Showing papers by "International Food Policy Research Institute published in 2006"

Long Term Consequences Of Early Childhood Malnutrition

Abstract: This paper examines the impact of pre-school malnutrition on subsequent human capital formation in rural Zimbabwe using a maternal fixed effects - instrumental variables (MFE-IV) estimator with a long term panel data set. Representations of civil war and drought shocks are used to identify differences in pre-school nutritional status across siblings. Improvements in height-for-age in pre-schoolers are associated with increased height as a young adult and number of grades of schooling completed. Had the median pre-school child in this sample had the stature of a median child in a developed country, by adolescence, she would be 3.4 centimeters taller, had completed an additional 0.85 grades of schooling and would have commenced school six months earlier. © 2006 Oxford University Press.

Uneven dietary development: linking the policies and processes of globalization with the nutrition transition, obesity and diet-related chronic diseases

Abstract: In a "nutrition transition", the consumption of foods high in fats and sweeteners is increasing throughout the developing world. The transition, implicated in the rapid rise of obesity and diet-related chronic diseases worldwide, is rooted in the processes of globalization. Globalization affects the nature of agri-food systems, thereby altering the quantity, type, cost and desirability of foods available for consumption. Understanding the links between globalization and the nutrition transition is therefore necessary to help policy makers develop policies, including food policies, for addressing the global burden of chronic disease. While the subject has been much discussed, tracing the specific pathways between globalization and dietary change remains a challenge. To help address this challenge, this paper explores how one of the central mechanisms of globalization, the integration of the global marketplace, is affecting the specific diet patterns. Focusing on middle-income countries, it highlights the importance of three major processes of market integration: (I) production and trade of agricultural goods; (II) foreign direct investment in food processing and retailing; and (III) global food advertising and promotion. The paper reveals how specific policies implemented to advance the globalization agenda account in part for some recent trends in the global diet. Agricultural production and trade policies have enabled more vegetable oil consumption; policies on foreign direct investment have facilitated higher consumption of highly-processed foods, as has global food marketing. These dietary outcomes also reflect the socioeconomic and cultural context in which these policies are operating. An important finding is that the dynamic, competitive forces unleashed as a result of global market integration facilitates not only convergence in consumption habits (as is commonly assumed in the "Coca-Colonization" hypothesis), but adaptation to products targeted at different niche markets. This convergence-divergence duality raises the policy concern that globalization will exacerbate uneven dietary development between rich and poor. As high-income groups in developing countries accrue the benefits of a more dynamic marketplace, lower-income groups may well experience convergence towards poor quality obseogenic diets, as observed in western countries. Global economic polices concerning agriculture, trade, investment and marketing affect what the world eats. They are therefore also global food and health policies. Health policy makers should pay greater attention to these policies in order to address some of the structural causes of obesity and diet-related chronic diseases worldwide, especially among the groups of low socioeconomic status.

Biofortification of Staple Food Crops

Abstract: Deficiencies of vitamin A, iron, and zinc affect over one-half of the world's population. Progress has been made to control micronutrient deficiencies through supplementation and food fortification, but new approaches are needed, especially to reach the rural poor. Biofortification (enriching the nutrition contribution of staple crops through plant breeding) is one option. Scientific evidence shows this is technically feasible without compromising agronomic productivity. Predictive cost-benefit analyses also support biofortification as being important in the armamentarium for controlling micronutrient deficiencies. The challenge is to get producers and consumers to accept biofortified crops and increase their intake of the target nutrients. With the advent of good seed systems, the development of markets and products, and demand creation, this can be achieved.

Exploring Poverty Traps and Social Exclusion in South Africa Using Qualitative and Quantitative Data

Abstract: Recent theoretical work hypothesises that a polarised society like South Africa will suffer a legacy of ineffective social capital and blocked pathways of upward mobility that leaves large numbers of people trapped in poverty. To explore these ideas, this paper employs a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods. Novel econometric analysis of asset dynamics over the 1993–98 period identifies a dynamic asset poverty threshold that signals that large numbers of South Africans are indeed trapped without a pathway out of poverty. Qualitative analysis of this period and the period 1998–2001 more deeply examines patterns of mobility, and confirms the continuation of this pattern of limited upward mobility and a low-level poverty trap. In addition, the qualitative data permit a closer look at the specific role played by social relationships. While finding ample evidence of active social capital and networks, these are more helpful for non-poor households. For the poor, social capital at best helps sta...

