Investing in Diversified Farming: A Strategic Approach to Food Security
By Kaveh Zahedi
A farm can experience a bumper harvest one year and lose everything the next due to unforeseen events like drought or floods. Salvadoran farmer Nery Osorio understands this risk firsthand. On his one-hectare hillside farm in El Salvador’s Dry Corridor, prone to droughts, he once relied solely on maize and beans. Following a failed harvest, they lost everything.
Today, Osorio's farm boasts a diverse range of crops, including maize, beans, cassava, vegetables, and fruit trees. He also raises cows and goats for milk, providing a safety net during less productive periods. This diversification, Osorio believes, is key to navigating the challenges of a changing climate.
In a hotter and less predictable world, extreme weather events are becoming more frequent, disrupting rainfall patterns and causing droughts or floods. The World Meteorological Organization warns that the upcoming El Niño could be the strongest on record, exacerbating food insecurity in many regions.
87.5 million people faced acute food insecurity in 2025, primarily due to weather extremes, a stark rise from 2018. This volatility demands that farmers adapt their strategies.
Diversifying crops and practices offers farmers a powerful tool to combat these extremes. Different crops and varieties have varying tolerances to conditions like drought and heavy rainfall. Trees provide shade and protect soils, while livestock offer an additional food source and income stream.
Osorio transformed his farm through the FAO’s Green Climate Fund-backed RECLIMA program, which has assisted over 50,000 El Salvador farmers in adopting sustainable practices. He attributes a 70% reduction in livestock feed costs to growing his own fodder. The program has also halved production costs and reduced chemical fertilizer purchases by 70%.
Diversification also contributes to land restoration, as sustainable practices can help heal degraded areas. According to FAO, over 1.6 billion hectares worldwide have been degraded, with significant losses occurring on agricultural land. Restoring soils, planting trees, and improving land management can revive these lands and protect crops from extreme weather.
Research challenges the notion that diversification leads to lower crop yields. A 2026 study analyzing 184 meta-analyses found that diversification improves long-term profitability, biodiversity, soil quality, and carbon storage without significantly impacting crop yields.
In Ethiopia, FAO and UNDP’s SCALA program empowers farming communities to reduce their reliance on rain-fed agriculture. In the Harari region, they focus on drought-tolerant crops, irrigated vegetables, goats, and poultry farming, providing multiple income sources even during dry spells. A 2025 investment analysis predicts a 40% increase in household incomes in Ethiopian regions where SCALA interventions are implemented, highlighting the significant benefits of these strategies.