Does agricultural aid reduce child stunting?

Sébastien Mary, Kelsey Shaw, Liesbeth Colen and Sergio Gomez Y Paloma

World Development, 2020, vol. 130, issue C

Abstract: ‘Making agriculture work for nutrition’ is a widespread belief. The evidence base on the positive impacts of agricultural interventions on nutrition, however, is scarce. This paper revisits the relationships between agriculture and child nutrition through the impacts of foreign aid earmarked to agriculture on the prevalence of child stunting using a sample of 90 developing countries observed between 2002 and 2014. We find evidence for a moderate effect of agricultural aid on child stunting. Among agricultural aid, we find that aid inflows supporting agricultural education, research and services, agricultural water, and agricultural policy are effective towards child stunting reductions. Food aid is most effective at reducing child stunting. Last, we find that agricultural and food aid inflows are particularly effective in conflict settings.

Keywords: Child stunting; Agricultural aid; Food aid; Conflict; Sustainable development goal (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F35 I15 O15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:130:y:2020:i:c:s0305750x20300772

DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.104951

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