Shocks and their consequences across and within households in Rural Zimbabwe

Abstract: Increasing attention is now being paid to poverty dynamics in developing countries. This work links the extent to which households smooth consumption or smooth assets given income shocks, the empirical evidence on the churning of households in and out of poverty, and the possibility that temporary shocks can have permanent consequences. Using longitudinal data from rural Zimbabwe, this paper extends the discussion of these issues by disaggregating the impact of shocks by levels of asset holdings, by disaggregating the impact of shocks on individual level welfare and by assessing the extent to which such shocks have permanent consequences. By doing so, it assesses the validity of distinguishing between asset and consumption smoothing and provides insights into whether poverty dynamics assessed at the household level provide an adequate picture of dynamics at the individual level.

Setting weights for aggregate indices: An application to the commitment to development index and human development index

Abstract: Aggregate indices like UNDP's Human Development Index (HDI) or the Centre for Global Development and Foreign Policy's Commitment to Development Index (CDI) are subject to multiple criticisms. This paper addresses concerns linked to the equal weights used in the HDI and the CDI and evaluates alternative weighting schemes. It relies on an opinion survey conducted electronically among researchers from 60 countries to assess whether or not professional judgment affects the use of equal weights. Results of the opinion survey point to a surprising result for the HDI: despite widespread criticism of equal weights, a simple scheme based on equal weights is not only convenient but also consistent with the views of experts. For some components of the CDI, however, weights derived from the survey do differ from equal weights. Nevertheless, the weights emerging from the survey are not sufficiently different from equal weights to significantly alter country rankings.

Migrant Opportunity and the Educational Attainment of Youth in Rural China

Abstract: In this paper, we investigate how reductions of barriers to migration affect the decision of middle school graduates to attend high school in rural China. Change in the cost of migration is identified using exogenous variation across counties in the timing of national identity card distribution, which made it easier for rural migrants to register as temporary residents in urban destinations. We show that timing of ID card distribution is unrelated to local rainfall shocks affecting demand for migration, and not related to proxies reflecting time-varying changes in village policy or administrative capacity. We find a robust negative relationship between migrant opportunity and high school enrollment. The mechanisms behind the negative relationship are suggested by observed increases in subsequent local and migrant non-agricultural employment of high school age young adults as the size of the current village migrant network increases.

The Impact of Nutrition during Early Childhood on Education among Guatemalan Adults

Abstract: Early childhood nutrition is thought to have important effects on education, broadly defined to include various forms of learning We advance beyond previous literature on the effect of early childhood nutrition on education in developing countries by using unique longitudinal data begun during a nutritional experiment during early childhood with educational outcomes measured in adulthood Estimating an intent-to-treat model capturing the effect of exposure to the intervention from birth to 36 months, our results indicate significantly positive, and fairly substantial, effects of the randomized nutrition intervention a quarter century after it ended: increased grade attainment by women (12 grades) via increased likelihood of completing primary school and some secondary school; speedier grade progression by women; a one-quarter SD increase in a test of reading comprehension with positive effects found for both women and men; and a one-quarter SD increase on nonverbal cognitive tests scores There is little evidence of heterogeneous impacts with the exception being that exposure to the intervention had a larger effect on grade attainment and reading comprehension scores for females in wealthier households The findings are robust to an array of alternative estimators of the standard errors and controls for sample attrition

Capturing the complexity of water uses and water users within a multi-agent framework

Abstract: Due to the hydrological and socio-economic complexity of water use within river basins and even sub-basins, it is a considerable challenge to manage water resources in an efficient, equitable and sustainable way. This paper shows that multi-agent simulation (MAS) is a promising approach to better understand the complexity of water uses and water users within sub-basins. This approach is especially suitable to take the collective action into account when simulating the outcome of technical innovation and policy change. A case study from Chile is used as an example to demonstrate the potential of the MAS framework. Chile has played a pioneering role in water policy reform by privatizing water rights and promoting trade in such rights, devolving irrigation management authority to user groups, and privatizing the provision of irrigation infrastructure. The paper describes the different components of a MAS model developed for four micro-watersheds in the Maule river basin. Preliminary results of simulation experiments are presented, which show the impacts of technical change and of informal rental markets on household income and water use efficiency. The paper also discusses how the collective action problems in water markets and in small-scale and large-scale infrastructure provision can be captured by the MAS model. To promote the use of the MAS approach for planning purposes, a collaborative research and learning framework has been established, with a recently created multi-stakeholder platform at the regional level (Comision Regional de Recursos Hidricos) as the major partner. Finally, the paper discusses the potentials of using MAS models for water resources management, such as increasing transparency as an aspect of good governance. The challenges, for example the need to build trust in the model, are discussed as well.

