Promoting Dietary Diversity amongst Families in a Recessed Economy: A Nigeria Experience

This study explores sustainable strategies for promoting dietary diversity among families in a recessed economy, using Nigeria as a case study. Economic recessions, characterized by declining economic growth, rising unemployment, reduced household income, and persistent inflation, significantly impact food security by limiting food availability, accessibility, utilization, and stability. Consequently, households often prioritize the consumption of inexpensive staple foods that provide satiety rather than nutritionally adequate meals, a coping strategy that exacerbates micronutrient deficiencies, undernutrition, chronic diseases, and mortality rates. Using a systematic review approach, secondary data were gathered from peer-reviewed journals, books, and reputable databases such as Google Scholar, PubMed, and Bing AI. The study was anchored on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, which emphasizes the primacy of physiological needs, and examined key concepts including the economic recession in Nigeria, its impact on food security, the meaning and significance of dietary diversity, and the role of dietary diversity indicators (DDIs) in assessing household nutritional status. It further investigated barriers such as high food prices, limited nutrition knowledge, inadequate agricultural support, gender inequalities, and weak policy implementation. Findings indicate that economic instability severely restricts dietary choices, leading to monotonous diets dominated by cereals and tubers with insufficient intake of fruits, vegetables, legumes, animal-source foods, and fortified products. This nutritional gap contributes to a double burden of malnutrition, where undernutrition and obesity coexist within the same population. The study highlights the importance of targeted social protection policies, nutrition-sensitive agriculture that integrates biofortification and crop diversification, community-based nutrition education programs, and improved food affordability through subsidies and innovative food distribution systems to enhance dietary diversity. Strengthening women’s empowerment and promoting local food processing and preservation techniques were also identified as sustainable approaches to improve diet quality. Based on these insights, the study concludes with recommendations that nutrition educators should collaborate with professionals such as home economists, dietitians, and other food experts to promote public awareness of dietary diversity and healthy eating. It further recommends that government strengthen agriculture by supporting smallholder farmers and engaging unemployed youths in nutrition-sensitive farming to enhance food security and improve nutrition outcomes.