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Abstract
The evidence to date on the links between nutrition –sensitive agricultural interventions and dietary diversity has been scant and inconclusive. This study contributes to the debate by analyzing the impacts of sweet potato production on dietary diversity of farm households in northern Ethiopia. Survey data collected in 2014 from 524 sample households was used in the analysis. Endogenous switching regression model supported by binary propensity score matching methods were used to empirically assess the impact of adopting sweet potato on food consumption score or dietary diversity of farm households. Results show that education of household head, farm size, access to information, extension visit, and institutional services are the major determinants of household decisions to adopt sweet potato. The average treatment effect results also show that the food consumption score or dietary diversity is high for adopters as compared to the non-adopter counterparts. The results are robust and consistent in both methods. Thus, policies and development strategies encouraging further adoption of nutrition sensitive agricultural technologies could enhance dietary diversity of smallholder farmers in Ethiopia.