Famine and overweight in China

Abstract: There is an increasing body of literature that examines the association between restricted fetal growth and diseases in adulthood as proposed by Barker. One common way to test the hypothesis in humans is to make use of a natural disaster, such as famine, that happened during gestation and examine disease prevalence in later life. Most of the famine-based epidemiological studies use the 1944-5 Dutch Hunger Winter when a sharp decline in food intake occurred due to a German army blockade. Drawing on retrospective cohort analyses, these studies in general find that famine has a negative impact on various health outcomes. For example, prenatal exposure to famine is believed to be associated with antisocial personality disorder in early adulthood (Neugebauer, Hoek, and Susser), major affective disorders (Brown et al.), and schizophrenia (Hulshoff et al.) in adulthood, and higher BMI and waist circumference in fifty-year-old women (Ravelli et al.). However, studies (Stanner et al.) based on a small sample (less than 600 people) of survivors of the Leningrad siege of 1941-4 lead to opposite findings from those on the Dutch famine (Ravelli, van de Meulen, and Michels).1 In a word, the findings are inconclusive. Compared to the Dutch Famine, the Great Famine in China from the late 1950s to the early 1960s lasted much longer and affected more people. The estimated excess deaths numbered from 20 to 30 million (Johnson). The regional distribution of the famine was highly uneven. As shown in table 1, the percentage change of the highest mortality rate during 1959-62 relative to the average mortality rate prior to the famine in 1956-8 ranged from 14.9% in Tianjin to 474.9% in Anhui province (Yang). In addition, cities suffered much

Reducing the Incidence of Low Birth Weight in Low-Income Countries Has Substantial Economic Benefits

Abstract: Reducing the incidence of low birth weight not only lowers infant mortality rates but also has multiple benefits over the life cycle. This study estimates the economic benefits of reducing the incidence of low birth weight in low-income countries, both through lower mortality rates and medical costs and through increased learning and productivity. The estimated economic benefits, under plausible assumptions, are fairly substantial, at about $510 per infant moved from a low-birth-weight status. The estimated gains are primarily from increases in labor productivity (partially through more education) and secondarily from avoiding costs due to infant illness and death. Thus there may be many interventions to reduce the incidence of low birth weight that are warranted purely on the grounds of saving resources or increasing productivity.

The links between agriculture and health: an intersectoral opportunity to improve the health and livelihoods of the poor

Abstract: Agriculture and health are linked in many ways. First, agriculture is essential for good health: it produces the world's food, fibre and materials for shelter; in many countries it is also an important source of livelihood among the poor. At the same time, agriculture can be linked with poor health, including malnutrition, malaria, foodborne illnesses, human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS), livestock-related diseases, chronic diseases and occupational ill-health. Health also affects agriculture: people's health status influences the demand for agricultural outputs, and in agricultural communities, poor health reduces work performance, reducing income and productivity and perpetuating a downward spiral into ill-health. This paper presents an overview of the bidirectional links between agriculture and health with a focus on the developing world. It develops a conceptual framework that brings together the various links between agriculture and health into a single broad framework. The framework comprises the core components of the agricultural supply chain (producers, systems and outputs), key health concerns and the mechanisms of common interaction between the agricultural and health components: income, labour, environment and access -- all key social determinants of health. These links between agriculture and health present an opportunity for the two sectors to work together to find solutions to each other's problems. Yet the health and agricultural sectors remain poorly coordinated. Leadership from global health and agricultural institutions is needed to build policies and good governance to facilitate integration, while capacity building is needed at all levels to help translate the conceptual links into comprehensive action on the ground. Health and agricultural researchers likewise need to work more closely together to achieve common goals.

‘Moving in place’: Drought and poverty dynamics in South Wollo, Ethiopia

Abstract: This article discusses the impact of drought on poverty dynamics in the South Wollo area of northeastern Ethiopia. Using both survey and anthropological/qualitative data covering a six-year period, the paper assesses which households were able to hold on to assets and recover from the 1999-2000 drought and which were not. It suggests that while the incidence of poverty changed very little during 1997 to 2003 despite the occurrence of a major drought, the fortunes of the poorest improved, but not enough to keep them from poverty. The study concludes by asking how current policies affect patterns of poverty and inequality and what might be done to improve welfare in South Wollo.

