DIETARY PATTERN OF SMALL AND MARGINAL FARM FAMILIES IN ADILABADDISTRICT OF TELANGANA STATE

Abstract

Food plays a critical role in sustaining individuals’ health and overall well-being. By keeping the importance of nutrition in daily life the study was formulated. Objectives of the study were to study the profiles of men and women from small and marginal farm families and analyse their dietary pattern. An ex post facto research design was used for the study in Telangana State. Only Adilabad District was purposively selected from Telangana. Among eighteen mandals of Adilabad District, Jainad and Bela
mandals were randomly selected. From small and marginal farm families, either a man or a woman was randomly selected, resulting in a sample size of 120 respondents, comprising 60 men and 60 women. The study focused on fifteen independent variables and one dependent variable. The results indicated that most (60.00%) of the people were middle aged, had primary level of education (42.50%), agriculture as an occupation (60.00%) and annual income of 50,000 to 1,50,000 Rs. (74.99%). Exactly half (50.00%)
of them were male and female, belonged to nuclear families (70.00%), engaged in cotton cropping (50.00%), had two earners in the family (60.83%) and were living in proximity of <5 kms (50.00%). They had no milch animal (75.00%), debt of >30,000 Rs. (68.33%), medium health orientation (60.00%) and moderate health status (63.33%). Additionally, wives predominantly made decisions about food (50.00%) and wholesale shops were the preferred choice for food purchases (63.33%). Half (50.83%) of the
people had insufficient quantity of diet, medium frequency of diet intake (51.66%), sourced their diet diversely (55.83%), spent moderately on their diet (55.00%), stored their food moderately properly (45.00%), engaged in high physical activity (70.83%), and maintained a fair dietary pattern (45.83%). In males, the higher diet quantity difference was found in milk and milk products (190 gr), followed by cereals (150 gr), roots and tubers (75 gr), and other vegetables (75 gr). In females, the higher diet quantity
difference was found in milk and milk products (220 gr), followed by cereals (100 gr), roots and tubers (100 gr), and other vegetables (90 gr). Half (54.16%) of the respondents consumed 15%-50% less the recommended quantity of cereals (54.16%) and pulses (52.50%). All (100%) of them consumed cereals pulses, milk and milk products and sugars regularly. Diversity of diet was found in cereals, fruits, other vegetables and green leafy vegetables. Education (0.3452 **), occupation (0.2409 **), number
of persons earning (0.2284 **), milch animals (0.3061 **), health orientation (0.3342 **), decision making about food (0.2650 **) and
preference of shops (0.2986 **) were found positive and highly significantly associated with dietary pattern. Annual income (0.2184 *), cropping pattern (0.2340 *), and health status (0.1958 *) were found positive and highly significantly associated with dietary pattern. Whereas, gender (-0.1992 *), distance to market (-0.1980 *) and debt (-0.1795 *) were found negative and significantly associated with dietary pattern.