IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/ssefpa/v13y2021i6d10.1007_s12571-021-01173-9.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Agricultural production diversity and child nutrition in Ethiopia

Author

Listed:
  • Maryia Bakhtsiyarava

    (University of California – Berkeley)

  • Kathryn Grace

    (University of Minnesota – Twin Cities)

Abstract

This study investigates how two aspects of agricultural production diversity – farm production diversity and composition of production – relate to child height-for-age and weight-for-height in Ethiopia. We use longitudinal data on child anthropometric measurements, household farm production diversity and farm production composition from the Ethiopia Socioeconomic Survey for 2011, 2013, and 2015 available through the World Bank. Using longitudinal fixed effects models, we show that an increase in farm production diversity reduces the risk of chronic food insecurity (child height-for-age) but has no impact on acute measures of food insecurity (child weight-for-height). Results also suggest that, in a context of poor rainfall, more diversity in farm production can adversely impact child height-for-age, although livestock sales might mitigate that detrimental effect. These findings highlight the importance of considering the relationship between farm-level food production and child nutrition in a context of climate change.

Suggested Citation

  • Maryia Bakhtsiyarava & Kathryn Grace, 2021. "Agricultural production diversity and child nutrition in Ethiopia," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 13(6), pages 1407-1422, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:ssefpa:v:13:y:2021:i:6:d:10.1007_s12571-021-01173-9
    DOI: 10.1007/s12571-021-01173-9
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s12571-021-01173-9
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s12571-021-01173-9?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kalle Hirvonen & John Hoddinott, 2017. "Agricultural production and children's diets: evidence from rural Ethiopia," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 48(4), pages 469-480, July.
    2. Chegere, Martin J. & Stage, Jesper, 2020. "Agricultural production diversity, dietary diversity and nutritional status: Panel data evidence from Tanzania," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    3. Muller, Christophe, 2009. "Do agricultural outputs of partly autarkic peasants affect their health and nutrition? Evidence from Rwanda," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 166-175, April.
    4. Okike, I O & Jabbar, Mohammad A., 2005. "Household and environmental factors influencing anthropometric outcomes in pre-school children in a rural Ethiopian community," Research Reports 182992, International Livestock Research Institute.
    5. Calogero Carletto & Sydney Gourlay, 2019. "A thing of the past? Household surveys in a rapidly evolving (agricultural) data landscape: Insights from the LSMS‐ISA," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 50(S1), pages 51-62, November.
    6. Carlo Azzarri & Alberto Zezza & Beliyou Haile & Elizabeth Cross, 2015. "Does Livestock Ownership Affect Animal Source Foods Consumption and Child Nutritional Status? Evidence from Rural Uganda," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(8), pages 1034-1059, August.
    7. Thuan Q. Thai & Evangelos M. Falaris, 2014. "Child Schooling, Child Health, and Rainfall Shocks: Evidence from Rural Vietnam," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(7), pages 1025-1037, July.
    8. Cheng Hsiao, 2007. "Panel data analysis—advantages and challenges," TEST: An Official Journal of the Spanish Society of Statistics and Operations Research, Springer;Sociedad de Estadística e Investigación Operativa, vol. 16(1), pages 1-22, May.
    9. Daniel Ayalew Ali & Stefan Dercon & Madhur Gautam, 2011. "Property rights in a very poor country: tenure insecurity and investment in Ethiopia," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 42(1), pages 75-86, January.
    10. Croissant, Yves & Millo, Giovanni, 2008. "Panel Data Econometrics in R: The plm Package," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 27(i02).
    11. Carter, Michael R. & Little, Peter D. & Mogues, Tewodaj & Negatu, Workneh, 2007. "Poverty Traps and Natural Disasters in Ethiopia and Honduras," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 35(5), pages 835-856, May.
    12. Hirvonen, Kalle & Sohnesen, Thomas Pave & Bundervoet, Tom, 2020. "Impact of Ethiopia’s 2015 drought on child undernutrition," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    13. Abafita, Jemal & Kim, Kyung-Ryang, 2014. "Determinants of Household Food Security in Rural Ethiopia: An Empirical Analysis," Journal of Rural Development/Nongchon-Gyeongje, Korea Rural Economic Institute, vol. 37(2), pages 1-29.
    14. Josephson, Anna Leigh & Ricker-Gilbert, Jacob & Florax, Raymond J.G.M., 2014. "How does population density influence agricultural intensification and productivity? Evidence from Ethiopia," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 142-152.
    15. Beyene, Fekadu & Muche, Mequanent, 2010. "Determinants of Food Security among Rural Households of Central Ethiopia: An Empirical Analysis," Quarterly Journal of International Agriculture, Humboldt-Universitaat zu Berlin, vol. 49(4), pages 1-20.
    16. Abera Demeke & Alwin Keil & Manfred Zeller, 2011. "Using panel data to estimate the effect of rainfall shocks on smallholders food security and vulnerability in rural Ethiopia," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 108(1), pages 185-206, September.
