Impact of Poultry Farmers’ Participation in Modern Food Retail Markets on Household Dietary Diversity: Lessons from Southeast Nigeria

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Developing countries’ food systems are experiencing rapid transformations led by modern food retail market (MFRM) channels such as supermarkets, fast food firms, hotels, and convenience stores. This paper analyzes the impact of these channels on farm households’ dietary diversity with survey data from Southeast Nigeria. Estimates from the instrumental variable model show that participation in MFRM is associated with a significant increase in dietary diversity. Furthermore, the linkages through which MFRM participation impacts dietary diversity are analyzed using seemingly unrelated regression. Poultry farm income, consumption of poultry products produced by the farmer, and area of vegetable cultivated using poultry droppings have positive association with dietary diversity, while male controlled poultry farm revenue has negative association with dietary quality. Our study provides useful insights that poultry farm managers would find helpful. It also serves as a potential source of information for policymakers for planning as it links smallholder poultry farmers’ participation in modern food retail markets to improved nutrition. ABSTRACT: This study analyzed the interrelationships between participation in MFRMs and dietary diversity of poultry farming households in Southeast Nigeria. We used cross-sectional data from poultry farmers in Southeast Nigeria and employed instrumental variable and seemingly unrelated regression models to estimate the impact of MFRM participation and major linkages to poultry farm households’ dietary diversity. The results show that participating in MFRMs, relative to traditional markets, improved poultry farmers’ dietary diversity. Moreover, dietary diversity was positively related to higher poultry farm incomes, higher value of own poultry products consumed, and larger area of vegetable cultivated using poultry droppings as manure. Furthermore, increased poultry farm income, higher value of own poultry products consumed, and larger area of vegetable land cultivated using poultry droppings as manure increased the dietary diversity of the farm households. In contrast, a higher share of poultry production revenue controlled by men reduced household dietary diversity. These findings make clear the potential of improving farming households’ nutrition outcomes by promoting participation in MFRMs and the major impact pathways.