Improving diets, shifting norms: Can Nutrition – sensitive agriculture deliver for ethnic minority communities in Northern Vietnam?

Summary

Poor nutrition and gender inequality remain a major challenges in rural areas of developing countries. Nutrition – sensitive agriculture (NSA) interventions offer a promising approach to address these issues by promoting diet diversity and empowering women. However, their impact depends heavily on local conditions. Ethnic minorities in Northern Vietnam provide a unique context for studying these challenges, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, when food security and livelihoods under serious threat. The research combined community and seed market surveys with a randomized controlled trials across 36 clusters conducted during 2020-2022. Interventions included training on nutrition and agriculture, and seed provision. Findings showed limited effectiveness of training alone on diet diversity and crop diversity. However, adding seed provision shows promise. Although NSA helped women gained collective agency and mobility, yet did not bring deeper gender equality since it did not tackle local norms and structural discrimination driving persistent poverty.