The impact of an integrated value chain intervention on household poultry production in Burkina Faso: Evidence from a randomized controlled trial
The impact of an integrated value chain intervention on household poultry production in Burkina Faso: Evidence from a randomized controlled trial

Author: Leight, Jessica

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published: 2020-04-15

Total Pages: 62

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This article reports on a cluster-randomized controlled trial conducted in 120 villages in rural Burkina Faso evaluating a multifaceted intervention (SELEVER) that seeks to increase poultry production by delivering training in conjunction with the strengthening of village-level institutions providing veterinary and credit services to poultry farmers. The intervention is evaluated in a sample of 1,080 households surveyed following two years of program implementation. Households exposed to the intervention significantly increase their use of poultry inputs (veterinary services, enhanced feeds, and deworming), and report more poultry sold and higher revenue; however, there is no evidence of an increase in profits. This evidence is consistent with the hypothesis that the return to inputs in the poultry market may not be sufficient to counterbalance the market costs of these inputs.

Can a gender-sensitive integrated poultry value chain and nutrition intervention among the rural poor increase women’s empowerment in Burkina Faso?
Can a gender-sensitive integrated poultry value chain and nutrition intervention among the rural poor increase women’s empowerment in Burkina Faso?

Author: Heckert, Jessica

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published: 2022-10-27

Total Pages: 44

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Understanding the types of food systems interventions that foster women’s empowerment and the types of women that are able to benefit from different interventions is important for development policy. SELEVER was a gender- and nutrition-sensitive poultry production intervention implemented in western Burkina Faso from 2017 to 2020 that aimed to empower women. We evaluated SELEVER using a mixed-methods cluster-randomized controlled trial, which included survey data from 1763 households at baseline and endline and a sub-sample for two interim lean season surveys. We used the multidimensional project-level Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (pro-WEAI), which consists of 12 binary indicators, underlying count versions of 10 of these, an aggregate empowerment score (continuous) and a binary aggregate empowerment indicator, all for women and men. Women’s and men’s scores were compared to assess gender parity. We also assessed impacts on health and nutrition agency using the pro-WEAI health and nutrition module. We estimated program impact using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) models and examined whether there were differential impacts by flock size or among those who participated in program activities. Program impacts on empowerment and gender parity were null, despite the program’s careful approach to developing a gender-sensitive intervention. Meanwhile, results of the in-depth gender-focused qualitative work conducted near the project mid-point found there was greater awareness in the community of women’s time burden and their economic contributions, but it did not seem that awareness led to increased empowerment of women. We reflect on possible explanations for the null findings. One notable explanation may be the lack of a productive asset transfer, which have previously been shown to be essential, but not sufficient, for the empowerment of women in agricultural development programs. We consider these findings in light of current debates on asset transfers. Unfortunately, null impacts on women’s empowerment are not uncommon, and it is important to learn from such findings to strengthen future program design and delivery.

Understanding the role of different program components of a nutrition sensitive intervention in mediating impact: Applying causal mediation analysis to experimental evidence from Burkina Faso
Understanding the role of different program components of a nutrition sensitive intervention in mediating impact: Applying causal mediation analysis to experimental evidence from Burkina Faso

Author: Heckert, Jessica

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published: 2021-12-15

Total Pages: 26

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In complex nutrition-sensitive interventions, separately identifying the effect of each programmatic component on the outcomes of interest can be challenging. This paper examines the relationship between participation in different elements of the nutrition-sensitive intervention SELEVER, implemented in rural Burkina Faso with the objective of increasing poultry production and enhancing related nutritional outcomes, and women’s poultry production. We use structural equation modeling to estimate the direct effect of each component of program participation. Our findings suggest that respondents’ directly reported participation in SELEVER intervention activities mediates less than half of the observed intervention effects on poultry owned by women as well as women’s revenue and profits from poultry production. Accordingly, other indirect channels for program effects also seem to be important.

Value chains for nutritious food: Analysis of the egg value chain in the Tigray region of Ethiopia
Value chains for nutritious food: Analysis of the egg value chain in the Tigray region of Ethiopia

Author: Hirvonen, Kalle

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published: 2020-10-07

Total Pages: 21

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Eggs have high potential for improving nutrition outcomes in low-income countries, yet very few children in such settings consume eggs on a regular basis despite widespread poultry ownership. To redress this disconnect, a number of interventions have been implemented to improve household production of poultry products, as well as caregiver awareness of the nutritional benefits of eggs and other animal-sourced foods. However, very few of these interventions have tried to leverage food markets to improve nutrition, even though most rural people predominantly rely on markets for the majority of their non-staple food consumption. This study was implemented to better understand the constraints to purchasing eggs for consumption by young children in rural Ethiopia, with a view to informing the design of marketoriented interventions that might cost-effectively increase children’s egg consumption. To do so we analyzed secondary datasets on poultry ownership, household and child egg consumption, and retail egg prices to understand egg markets and the egg value chain in Tigray. Similar to other contexts in sub-Saharan Africa, we find that two-thirds of households own poultry, though only onequarter of young children consumed eggs in the past 24 hours. Although markets in Tigray are well integrated – likely because of the important role of egg aggregators – egg prices remain high. A modest consumption level of 2.5 eggs per person per week would cost around 10 percent of the total budget of households in the poorest quintile of households, even though eggs are more affordable than other animal-sourced foods. We find that egg consumption among young children is not constrained by fasting associated with Orthodox Christianity. High prices are likely the main constraint and are a function of low levels of intensification in egg production, which is dominated by backyard poultry systems characterized by high mortality rates and low productivity.

