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The Effect of Cash Transfers and Household Vulnerability on Food Insecurity in Zimbabwe

Author

Listed:
  • Garima Bhalla
  • Sudhanshu Handa
  • Gustavo Angeles
  • David Seidenfeld
  • UNICEF Office of Research - Innocenti

Abstract

We study the impact of the Zimbabwe Harmonized Social Cash Transfer (HSCT) on household food security after 12 months of implementation. The programme has had a strong impact on a well-known food security scale – the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) – but muted impacts on food consumption expenditure. However aggregate food consumption hides dynamic activity taking place within the household where the cash is used to obtain more food from the market and rely less on food received as gifts. The cash in turn gives them greater choice in their food basket which improves diet diversity. Further investigation of the determinants of food consumption and the HFIAS shows that several dimensions of household vulnerability correlate more strongly with the HFIAS than food consumption. Labour constraints, which is a key vulnerability criterion used by the HSCT to target households, is an important predictor of the HFIAS but not food expenditure, and its effect on food security is even larger during the lean season.

Suggested Citation

  • Garima Bhalla & Sudhanshu Handa & Gustavo Angeles & David Seidenfeld & UNICEF Office of Research - Innocenti, 2016. "The Effect of Cash Transfers and Household Vulnerability on Food Insecurity in Zimbabwe," Papers inwopa859, Innocenti Working Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucf:inwopa:inwopa859
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    7. Jaah, Mkupete & Fintel, Dieter von & Burger, Ronelle, 2021. "Maize Price Shock, Agriculture Production and Children Nutrition Outcomes in Tanzania," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 314974, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    8. William Nkomoki & Miroslava Bavorová & Jan Banout, 2019. "Factors Associated with Household Food Security in Zambia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-18, May.
    9. Pace, Noemi & Sebastian, Ashwini & Daidone, Silvio & Prifti, Ervin & Davis, Benjamin, 2022. "Mediation analysis of the impact of the Zimbabwe Harmonized Social Cash Transfer Programme on food security and nutrition," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    10. Ongudi, Silas & Thiam, Djiby, 2021. "The Direct and Indirect Effects of Income on the Consumption of Nutrients: Experimental Evidence from Kenya," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 314956, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    11. Bhalla, Garima & Handa, Sudhanshu & Angeles, Gustavo & Seidenfeld, David, 2018. "The effect of cash transfers and household vulnerability on food security in Zimbabwe," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 82-99.
    12. Ghulam Mustafa, 2022. "Weather Shocks, Unconditional Cash Transfers and Household Food Outcomes," PIDE-Working Papers 2022:8, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics.
    13. Owusu-Addo, Ebenezer & Renzaho, Andre M.N. & Smith, Ben J., 2020. "Developing a middle-range theory to explain how cash transfers work to tackle the social determinants of health: A realist case study," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    14. Helen Walls & Deborah Johnston & Mirriam Matita & Ephraim Chirwa & Jacob Mazalale & Matthew Quaife & Tayamika Kamwanja & Richard Smith, 2023. "How effectively might agricultural input subsidies improve nutrition? A case study of Malawi’s Farm Input Subsidy Programme (FISP)," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 15(1), pages 21-39, February.
    15. Chakrabarti, Averi & Handa, Sudhanshu & Angeles, Gustavo & Seidenfeld, David, 2020. "A cash plus program reduces youth exposure to physical violence in Zimbabwe," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    16. M. Savy & S. Fortin & Y. Kameli & S. Renault & C. Couderc & A. Gamli & K. Amouzou & M. L. Perenze & Y. Martin-Prevel, 2020. "Impact of a food voucher program in alleviating household food insecurity in two cities in Senegal during a food price crisis," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 12(2), pages 465-478, April.
    17. Nawaz, Saima & Iqbal, Nasir, 2021. "How cash transfers program affects environmental poverty among ultra-poor? Insights from the BISP in Pakistan," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 148(PB).
    18. Robert Ugochukwu Onyeneke & Chinyere Augusta Nwajiuba & Christiana Ogonna Igberi & Mark Umunna Amadi & Francis Chidi Anosike & Anthony Oko-Isu & Jane Munonye & Christian Uwadoka & Adewale Iyaniwura Ad, 2019. "Impacts of Caregivers’ Nutrition Knowledge and Food Market Accessibility on Preschool Children’s Dietary Diversity in Remote Communities in Southeast Nigeria," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-19, March.
    19. Xinru Han & Yongfu Chen & Xiudong Wang, 2022. "Impacts of China’s bioethanol policy on the global maize market: a partial equilibrium analysis to 2030," 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 147-163, February.
    20. Mousumi Das, 2021. "Vulnerability to Food Insecurity: A Decomposition Exercise for Rural India using the Expected Utility Approach," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 156(1), pages 167-199, July.
    21. Pace, Noemi & Sebastian, Ashwini & Daidone, Silvio & Dela O Campos, Ana Paula & Prifti, Ervin & Davis, Benjamin, 2022. "Cash transfers’ role in improving livelihood diversification strategies and well-being: short- and medium-term evidence from Zimbabwe," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    cash transfers; food resources; food security; vulnerable groups; zimbabwe;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs

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