Understanding the Agricultural –
Nutrition Linkages: Gender dimensions
Suneetha Kadiyala
International Food Policy Research Institute
New Delhi
November 14th, 2011

The Asian Enigma
Why is South Asia’s child malnutrition rate so much
higher than Sub-Saharan Africa’s, when it does so
much better with respect to many of the long-
accepted determinants of child nutritional status, such
as national income, democracy, food supplies, health
services, and education? (Ramalingaswami et al.
1996)
12/3/2011

Outline
 Conceptual framework
 Determinants of child nutrition
 Potential interventions (nutrition-specific, nutrition-sensitive)
 Global and regional undernutrition (burden, trends)
 Gender and nutrition
 Agriculture and nutrition pathways
 Gender dimensions
 India case study
 Some findings from India and Bangladesh
 Policy implications

Short and long routes to improving child nutrition
Source: World Bank Draft 2011; Adapted from UNICEF 1990 and Ruel 2008

Undernutrition in South Asia
12/3/2011

Global burden of child stunting
(millions, under-fives, 2008)
India, 61.21
Bangladesh,
8.79
Ethiopia, 7.5
Kenya, 2.1
Nigeria, 9.57Nepal, 2.08Vietnam, 3.48
Others, 83.27

Child Nutrition in South Asia (2005 – 2007)
Source: UNICEF http://www.childinfo.org/undernutrition_nutritional_status.php
1.National Family Health Survey, India, 2005-06
2.Bangladesh Demographic Health Survey, 2007
3.Nepal Demographic Health Survey, 2006
4.Sri Lanka Demographic Health Survey, 2006-07
5.Pakistan National Nutrition Survey 2001-02, Re-analyzed by WHO Nov 2007
43
41
39
21
31
20
17
13
15 14
48
43
49
17
42
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
India Bangladesh Nepal Sri Lanka Pakistan
Percentageofunder-fives
Underweight
Wasting
Stunting
Source: Menon, Bamezai et al

Height-for-age Z-scores by child age and region
12/3/2011

Gender and Nutrition
12/3/2011

Maternal BMI (weighted) in select South Asian countries
37.98
31.88
25.20
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Percentage
Percentage of mothers with mean BMI less
than 18.5
India
Bangladesh
Nepal
Source: Author’s estimates based on DHS datasets
1.National Family Health Survey, India, 2005-06
2.Bangladesh Demographic Health Survey, 2007
3.Nepal Demographic Health Survey, 2006
19.99
20.99
20.36
19.4
19.6
19.8
20
20.2
20.4
20.6
20.8
21
21.2
MeanBMI
Mean maternal BMI
India
Bangladesh
Nepal
Source: Menon, Bamezai et al

2009 GHI and the Education Sub-index of the
2008 Gender Gap Index, 90 Countries
Page 12

In South Asia…
 The strongest correlation with the GHI is with the health and
survival sub-index
 Four out of 5 countries (except Sri Lanka) rank between 80th and
88th of 90 countries in the health and survival sub-index
 Linked with the low status of women:
 Maternal malnutrition linked with low birth weight
 Micronutrient malnutrition linked with poor prenatal and postnatal
health of mothers

Women’s status and reductions in child undernutrition
Contributions to reductions in child malnutrition, 1970-95
Source: Smith and Haddad 2000

Agriculture-Nutrition Pathways
12/3/2011

Why Agriculture for nutrition in South Asia?
 Agriculture sector engages over 50% of the total labor
force in South Asia
 Agriculture generates over 50% of rural income
 Agriculture is fundamental to a more inclusive and
sustainable structural transformation
 The potential for agriculture to influence nutrition outcomes
at scale is large

Conceptualizing the pathways between
agriculture and nutrition
Agriculture is a
key driver of
poverty
reduction
But...
Pathways to
nutrition are
diverse and
interconnected
1. Agriculture as a source of food
2. Agriculture as a source of income
3. Agricultural policy and food prices
4. Expenditure patterns: how income derived
from agriculture is actually spent
Gender dimensions
5. Women’s status and intrahousehold
decisions and resource allocation
6. Women’s ability to manage young child
care
7. Women’s own nutritional status

