Data collection

Data was collected using research assistants who had previous exposure to nutrition surveys and fluent in both English and local language of the study area (Luo/Acholi). In order to ensure that the assistants did not interfere with originality of the information, they were further trained on how to inteprete questions to the study participants but not to assist them in providing answers. Data was collected in stages. First stage was assessment of daily consumption levels of FV. Here, each respondent (the person in the household responsible for food preparation) was asked to mention the FV that were consumed by household members in the past 24 h prior to the study. However, to provide a fair estimate of the quantities consumed, representative portions of the food items consumed were weighed and recorded in a standard unit (grams) commonly used in nutrition studies and assesments. The persons in charge of food preparation were interviewed from their respective homes. The second stage was assessment of NA and NK. The third stage was assessment of socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents. The fourth stage was the FGD sessions for which each session lasted 1.5–2 h.