Pathways from agriculture to nutrition: implications of the occupation structure in rural India

This paper examines whether the emerging occupational structure in rural India is conducive for improving nutrition outcomes. Using data from India’s National Sample Survey Organisation’s survey of employment and unemployment conducted in 2009 – 2010, this paper establishes that there is greater dietary diversity, which is an intermediate outcome in the pathway to improved nutrition, among cultivators than among agricultural labourers. However, over time, there has been a reduction in the number of cultivators and an increase in the number of agricultural s. Since poverty is also concentrated among rural labour households, such shifts in occupational structure could prove to be detrimental to addressing the problem of malnutrition.