**4. Conclusions**

In this study, we investigated the value of promoting climate-smart agriculture (CSA) practices, coupled with community-level nutrition education and awareness building, to address food insecurity and inadequate nutrition for the overall enhancement of rural livelihoods in Myanmar. Our findings indicated that (based on data collected for two years across four climate-smart villages in Myanmar), CSA can contribute to diversifying and improving the quality of food consumed by households. Both diversification and intensification are key strategies in CSA efforts to sustain small farms, ecologically and economically, while generating critically important nutrition and food security benefits.

Most of the introduced and implemented CSA options that produce nutrient-dense foods (e.g., fruits, vegetables and small livestock) have not generated immediate benefits to households. It is likely that rural communities in Myanmar equate food security with rice, a commodity that was not a focus of the CSA project. In future studies, further consideration of the local food system dimensions, particularly in terms of how households access food, is warranted. Our findings suggest that community education efforts could help communities to understand the benefits that farm diversification can confer in establishing resilience and for fostering local adaptation to climate change manifestation.

Our analysis of KAP indicated that while there is a mix of improvements, there is a poor understanding of households' knowledge, attitudes and practices in relation to nutrition, food choices, food preparation and sanitation and hygiene.

We also observed that the improvements from the CSA interventions were different across the four CSVs. This may suggest that community-level nutrition education can be further improved, possibly by customizing it according to the particular food system and agro-ecosystem features of each CSV. Such education will likely be necessary to more effectively communicate the potential of leveraging climate-smart agriculture for nutrition.

**Author Contributions:** The field research conceptualization, methodological design and data collection was overseen and conducted by W.J.B., J.G., S.M.N., C.M. and P.S.T. The data collected were analyzed by A.H., G.B., W.J.B., P.C.M., J.G. and C.S. The initial figures and tables were generated by G.B. and A.H., and subsequently finalized by W.J.B. The paper was drafted by A.H. under supervision of C.S., P.C.M., W.J.B. and J.G., with final drafts generated by W.J.B. and finalized and edited by W.J.B., P.C.M. and C.S. Funding acquisition was by W.J.B. and J.G. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This research was funded by the International Development Research Center (IDRC) Canada, grant number 108748-001. The APC was funded by the same grant.

**Institutional Review Board Statement:** The studies involving human participants were reviewed and approved by International Development Research Center Canada. The patients/participants provided their written informed consent to participate in this study.

**Informed Consent Statement:** All subjects gave their informed consent for inclusion before they participated in the study. The study protocol was approved by the International Development Research Center-Canada and the International Institute of Rural Reconstruction.

**Data Availability Statement:** The data supporting the conclusions of this study are available upon reasonable request from the authors, with the exception for data that identifies the personal information of the research participants.

**Acknowledgments:** This research was funded by the International Development Research Center (IDRC) Canada and the Consultative Group of International Agricultural Research Centers—Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security Program (CGIAR-CCAFS). The study was part of a project, Climate and Nutrition Smart Villages as Platforms to Address Food Insecurity in Myanmar, led by the International Institute of Rural Reconstruction (IIRR). The authors would like to acknowledge the work of the research teams in Myanmar for their contribution and support during the study.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.
