The impact of production diversification on livelihood outcomes among smallholder farmers

This review provides exploratory scientific evidence on the linkages between on-farm production diversity and livelihood outcomes of rural smallholders in the Global South. It focuses on dietary diversity, nutrition, food security, and shock resilience, as well as other livelihood outcomes that may be affected by promoting on-farm production diversity.

Findings show that the links between production diversity and dietary or nutritional outcomes are generally positive but small, and heavily context dependent. Diversified cropping systems offer clearer benefits for resilience and food security, particularly by buffering against climatic shocks and increased climatic variability, while stabilizing yields and enhancing ecosystem services. There is also some evidence that diversification improves food security in smallholders in rural settings, where self-sufficiency from own production is prevalent. There is also emerging evidence that more diversified agricultural production can benefit women’s empowerment and reduce smallholders’ reliance on external inputs. However, diversification may involve trade-offs with specialization and income generation, especially on small plots.

More generally, production diversification alone might be insufficient to improve livelihoods in a meaningful way. Interventions are most effective when combined with complementary measures such as nutrition education, market access, and gender-sensitive programming. Policy strategies should therefore move beyond farm-level diversification to also consider community- and regional-level diversity, while embedding diversification within broader efforts to strengthen food systems and rural development.