Using a Choice Experiment to Estimate Farmers’ Valuation of Agrobiodiversity on Hungarian Small Farms

Abstract: Agrobiodiversity is a crucial environmental resource. Much of the agrobiodiversity remaining in situ today is found on the semi-subsistence farms of poorer countries and the small-scale farms or home gardens of more industrialised nations. The traditional farms of Hungary are an example. Labelled “home gardens” as a reflection of their institutional identity during the collectivisation period, they are micro-agroecosystems that provide important functions such as food security and diet quality. This paper applies the choice experiment method to estimate the private benefits farmers derive from four components of the agrobiodiversity found in Hungarian home gardens: richness of crop varieties and fruit trees; crop landraces; integrated crop and livestock production; and soil micro-organism diversity. The analysis is based on primary data collected in three environmentally sensitive areas where pilot agri-environmental programmes have been initiated as part of the Hungarian National Rural Development Plan. Findings demonstrate variation in the private values of home gardens and their attributes across households and regions, contributing to understanding the potential role of home gardens in these agri-environmental schemes. This study has implications for sustaining agrobiodiversity in transitional economies.

Economics of Biofortification

Abstract: Micronutrient malnutrition affects billions of people world-wide, causing serious health problems. Different micronutrient interventions are currently being used, but their overall coverage is relatively limited. Biofortification - that is, breeding staple food crops for higher micronutrient contents - has been proposed as a new agriculture-based approach. Yet, as biofortified crops are still under development, relatively little is known about their economic impacts and wider ramifications. In this article, the main factors that will influence their future success are discussed, and a methodology for economic impact assessment is presented, combining agricultural, nutrition, and health aspects. Ex ante studies from India and other developing countries suggest that biofortified crops can reduce the problem of micronutrient malnutrition in a cost-effective way, when they are targeted to specific situations. Projected social returns on research investments are high and competitive with productivity-enhancing agricultural technologies. These promising results notwithstanding, biofortification should be seen as a complement rather than a substitute for existing micronutrient interventions, since the magnitude and complexity of the problem necessitate a multiplicity of approaches. Further research is needed to corroborate these findings and to address certain issues still unresolved at this stage.

Productivity Growth and Convergence in Crop, Ruminant and Non-Ruminant Production: Measurement and Forecasts

Abstract: There is considerable interest in projections of future productivity growth in agriculture. Whether one is interested in the outlook for global commodity markets, future patterns of international trade, or the interactions between land use, deforestation and ecological diversity, the rate of productivity growth in agriculture is an essential input. Yet solid projections for this variable have proven elusive - particularly on a global basis. This is due, in no small part, to the difficulty in measuring historical productivity growth. The purpose of this paper is to report the latest time series evidence on total factor productivity growth for crops, ruminants and non-ruminant livestock, on a global basis. We then follow with tests for convergence amongst regions, providing forecasts for farm productivity growth to the year 2040. The results suggest that most regions in the sample are likely to experience larger productivity gains in livestock than in crops. Within livestock, the non-ruminant sector is expected to continue to be more dynamic than the ruminant sector. Given the rapid rates of productivity growth observed recently, non-ruminant and crop productivity in developing countries may be converging to the productivity levels of developed countries. For ruminants, the results show that productivity levels may be diverging between developed and developing countries.

Effect of iron supplementation on physical growth in children: systematic review of randomised controlled trials.

Abstract: OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of iron supplementation on physical growth in children through a systematic review of randomised controlled trials (RCTs). DATA SOURCES: Electronic databases, personal files, and hand search of reviews, bibliographies of books, abstracts and proceedings of international conferences. REVIEW METHODS: RCTs evaluating change in anthropometry with interventions that included oral or parenteral iron supplementation, or iron-fortified formula milk or cereals, were analysed. RESULTS: Twenty-five trials (26 cohorts) had relevant information. There was no evidence of publication bias. The pooled estimates (random effects model) did not document a statistically significant (P>0.05) positive effect of iron supplementation on any anthropometric variable (weight-for-age, weight-for-height, height-for-age, mid upper-arm circumference, skinfold thickness, head circumference). Significant heterogeneity was evident, and its predictors included greater weight-for-age in supplemented children in malaria hyperendemic regions and greater weight-for-height for children above 5 years of age, but a negative effect on linear growth in developed countries and with supplementation for 6 months or longer. CONCLUSIONS: This review did not document a positive effect of iron supplementation on the physical growth of children. The identified predictors of heterogeneity should be considered as exploratory and requiring confirmation, not conclusive.

