regional differences. Irrigation benefits were concentrated in regions without sufficient water resources to support it, suggesting trade-offs between dietary improvements and water stress. By contrast, irrigated areas with sufficient water tend to produce higher fractions of cash crops and export-oriented food items, with weaker associations to improved local diets. These findings suggest that while irrigation access is associated with overall improvements of child diet diversity in rural communities, water stress conditions can influence these outcomes. Nutrition-sensitive strategies thus need to be considered as an essential component of sustainable irrigation planning in the future. Irrigation is an important component of agricultural productivity, but its influence on health and nutritional outcomes—especially those of children—remains unclear. This study examines the links between irrigation expansion and child diet diversity across 26 countries in the global south.
期刊介绍:
Nature Sustainability aims to facilitate cross-disciplinary dialogues and bring together research fields that contribute to understanding how we organize our lives in a finite world and the impacts of our actions.
Nature Sustainability will not only publish fundamental research but also significant investigations into policies and solutions for ensuring human well-being now and in the future.Its ultimate goal is to address the greatest challenges of our time.