    17. Andrew Dillon & Kevin McGee & Gbemisola Oseni, 2015. "Agricultural Production, Dietary Diversity and Climate Variability," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(8), pages 976-995, August.
    18. Michael Morris & Valerie A. Kelly & Ron J. Kopicki & Derek Byerlee, 2007. "Fertilizer Use in African Agriculture : Lessons Learned and Good Practice Guidelines," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 6650, December.
    19. Sibhatu, Kibrom T. & Qaim, Matin, 2018. "Review: Meta-analysis of the association between production diversity, diets, and nutrition in smallholder farm households," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 1-18.
    20. Gero Carletto & Marie Ruel & Paul Winters & Alberto Zezza, 2015. "Farm-Level Pathways to Improved Nutritional Status: Introduction to the Special Issue," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(8), pages 945-957, August.
    21. Abu Hayat Md. Saiful Islam & Joachim Braun & Andrew L. Thorne-Lyman & Akhter U. Ahmed, 2018. "Farm diversification and food and nutrition security in Bangladesh: empirical evidence from nationally representative household panel data," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 10(3), pages 701-720, June.
    22. Jayne, T.S. & Mather, David & Mghenyi, Elliot, 2010. "Principal Challenges Confronting Smallholder Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(10), pages 1384-1398, October.
    23. Hoddinott, John & Kinsey, Bill, 2001. "Child Growth in the Time of Drought," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 63(4), pages 409-436, September.
    24. Ricker-Gilbert, Jacob & Jumbe, Charles & Chamberlin, Jordan, 2014. "How does population density influence agricultural intensification and productivity? Evidence from Malawi," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 114-128.
    25. Molly E. Brown & David Backer & Trey Billing & Peter White & Kathryn Grace & Shannon Doocy & Paul Huth, 2020. "Empirical studies of factors associated with child malnutrition: highlighting the evidence about climate and conflict shocks," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 12(6), pages 1241-1252, December.
    26. Shiferaw T. Feleke & Richard L. Kilmer & Christina H. Gladwin, 2005. "Determinants of food security in Southern Ethiopia at the household level," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 33(3), pages 351-363, November.
    27. Thiede, Brian C., 2014. "Rainfall Shocks and Within-Community Wealth Inequality: Evidence from Rural Ethiopia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 181-193.
    28. Gerald Shively & Celeste Sununtnasuk, 2015. "Agricultural Diversity and Child Stunting in Nepal," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(8), pages 1078-1096, August.
    29. Bogale, Ayalneh & Taeb, Mohammed & Endo, Mitsugi, 2006. "Land ownership and conflicts over the use of resources: Implication for household vulnerability in eastern Ethiopia," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(1), pages 134-145, June.
    30. Maryia Bakhtsiyarava & Tim G. Williams & Andrew Verdin & Seth D. Guikema, 2021. "A nonparametric analysis of household-level food insecurity and its determinant factors: exploratory study in Ethiopia and Nigeria," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 13(1), pages 55-70, February.
    31. Michler, Jeffrey D. & Josephson, Anna L., 2017. "To Specialize or Diversify: Agricultural Diversity and Poverty Dynamics in Ethiopia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 214-226.
    32. Neha Kumar & Jody Harris & Rahul Rawat, 2015. "If They Grow It, Will They Eat and Grow? Evidence from Zambia on Agricultural Diversity and Child Undernutrition," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(8), pages 1060-1077, August.
    33. Jones, Andrew D. & Shrinivas, Aditya & Bezner-Kerr, Rachel, 2014. "Farm production diversity is associated with greater household dietary diversity in Malawi: Findings from nationally representative data," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 1-12.
    34. John Hoddinott & Derek Headey & Mekdim Dereje, 2015. "Cows, Missing Milk Markets, and Nutrition in Rural Ethiopia," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(8), pages 958-975, August.
    35. Cheng Hsiao, 2007. "Rejoinder on: Panel data analysis—advantages and challenges," TEST: An Official Journal of the Spanish Society of Statistics and Operations Research, Springer;Sociedad de Estadística e Investigación Operativa, vol. 16(1), pages 56-57, May.
    36. John Hoddinott & Bill Kinsey, 2001. "Child Growth in the Time of Drought," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 63(4), pages 409-436, September.
    37. Vanya Slavchevska, 2015. "Agricultural Production and the Nutritional Status of Family Members in Tanzania," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(8), pages 1016-1033, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Isabel Juliet Curtin & Daniel Tobin & Travis Reynolds, 2024. "Do Wealth and Market Access Explain Inconsistent Relationships between Crop Diversity and Dietary Diversity? Evidence from 10 Sub-Saharan African Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-13, January.