Female share of agricultural labor force
Source: FAO , 2011
 South Asia averages masked by India. In Bangladesh the
proportion is over 50%
 Proportion of women engaged in agriculture in rural areas
is much higher—83% in India

Proportion of labor in all activities by women
Source: FAO , 2011

Share of male and female agriculture land holders
Source: FAO , 2011
 The gender gap is evident in many assets, inputs & services
 Closing the gender gap can increase yields by 20-30%

Emerging Findings from India
12/3/2011

Estimated elasticities between undernutrition and some
welfare indicators
Independent variable Weight Dependent Variable
Stunting Low BMI, (Women)
Asset Index None 0.09 -0.45#
GDP per cap growth None 0.08 -0.63
Agr. GDP/worker Ag. initial
share in total
employment
-0.20# -0.44*
Non-Agr. GDP/worker -0.14# -0.29*
Source: Headey, Chiu and Kadiyala 2011
*significant differences from zero at the 10% level,
# indicates marginal insignificance at the 10% level

Impact of employment in agriculture on maternal and
child nutrition
Occupation choice on mother's BMI
Mother's BMI
Not working -0.08
Clerical -0.31
Sales 0.33*
Services -0.35***
Manual -0.54***
Agriculture -0.62***
Professional (reference category)
Mother's BMI on children's nutrition
Child's HAZ Child's WAZ
Mother's BMI 0.030*** 0.060***
*,**,*** indicate significance at the 10%, 5% and 1% levels respectively
Source: Headey et al; Menon et al .

Property share, mobility and decision-making among
currently married women
Predictedprobability
(highlymobile-independentdecisionmaking)
Source: Swaminathan, Lahoti and Suchitra
Data: Karnataka Household Asset Survey (KHAS), 2010-11

Women’s empowerment and dietary diversity
Non- agriculture
household
Agriculture
household
Women’s education – none (omitted)
Women’s education primary 0.14* -0.00
Women’s education secondary 0.09 0.11*
Women’s decision making power 0.04*** 0.06***
N 7106 4829
Controlling for income, location, child characteristics, health behaviors etc.
Data: IHDS-2; Bhagowalia et al.

Quisumbing and Kumar (2010)
Some findings from Bangladesh
12/3/2011

Long-term impact of agriculture technologies
 Panel data set based on 957 households:1996/7 & 2006/7
 3 technologies/implementation modalities evaluated:
 improved vegetables for homestead production, disseminated
through women’s groups
 fishpond technology through women’s groups
 fish pond technology targeted to individuals
 Fishponds increased aggregate nutrient availability with mixed
results in child and women’s nutrition status
 Vegetable gardens improved nutrient intake and status
 Did emphasis on vegetables, and targeting to women, improve
nutrition, even if income gains were minimal in the vegetables sites?

Impact of agricultural technology on men’s and women’s
assets in Bangladesh
 Women’s assets increased more by programs that targeted
technologies through women’s groups
 Even when comparing identical technologies
 Nevertheless, the bulk of the household’s assets are controlled
by men
 Intrahousehold impacts may be quite different from household-
level impacts
 at the household level, the individual fishpond program appears
to be the big success
 but looking at improvements in individual (women’s and children’s)
nutritional status, group-based programs were more effective

Policy Implications
12/3/2011

Women’s Empowerment: A key entry point for agriculture to
improve nutrition outcomes
Ensuring land and property rights for women
the Groups efforts (e.g. women’s cooperatives) should be used
for improving convergence of health ,nutrition, agriculture and
other social sector initiatives at scale
SHGs could focus on micronutrient fortification, low cost
nutrient dense supplementary foods, community mobilization
Maternity entitlements, high quality child care facilities
Correcting the gender bias in the functioning of institutions
and support systems
 Closing the gender gap in wages, access to inputs, services etc.