Can Agricultural Interventions Improve Child Nutrition? Evidence from Tanzania

Folke Larsen, Anna ; Lilleor, Helene Bie

Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank

关键词: NUTRITION;    FOOD SECURITY;    CHILD NUTRITION;    EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT;    SMALLHOLDER FARMER;   

DOI  :  10.1093/wber/lhw006

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

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.