Can agricultural interventions improve child nutrition? Evidence from Tanzania

TY - JOUR

T1 - Can agricultural interventions improve child nutrition? Evidence from Tanzania

AU - Larsen, Anna Folke

AU - Lilleør, Helene Bie

PY - 2017/10/1

Y1 - 2017/10/1

N2 - Severely reduced height-for-age due to undernutrition is widespread in young African children, with serious implications for their health and later economic productivity. It is primarily caused by growth faltering due to hunger spells in critical periods of early child development. We assess the impact on early childhood nutrition, measured as height-for-age, of an agricultural intervention that improved food security among smallholder farmers by providing them with a “basket” of new technology options. We find that height-for-age measures among children from participating households increased by about 0.9 standard deviations and the incidence of stunting among them decreased by about 18 percentage points.

AB - Severely reduced height-for-age due to undernutrition is widespread in young African children, with serious implications for their health and later economic productivity. It is primarily caused by growth faltering due to hunger spells in critical periods of early child development. We assess the impact on early childhood nutrition, measured as height-for-age, of an agricultural intervention that improved food security among smallholder farmers by providing them with a “basket” of new technology options. We find that height-for-age measures among children from participating households increased by about 0.9 standard deviations and the incidence of stunting among them decreased by about 18 percentage points.

KW - Faculty of Social Sciences

KW - height-for-age

KW - nutrition

KW - agriculture

KW - Tanzania

KW - Africa

KW - I15

KW - O13

KW - Q16

U2 - 10.1093/wber/lhw006

DO - 10.1093/wber/lhw006

M3 - Journal article

SN - 0258-6770

VL - 31

SP - 767

EP - 785

JO - World Bank Economic Review

JF - World Bank Economic Review

IS - 3

ER -