Impacts of FFW on nutrition in rural Kenya

Athanasenas Athanasios, Mesfin Bezuneh and Brady J. Deaton

Agricultural Economics, 1994, vol. 11, issue 2-3, 301-309

Abstract: Assessing the impacts of Food‐for‐Work (FFW) on human capital formation depends on understanding the specific nutritional contributions of FFW to the overall diet of FFW participant households. However, empirical studies in this area are very scant. This paper is an attempt to fill such gap. The primary objectives are to measure the magnitude of the FFW contribution to participants' nutritional status. Primary data collected from a random sample of 300 farm‐households in the Rift Valley Province of Kenya are used. A linear programming model is used to estimate the shadow prices of nutrients. These prices are then entered into an econometric model of consumer demand for nutrients in order to estimate own and cross‐price elasticities for each nutrient component. The results indicate that FFW significantly improves the nutritional status of FFW participant households. More specifically, participants experienced an implicit income gain, which resulted in a significant nutritional improvement. The poorest FFW participant households exhibited even higher nutritional gains (32.46%) than those participants from relatively higher income groups. FFW participant households showed a 90% higher propensity to spend on nutrients than the non‐FFW participants. The findings of this study are expected to assist in the design of future ‘targeted’ food aid projects.

Date: 1994
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