    2. Bai, Yunli & Zeng, Xuanye & Zhang, Linxiu & Song, Yiching & Zeng, Xuanye, 2021. "Domestic decision-making, crop diversity, and household dietary diversity: Evidence from five developing countries in Asia," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 315393, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    3. Serge Savary & Stephen Waddington & Sonia Akter & Conny J. M. Almekinders & Jody Harris & Lise Korsten & Reimund P. Rötter & Goedele den Broeck, 2022. "Revisiting food security in 2021: an overview of the past year," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 14(1), pages 1-7, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Maryia Bakhtsiyarava & Tim G. Williams & Andrew Verdin & Seth D. Guikema, 2021. "A nonparametric analysis of household-level food insecurity and its determinant factors: exploratory study in Ethiopia and Nigeria," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 13(1), pages 55-70, February.
    2. Tesfaye, Wondimagegn, 2022. "Crop diversification and child malnutrition in rural Ethiopia: Impacts and Pathways," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    3. Lovo, Stefania & Veronesi, Marcella, 2019. "Crop Diversification and Child Health: Empirical Evidence From Tanzania," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 168-179.
    4. Tiberti, M. & Zezza, A. & Azzarri, C., 2018. "Livestock Ownership and Child Nutrition in Uganda: Evidence from a Panel Survey," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 277403, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    5. Abedin, Naveen & Haque, Samiul, 2021. "Effectiveness of agricultural diversification in promoting food security," 2021 Annual Meeting, August 1-3, Austin, Texas 313967, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    6. Katharina Lehmann-Uschner & Kati Kraehnert, 2017. "Food Intake and the Role of Food Self-Provisioning," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(8), pages 1303-1322, August.
    7. Tesfaye, Wondimagegn & Tirivayi, Nyasha, 2020. "Crop diversity, household welfare and consumption smoothing under risk: Evidence from rural Uganda," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    8. Rosenberg, Adam M. & Maluccio, John A. & Harris, Jody & Mwanamwenge, Marjolein & Nguyen, Phuong H. & Tembo, Gelson & Rawat, Rahul, 2018. "Nutrition-sensitive agricultural interventions, agricultural diversity, food access and child dietary diversity: Evidence from rural Zambia," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 10-23.
    9. Zanello, Giacomo & Shankar, Bhavani & Poole, Nigel, 2019. "Buy or make? Agricultural production diversity, markets and dietary diversity in Afghanistan," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 1-1.
    10. Abu Hayat Md. Saiful Islam & Joachim Braun & Andrew L. Thorne-Lyman & Akhter U. Ahmed, 2018. "Farm diversification and food and nutrition security in Bangladesh: empirical evidence from nationally representative household panel data," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 10(3), pages 701-720, June.
    11. Getahun, Tigabu & Fetene, Gebeyehu, 2021. "The Nexus of Production Diversity, Market Participation and Dietary Diversity: Insights from Ethiopia," Discussion Papers 316382, University of Bonn, Center for Development Research (ZEF).
    12. Peter R. Berti & Heber Araujo Cossio, 2017. "Raising chickens for increased egg consumption in a rural highland Bolivian population," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 9(6), pages 1329-1341, December.
    13. Chanyalew Seyoum Aweke & Edward Lahiff & Jemal Yousuf Hassen, 2020. "The contribution of agriculture to household dietary diversity: evidence from smallholders in East Hararghe, Ethiopia," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 12(3), pages 625-636, June.
    14. Janvier Mwisha-Kasiwa & Cédrick Kalemasi-Mosengo & Oasis Kodila-Tedika, 2023. "Understanding the link between gendered access to agricultural land and household nutrition outcomes in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 23/075, African Governance and Development Institute..
    15. Eric O. Verger & Cédric Gaillard & Andrew D. Jones & Roseline Remans & Gina Kennedy, 2021. "Construction and Interpretation of Production and Market Metrics Used to Understand Relationships with Dietary Diversity of Rural Smallholder Farming Households," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-21, August.
    16. Ruel, Marie T. & Quisumbing, Agnes R. & Balagamwala, Mysbah, 2017. "Nutrition-sensitive agriculture: What have we learned and where do we go from here?:," IFPRI discussion papers 1681, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    17. Orkhan Sariyev & Tim K. Loos & Ling Yee Khor, 2021. "Intra-household decision-making, production diversity, and dietary quality: a panel data analysis of Ethiopian rural households," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 13(1), pages 181-197, February.
    18. Sayla Khandoker & Alka Singh & Shivendra Kumar Srivastava, 2022. "Leveraging farm production diversity for dietary diversity: evidence from national level panel data," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 10(1), pages 1-20, December.
    19. Genova, Christian A. & Umberger, Wendy J. & Newman, Suzie & Peralta, Alexandra, 2017. "To Market, to Market: Does Smallholder Vegetable Production Lead to Increased Children's Diet Diversity and Improved Diet Quality? Empirical Evidence from Northwest Vietnam," 2017 Annual Meeting, July 30-August 1, Chicago, Illinois 258366, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    20. Emily Injete Amondo & Emmanuel Nshakira-Rukundo & Alisher Mirzabaev, 2023. "The effect of extreme weather events on child nutrition and health," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 15(3), pages 571-596, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:ssefpa:v:13:y:2021:i:6:d:10.1007_s12571-021-01173-9. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.