To explore impacts of a demonstration garden-based agricultural intervention on agricultural knowledge, practices and production, food security and preschool child diet diversity of subsistence farming households.

Observational study of households new to the intervention or participating for 1 or 5 years. Variables measured were agricultural techniques learned from the intervention and used, agricultural production, household food insecurity (FIS) and child diet diversity (DDS), over one agricultural cycle (during land preparation, growing and harvest months).

Fifteen rural subsistence farming communities in Panama.

Households participating in intervention (n 237) with minimum one preschool child.

After 1 year, participants had more learned and applied techniques, more staple crops produced and lower FIS and higher DDS during land preparation and growing months compared with those new to the intervention. After 5 years, participants grew more maize, chickens and types of crops and had higher DDS during growing months and, where demonstration gardens persisted, used more learned techniques and children ate more vitamin A-rich foods. Variables associated with DDS varied seasonally: during land preparation, higher DDS was associated with higher household durable asset-based wealth; during growing months, with greater diversity of vegetables planted and lower FIS; during harvest, with older caregivers, caregivers working less in agriculture, more diverse crops and receiving food from demonstration gardens.

The intervention improved food production, food security and diets. Sustained demonstration gardens were important for continued use of new agricultural techniques and improved diets.

To determine if constraints on agricultural production were a novel construct in the Panama Food Security Questionnaire (FSQ) and to characterize agricultural and economic determinants of food insecurity during the planting, growing and harvesting time periods in subsistence farming communities.

This longitudinal study followed households during land preparation, growing and harvest periods in one agricultural cycle. Agricultural production and economic variables were recorded and the Panama FSQ was administered. Exploratory factor analysis was used to verify construct validity of the FSQ. A food insecurity score (FIS), ranging from 0 to 42, was derived. Multiple regression analyses of FIS were conducted for each agricultural period.

Fifteen rural villages in Panama.

Subsistence farming households (n 237).

The FSQ contained four constructs: (i) ability to buy food; (ii) decreased amount/number of meals; (iii) feeling hungry; and (iv) lower agricultural production because of weather or lack of resources. Although most households were mildly food insecure in all time periods, determinants of food insecurity differed in each. Higher FIS was associated during land preparation with less rice and legumes planted and lower asset-based wealth; during growing months with less rice, more maize and pigeon peas planted and not selling produce; and during harvest with less rice planted, fewer chickens and lower income.

Constraints on agriculture was a novel construct of the Panama FSQ. Different income-related variables emerged in each agricultural period. Planting staple foods and raising chickens were associated with food security, but some crop choices were associated with food insecurity.

Measurements of length at birth, or in the neonatal period, are challenging to obtain and often discounted for lack of validity. Hence, classical ‘under-5’ stunting rates have been derived from surveys on children from 6 to 59 months of age. Guatemala has a high prevalence of stunting (49·8 %), but the age of onset of growth failure is not clearly defined. The objective of the study was to assess length-for-age within the first 1·5 months of life among Guatemalan infants.

As part of a cross-sectional observational study, supine length was measured in young infants. Mothers’ height was measured. Length-for-age Z-scores (HAZ) were generated and stunting was defined as HAZ <−2 using WHO growth standards.

Eight rural, indigenous Mam-Mayan villages (n 200, 100 % of Mayan indigenous origin) and an urban clinic of Quetzaltenango (n 106, 27 % of Mayan indigenous origin), Guatemala.

Three hundred and six newborns with a median age of 19 d.

The median rural HAZ was −1·56 and prevalence of stunting was 38 %; the respective urban values were −1·41 and 25 %. Linear regression revealed no relationship between infant age and HAZ (r=0·101, r2=0·010, P=0·077). Maternal height explained 3 % of the variability in HAZ (r=0·171, r2=0·029, P=0·003).

Stunting must be carried over from in utero growth retardation in short-stature Guatemalan mothers. As linear growth failure in this setting begins in utero, its prevention must be linked to maternal care strategies during gestation, or even before. A focus on maternal nutrition and health in an intergenerational dimension is needed to reduce its prevalence.