Agricultural Production, Dietary Diversity, and Climate Variability

Dillon, Andrew ; McGee, Kevin ; Oseni, Gbemisola

World Bank Group, Washington, DC

关键词: ACCESS TO MARKETS;    AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS;    AGRICULTURAL INPUTS;    AGRICULTURAL OUTPUT;    AGRICULTURAL PRICES;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-7022
RP-ID  :  WPS7022

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

Nonseparable household models outlinethe links between agricultural production and householdconsumption, yet empirical extensions to investigate theeffect of production on dietary diversity and dietcomposition are limited. Although a significant literaturehas investigated the calorie-income elasticity abstractingfrom production, this paper provides an empiricalapplication of the nonseparable household model linking theeffect of exogenous variation in planting season productiondecisions via climate variability on household dietarydiversity. Using exogenous variation in degree days,rainfall, and agricultural capital stocks as instruments,the effect of production on household dietary diversity atharvest is estimated. The empirical specifications estimateproduction effects on dietary diversity using bothagricultural revenue and crop production diversity.Significant effects of agricultural revenue and cropproduction diversity on dietary diversity are estimated. Thedietary diversity-production elasticities imply that a 10percent increase in agricultural revenue or crop diversityresults in a 1.8 percent or 2.4 percent increase in dietarydiversity, respectively. These results illustrate thatagricultural income growth or increased crop diversity maynot be sufficient to ensure improved dietary diversity.Increases in agricultural revenue do change dietcomposition. Estimates of the effect of agricultural incomeon share of calories by food groups indicate relativelylarge changes in diet composition. On average, a 10 percentincrease in agricultural revenue makes households 7.2percent more likely to consume vegetables and 3.5 percentmore likely to consume fish, and increases the share oftubers consumed by 5.2 percent.