Yield and economic benefits of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) and soybean (Glycine max) inoculation in northern Tanzania

Abstract: On-farm experiments were conducted in farmers’ fields at 12 different sites in the 2 districts of Moshi and Rombo in northern Tanzania during the 2000–01 cropping season to study the effects of (brady)rhizobial inoculation in combination with P supply on growth and grain yields of soybean and common bean, and to assess the economic returns of these different technologies to farmers. A low level of N was included as an indicator of endogenous soil N status. The treatments included (brady)rhizobial inoculation, N fertilisation (30 kg N/ha as urea), P application [26 kg P/ha as triple super phosphate (TSP)], (brady)rhizobial inoculation + P fertilisation (26 kg/ha as TSP) and unfertilised uninoculated control. The study was conducted as a randomised complete block design with each of the 12 farmers’ fields as a replicate. At harvest, plant growth of soybean and common bean was significantly (P≤0.05) greater with (brady)rhizobial inoculation compared with N and P supply or uninoculated control in the 2 districts. Relative to uninoculated unfertilised plots, grain yields of common bean were markedly (P≤0.05) increased by 60–78% from inoculation alone, and 82–95% from inoculation + 26 kg P/ha; with soybean there was 127–139% increase in grain yield from inoculation alone, and 207–231% from inoculation + P. Thus, the combined application of bacterial inoculants and P fertiliser to field plants of soybean and common bean significantly (P≤0.05) increased biomass production and grain yield compared with the single use of N and P or (brady)rhizobial strains. From economic analysis, the increase in grain yield with inoculation translated into a significantly (P≤0.05) higher marginal rate of return and dollar profit for soybean and common bean farmers in northern Tanzania. With common bean, there was a 66 and 92% increase, respectively, in dollar profit with inoculation at Moshi and Rombo districts respectively relative to control; these profit margins rose to 84 and 102% with provision of supplemental P (26 kg P/ha). With soybean, however, the increase in profit with inoculation was much larger, about 140 and 153% at Rombo and Moshi, respectively, and these rose to 224 and 250% with P supply.

Trade liberalization and the diet transition: a public health response

Abstract: SUMMARY Trade liberalization remains at the forefront of debates around globalization, particularly around the impact on agriculture and food. These debates, which often focus on how poorer countries can ‘trade their way’ out of poverty, pay limited attention to dietary health, especially in the light of the WHO’s Global Strategy for Diet, Physical Activity and Health (2004), which warned that future health burdens will be increasingly determined by diet-related chronic diseases. This article examines the diet transition as the absent factor within debates on liberalizing trade and commerce. We describe the evolution of trade agreements, noting those relevant to food. We review the association between trade liberalization and changes in the global dietary and disease profile. We illustrate some of the complex linkages between trade liberalization and the ‘diet transition’, illustrated by factors such as foreign direct investment, supermarketization and cultural change. Finally, we offer three scenarios for change, suggesting the need for more effective ‘food governance’ and engagement by public health advocates in policy making in the food and agriculture arena.

Marketing Underutilized Plant Species for the Benefit of the Poor: A Conceptual Framework

Abstract: Modern crop production is based on only a few plant species. Particularly in marginal environments of developing agricultural economies, many less well-known agricultural or non-timber forest species, continue to be grown, managed or collected, thus contributing to the livelihood of the poor and to agricultural biodiversity. Some of these species, called underutilized plant species, are characterized by the fact that they are locally abundant in developing countries but globally rare, that scientific information and knowledge about them is scant, and that their current use is limited relative to their economic potential. In this paper, we first identify the economic factors that cause these plants to be 'underutilized'. Based on this analysis, we propose a classification of underutilized plant species based on the relationship of the observed to the potential economic value of the species, and the presence or absence of and constraints to output markets. Then, focusing on a subset of underutilized plant species with market potential, we identify three necessary conditions for the successful commercialization of underutilized plant species for the benefit of the poor: demand expansion, increased efficiency of supply and marketing channels, and a supply control mechanism. This conceptual framework is intended to provide a basis for an empirical assessment of marketing solutions for underutilized plant species among the rural poor in developing economies.