Betting on Agriculture for Nutritional Security in South Asia

South Asia has a high incidence of malnutrition, especially among women and children. Though improvements have been reported in the region’s performance in terms of nutritional outcomes in recent years, considering the region’s huge, vulnerable population, it is crucial to track the progress. Agriculture and related activities are the significant sources of livelihood in the region; hence identifying the trajectories and gauging the performance of agricultural interventions targeting better nutritional outcomes in South Asia is taken up in this study. A review of agricultural interventions, including the inputs, for harvesting better nutrition outcomes, is undertaken. A systematic review approach is followed to capture the effect of crop diversification on dietary diversification and better nutritional outcomes. The chapter also reveals findings from a specific case study aimed to provide evidence on the effect of farm production diversity on nutritional outcomes in Bangladesh using the Bangladesh Integrated Household Survey (BIHS) data. Finally, some of the region’s best-performing programs are highlighted.