Health, nutrition and agriculture : linkages in farming systems research

First, a conceptual framework is presented for analyzing the linkages between health/nutrition and agriculture at the level of the farming household. The next section addresses priorities for data requirements (health and nutrition effects on agriculture, agricultural effects on health and nutrition) and data collection by describing a hierarchy of research methods commonly used in FSR and well-suited to a step-by-step analysis of interdependence. A discussion is then presented of the potential for improving the five-step FSR procedure (classification, diagnosis, generation of recommendations, implementation, evaluation) by incorporating the health and nutrition linkages. A case study of colonist farmers in Bolivia illustrates both the above and the author"s conclusion that only through the use of multidisciplinary and holistic research programs, such as FSR, can linkages successfully be explored.