Impact of agricultural interventions on food and nutrition security in Ethiopia: Uncovering pathways linking agriculture to improved nutrition

Achieving sustainable food and nutrition security calls for multi-sectoral coordination mechanisms in implementing, among others, nutrition-sensitive agricultural interventions. Despite progresses made in evaluating the effectiveness/impact of these interventions in some countries, very little is known about the nature and causal effect of these interventions in Ethiopia. Therefore, this systematic review aims to provide evidence on the impact of nutrition-sensitive agricultural interventions and pathways linking agriculture to improved nutrition. Based on a comprehensive advanced literature search using keywords in various databases and setting inclusion/screening criteria, we identify 25 relevant studies conducted between 2008 and 2018. Overall, we find positive effects on knowledge, attitude, and practice of complementary feeding and economic indicators (income, poverty and asset accumulation). We also find an overwhelming positive effect on food consumption, dietary diversity, and food security indicators. However, we also note mixed effectiveness in relation to child anthropometry. The most important pathways linking agriculture to improved nutrition center on its role as a source of food and income, and its effect on food prices/market. Hence, enhancing community-based nutrition education, accelerating adoption of improved technologies, improving access to farm inputs and technical information, integrating farmers to markets, and boosting enabling environments and capacities should be emboldened.