Household economic strategies and food expenditure patterns in rural Mexico: Impact on nutritional status of preschool children

Farm Commercialization and Nutritional Status of Children: The Case of the Vegetables, Fruits, and Cash Crops Programme in Western Nepal

There are two conflicting views regarding the effects of commercialization of subsistence agriculture on health and nutrition. While the proponents of agricultural commercialization argue that commercialization raises income, increases food availability, and improves the health and nutritional status of rural households, the critics claim that shifting resources from subsistence to commercial crops reduces food security and increases women's work burden, thereby affecting the health and nutrition of farm families, especially that of women and children. the literature also fails to provide clear evidence whether the commercialization of subsistence agriculture results in an improvement or a deterioration in health and nutrition. This paper examines the effects of farmers’ participation in a USAID-sponsored vegetables, fruits, and cash crops (VFC) programme on the nutritional status of children in western Nepal. According to a simple dichotomous comparison between the participating and non-participating households, the VFC programme had a positive impact on the nutritional status of children, especially in terms of standardized weight-for-age and weight-for-height measures. However, according to multivariate regression analysis, the VFC programme did not have a notable impact on children's nutritional status. the results suggest that household demographics, the nutrition and demographics of mothers, individual child demographics, and a complex set of other unknown factors play a greater role in children's nutritional performance than household economic strategies.

Malnutrition and poverty in the early stages of famine: North Darfur, 1988-90

In this article we report findings on the relationship between malnutrition and poverty during a period of acute food insecurity in Darfur, Sudan. Children of rich and poor families were equally likely to be malnourished, which is explained in terms of people's responses to the threat of famine. This finding has important implications for targeting interventions in the early stages of famine. Appropriate interventions at the early stages of famine are livelihood and income support to the most vulnerable. The entitlement theory of famine causation assumes that the poor are most vulnerable, and become malnourished and die during famines. In this article we show that this assumption does not hold. Even though poverty is the root cause of malnutrition, it does not follow that anthropometric status can be used to target individual poor families, or even that targeting the poor is appropriate in famine situations.

Migration, cash cropping and subsistence agriculture: relationships to household food expenditures in rural Mexico

The relationship between income and food expenditure patterns is influenced by a number of factors, including personal tastes, source and frequency of income, male/female control over income, home food production, and other demographic factors. In this study, the relationship of household resource allocation to each of the following is examined: (1) source of income (i.e. wage labor, cash cropping, migrant remittances, and other private sources); (2) women's contribution to income; and (3) subsistence production level. The overall study design involved a cross-sectional survey of 178 households in three rural Mexican communities on two occasions spanning both agricultural seasons. On each occasion, data were collected on the following: (1) income by source and by earner; (2) migrant remittances; (3) gifts and loans; (4) subsistence and cash crop production, expenses, and earnings; (5) major nonfood purchases; (6) household composition; and (7) household food use (during the previous week). Stepwise multiple regression was used to determine the factors associated with the percentage of income allocated to food (PFX) and the percentage of the food budget allocated to (1) maize, beans, and chile (TRAD); (2) meat, milk, and fruit (LUX); and (3) bread, pasta, and snack foods (PROC). All regressions were run controlling for income. The proportion of income from migrant remittances was negatively associated with PFX (winter). Subsistence score was positively related to PFX (summer). Migrant remittances (winter) and subsistence score (both seasons) were negatively associated with TRAD. Subsistence score was positively related to LUX (both seasons). Father's absence (both seasons), store ownership (winter), and private source of income (summer) were all positively linked to PROC. Mother's contribution to total income and cash cropping income were not significantly related to any of the dependent variables. The findings support the idea that resource allocation patterns are influenced not only by income level but also by the household economic strategies through which income is generated.