The Effect of Agricultural Diversification on the Anthropometric Outcomes of Children: Evidence from Tanzania

Susan Chen and Paula Cordero Salas

No 150952, 2013 Annual Meeting, August 4-6, 2013, Washington, D.C. from Agricultural and Applied Economics Association

Abstract: This paper provides evidence of the effect of agricultural diversification and commercialization on the health of preschool children. We specifically look at the impact of diversification and commercialization on stunting, wasting and underweight by using a nationally representative sample of households taken from the Tanzania National Panel Survey (TNPS). We find that engaging in contract farming for producing food crops has a negative effect on stunting and wasting. Diversification only has a positive effect on stunting of children at the bottom of the nutritional distribution while commercialization effects vary according to the type of crop that the household sells and the position of children in the nutritional distribution. The results provide insight into the effects of policies that pursue agricultural diversification and commercialization on the household well-being.

Keywords: Community/Rural/Urban Development; Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety; Health Economics and Policy; Public Economics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 26
Date: 2013-06-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-afr, nep-agr and nep-dev
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:aaea13:150952

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.150952

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