{
  "abstract": "In many cash-crop economies across Sub-Saharan Africa, higher agricultural income often fails to improve nutrition. We argue that this gap arises from a temporal misalignment between seasonal income, food availability, and nutritional needs. Annual measures obscure within-year risks driven by income concentration, poor consumption smoothing, market seasonality, climate variability, and intra-household dynamics. However, income timing alone is insufficient. Cash-crop revenue is frequently spent on non-food assets, gender dynamics shape who controls income and what is purchased, and nutritional adequacy requires dietary diversity, not just calories, which market supply often constrains. Moreover, savings mechanisms, though widely promoted, may fail during lean seasons due to trust, security, or liquidity issues. We propose three refined policy responses: (1) temporal nutrition audits that monitor dietary quality disaggregated by age and sex during local vulnerability windows; (2) financial instruments with gender-sensitive access, secure storage, and flexible withdrawal terms aligned with lean-season needs; and (3) climate-informed interventions that use anticipatory data to protect women's food budgets and support year-round availability of micronutrient-rich foods. The framework emphasizes local calibration using agricultural calendars, market conditions, household expenditure patterns, and seasonal nutrition data. It offers a conceptual basis for aligning agricultural, nutrition, financial, social-protection, climate, and gender policies with the timing and nature of nutritional vulnerability.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Corresponding author.",
    "Biomedical Science Education and Service Directorate, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Wollo University, Dessie, Ethiopia",
    "Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; University of Galway, Ireland"
  ],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 3,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Taddese Alemu Zerfu"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Amare Abera Tareke"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Dawit Alemayehu Chekol"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/bytbtvm6e3n4d.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.1016/j.sftr.2026.102243",
  "fulltext_url": "http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S266618882600599X",
  "id": "bytbtvm6e3n4d",
  "issns": [
    "2666-1888"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sftr.2026.102243",
  "language": "en",
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "journal",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "lcc",
      "GE1-350"
    ],
    [
      "lcc",
      "T"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "2002|Economics of Agriculture and Food Markets"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7223251491",
  "pdf_url": null,
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-30",
  "publisher": "Elsevier",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/bytbtvm6e3n4d.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T13:44:29Z",
      "native_id": "207165a023ff4da482790e19159c385d",
      "source": "doaj",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sftr.2026.102243"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "earth",
      "origin": "lcc:GE1-350",
      "subfield": "environmental-science"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Temporal misalignment of income and nutrition in cash-crop food systems of Sub-Saharan Africa: Rethinking food security policy",
  "title_text": "Temporal misalignment of income and nutrition in cash-crop food systems of Sub-Saharan Africa: Rethinking food security policy",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T13:44:29Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/bytbtvm6e3n4d",
  "venue": "Sustainable Futures",
  "versions": []
}