Effects of Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture on Welfare Outcomes of Rural Women: The Case of Basona Worena and Angolela Tera Woredas of North Shoa Zone, Amhara Region, Ethiopia
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Date
2019-07
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Food insecurity and malnutrition are priority development challenges of Ethiopia. To counter the
problem, the country embraced the nutrition sensitive agriculture approach and taken decisive
measures relevant for wide implementation of the practice. Nutrition sensitive agriculture
interventions that are implemented in worst affected parts of the country are already producing
number of encouraging results. This study assessed the extent to which the desired welfare
outcomes are realized in the intervention beneficiary Basona Worena Woreda as compared to the
Agolela Tera Woreda that did not benefit from such intervention. Administratively, these woredas
are situated in North Shoa Zone of Amhara Region. Purposive and simple random sampling
procedures were used to select these two Woredas, and the 262 representative households
respectively. The study employed key informants’ interview checklists and structured
questionnaires to gather relevant data, which was then analyzed using descriptive statistics and an
econometric propensity score matching model. The study findings demonstrated that the
intervention has a significant and positive influence on assessed welfare outcomes namely women
empowerment, on-farm production and consumption of nutritious diets, household income, and
nutrition knowledge. Of the examined women empowerment domains, appreciable improvement
was made in leadership and access to resources. Regarding the outcome on production and
consumption diversity, mothers’ and children’s consumption was seriously constrained by sociocultural and religious factors. Despite these challenges, intervention beneficiary women and their
children have had higher minimum dietary diversity than non-beneficiary women and their
children. The home production of nutrient dense food sources positively affected the consumption
of these items although extremely poor families opted to sale part or the entire farm produce in
order to generate the badly needed cash. To countervail this challenge, future nutrition sensitive
agriculture intervention programs should consider livelihood and income diversification
opportunities as part of the scheme so as to allow the poor households use the home produced
nutrient dense foods for intended purpose. In addition, the sustained and wider dissemination of
the nutrition sensitive agriculture approach would require building the capacity of key actors and
institutionalizing the scheme in the regular publicly supported extension programs.
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Keywords
Agriculture, Nutrition, Rural Women