Do grassroots interventions relax behavioral constraints to the adoption of nutrition-sensitive food production systems?

Muzna Alvi, Patrick Ward (), Simrin Makhija and David Spielman

No 1839, IFPRI discussion papers from International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)

Abstract: In many developing countries, agricultural policies and programs are often designed in a way to promote productivity growth with modern inputs and technologies, and with limited reference to the nutrition gains that can be made through production diversification. We test whether grassroots programs can relax behavioral constraints inhibiting the adoption of diversified nutrition-sensitive production systems. We use a series of lab-in-field experiments and survey instruments in Odisha, India to elicit male and female farmers’ preferences for risk, aversion to loss, empowerment and aspirations for one’s self and children. We find that respondents in villages where grassroots interventions were promoted showed significantly lower levels of risk aversion, higher levels of loss aversion and higher aspirations for themselves and their children, along with improvements in production and consumption diversity. Insights into the prevalence of behavioral constraints and interventions that relax such constraints fills an important knowledge gap in how to design programs that promote more nutrition-sensitive food production systems.

Keywords: production systems; public goods; capacity development; nutrition; grassroots organizations; agrifood systems; agricultural productivity; diversification; food systems; dietary diversity; India; Southern Asia; Asia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-exp, nep-ore and nep-upt
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https://hdl.handle.net/10568/146783

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Working Paper: Do grassroots interventions relax behavioral constraints to the adoption of nutrition sensitive food production systems? (2019)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1839

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