Development of the project-level Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (pro-WEAI)
Development of the project-level Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (pro-WEAI)

Author: Malapit, Hazel J.

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published: 2019-01-18

Total Pages: 68

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In this paper, the authors describe the adaptation and validation of a project-level WEAI (or pro-WEAI) that agricultural development projects can use to identify key areas of women’s (and men’s) disempowerment, design appropriate strategies to address identified deficiencies, and monitor project outcomes related to women’s empowerment. The 12 pro-WEAI indicators are mapped to three domains: intrinsic agency (power within), instrumental agency (power to), and collective agency (power with). A gender parity index compares the empowerment scores of men and women in the same household. The authors describe the development of pro-WEAI, including: (1) pro-WEAI’s distinctiveness from other versions of the WEAI; (2) the process of piloting pro-WEAI in 13 agricultural development projects during the Gender, Agriculture, and Assets Project, phase 2 (GAAP2); (3) analysis of quantitative data from the GAAP2 projects, including intrahousehold patterns of empowerment; and (4) a summary of the findings from the qualitative work exploring concepts of women’s empowerment in the project sites. The paper concludes with a discussion of lessons learned from pro-WEAI and possibilities for further development of empowerment metrics.

Nutrition-sensitive agriculture
Nutrition-sensitive agriculture

Author: Ruel, Marie T.

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published: 2017-10-27

Total Pages: 80

ISBN-13:

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A growing number of governments, donor agencies, and development organizations are committed to supporting nutrition-sensitive agriculture (NSA) to achieve their development goals. Although consensus exists on pathways through which agriculture may influence nutrition-related outcomes, empirical evidence on agriculture’s contribution to nutrition and how it can be enhanced is still weak. This paper reviews recent empirical evidence (since 2014), including findings from impact evaluations of a variety of NSA programs using experimental designs as well as observational studies that document linkages between agriculture, women’s empowerment, and nutrition. It summarizes existing knowledge regarding not only impacts but also pathways, mechanisms, and contextual factors that affect where and how agriculture may improve nutrition outcomes. The paper concludes with reflections on implications for agricultural programs, policies, and investments, and highlights future research priorities.

Improving Diets and Nutrition
Improving Diets and Nutrition

Author: Brian Thompson

Publisher: CABI

Published: 2014-04-28

Total Pages: 455

ISBN-13: 1780642997

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Nutrition-sensitive, food-based approaches towards hunger and malnutrition are effective, sustainable and long-term solutions. This book discusses the policy, strategic, methodological, technical and programmatic issues associated with such approaches, proposes “best practices” for the design, targeting, implementation and evaluation of specific nutrition-sensitive, food-based interventions and for improved methodologies for evaluating their efficacy and cost-effectiveness, and provides practical lessons for advancing nutrition-sensitive food-based approaches for improving nutrition at policy and programme level.

The State of Food and Agriculture 2021
The State of Food and Agriculture 2021

Author: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Publisher: Food & Agriculture Org.

Published: 2021-11-23

Total Pages: 182

ISBN-13: 9251343292

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The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the vulnerability of agrifood systems to shocks and stresses and led to increased global food insecurity and malnutrition. Action is needed to make agrifood systems more resilient, efficient, sustainable and inclusive. The State of Food and Agriculture 2021 presents country-level indicators of the resilience of agrifood systems. The indicators measure the robustness of primary production and food availability, as well as physical and economic access to food. They can thus help assess the capacity of national agrifood systems to absorb shocks and stresses, a key aspect of resilience. The report analyses the vulnerabilities of food supply chains and how rural households cope with risks and shocks. It discusses options to minimize trade-offs that building resilience may have with efficiency and inclusivity. The aim is to offer guidance on policies to enhance food supply chain resilience, support livelihoods in the agrifood system and, in the face of disruption, ensure sustainable access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to all.

The impact of disasters and crises on agriculture and food security: 2021
The impact of disasters and crises on agriculture and food security: 2021

Author: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Publisher: Food & Agriculture Org.

Published: 2021-03-17

Total Pages: 245

ISBN-13: 9251340714

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On top of a decade of exacerbated disaster loss, exceptional global heat, retreating ice and rising sea levels, humanity and our food security face a range of new and unprecedented hazards, such as megafires, extreme weather events, desert locust swarms of magnitudes previously unseen, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Agriculture underpins the livelihoods of over 2.5 billion people – most of them in low-income developing countries – and remains a key driver of development. At no other point in history has agriculture been faced with such an array of familiar and unfamiliar risks, interacting in a hyperconnected world and a precipitously changing landscape. And agriculture continues to absorb a disproportionate share of the damage and loss wrought by disasters. Their growing frequency and intensity, along with the systemic nature of risk, are upending people’s lives, devastating livelihoods, and jeopardizing our entire food system. This report makes a powerful case for investing in resilience and disaster risk reduction – especially data gathering and analysis for evidence informed action – to ensure agriculture’s crucial role in achieving the future we want.

The State of Food and Agriculture 2013
The State of Food and Agriculture 2013

Author: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Publisher: Fao

Published: 2013-07-30

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9789251076712

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Malnutrition -- in the form of undernutrition, micronutrient deficiencies, and overweight and obesity -- imposes unacceptably high economic and social costs on countries at all income levels. The causes of malnutrition are complex, yet all forms of malnutrition share one common feature: nutritionally inappropriate diets. The State of Food and Agriculture 2013 makes the case that healthy diets and good nutrition begin with food and agriculture.