4.1.3. Comparison of Food Consumption Diversity in Kilosa and Chamwino Districts

Food consumption diversity was higher for households in Kilosa district, compared to those in Chamwino (see Figure 4). This was despite the low farm production diversity observed in Kilosa. Notwithstanding the high farm production diversity in Chamwino, the household food consumption diversity was relatively low compared to Kilosa, consistently for both measures of food consumption diversity (HDDS and FVS) and for the planting, pre-harvest and post-harvest agricultural seasons. A deeper look into the data shows that among the food groups, cereals dominated in terms of consumption for both districts. Additionally, although Kilosa fared better in terms of food consumption diversity, vegetables, and pulses, seeds and nuts were important food groups that were consumed in both districts. However, meat, and milk and dairy products food groups were least consumed in the districts.

**Figure 4.** Mean HDDS and FVS in Kilosa and Chamwino districts.

We also compared food consumption diversity based on low and high farm production diversity of households (Table 3). To achieve a simplified comparison, the threshold for high and low diversity was determined by median values of the crop-livestock diversity indicator. Households with crop-livestock diversity above the median were classified as having high production diversity while those below the median were considered to have low production diversity. For Kilosa district, crop-livestock diversity ranges from 1 to 12 with the median value of 3. For the case of Chamwino district, the median crop-livestock diversity was 4 with diversity ranging from 1 to 14. Consistently, results showed that households with high production diversity had higher food consumption diversity based on HDDS and FVS in both districts, though this difference was not significant in a few cases. In Chamwino, the difference was far more significant thus suggesting a stronger role of farm production diversity. Despite the difference in food consumption diversity between the low and high production diversity households, cereals, vegetables, and pulses, seeds and nuts still dominate in both groups as the main food groups consumed.



Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney non-parametric two-sample test used to examine differences between low and high production diversity; \*\* and \*\*\*: Significant difference at 10%, 5% and 1%-levels respectively.
