Perverse Impact of Agro-Pastoral Policies on the Dietary Intake of Agro-Pastoralists

Agricultural policies in poor rural developing countries have the potential to improve both household nutrition and agricultural income. But can these policy consequences be reconciled? This is not obvious because many policies are deficient. Moreover, in villages, mismatches have been observed between nutrition and profit indicators. However, incomes raised by such policies may generate nutrition improvement. In Niger, a major program directed to agro-pastoralists is the 3N Initiative. Do these policies enhance households’ agricultural profit and dietary intakes? And if so, is it because of an income effect, or through alternative channels? Using an agropastoral survey conducted in 2016 Niger, we find that livestock extension services that reduce calorie intake while improving diet diversity operate mostly through an increased household’s pastoral profit. In contrast, veterinary services and low-cost livestock feed programs improve diet diversity, but do not affect profit and calories. Because livestock extension services foster households specializing in cattle and sheep rearing and sometimes switching to transhumance, they restrict their access to energy-dense cereals. This generate a perverse consequence on caloric intakes, despite rising animal calories. Therefore, nutritional policy-makers should better account for agro-pastoralist access to cereal markets and monitor whether policies generate differential incentives, especially through profit, for specific specialization or lifestyle.