Report Summary: Improvement in food consumption is a basic goal of agricultural development. Agricultural development aimed at increases in production and income will not necessarily lead to improvement in food consumption of the poor in developing countries. In rural households in particular, the production of agricultural products and the "production" of well-nourished people is highly integrated. In choosing a food consumption indicator there are three major questions to address: what will the indicator be used for; what population group must It cover; and what definition of food consumption will be most cost effective? The first two questions are generally self-evident, the third question cannot be answered simply. Two strategies for measuring food consumption exist: the direct method and the indirect method. Direct methods aim to collect information at the household or individual level on actual food consumed. The indirect method uses a definition which is more remote from the direct meaning of food consumption.