Universal food security program and nutritional intake: Evidence from the hunger prone KBK districts in Odisha

Andaleeb Rahman ()
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Andaleeb Rahman: Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research

Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai Working Papers from Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai, India

Abstract: This article provides evidence on the role of consumer food subsidies in improving nutritional intake and diet quality by evaluating the expansion of the government food assistance program coverage in the hunger prone state of Odisha in India. In 8 districts of Odisha, popularly known as the Kalahandi-Balangir-Koraput (KBK) region which is notable for extreme poverty and starvation deaths, the government did away with the targeted food assistance program in 2008 and made the scheme universal. Using a Difference-in-Difference methodology over two repeated cross sectional household surveys, this article finds that the shift from targeted to a universal food security program in the KBK region of Odisha has led to an improvement in the household nutritional intake and diet quality. Further examination suggests that proportion of households consuming below the recommended dietary allowance of calorie, fats and protein has declined significantly in this region post the intervention.

Keywords: Consumer Subsidy; Nutrition; Program Evaluation; Hunger; India (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H31 H43 H53 I38 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 34 pages
Date: 2015-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr and nep-dev
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