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Affiliation(s)
- Catherine Ragasa
- International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington DC, USA.
| | | | - Eugene Rurangwa
- Wageningen Marine Research, Wageningen University and Research, IJmuiden, The Netherlands
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Ragasa C, Lambrecht I, Mahrt K, Zhao H, Aung ZW, Scott J. Can nutrition education mitigate the impacts of COVID-19 on dietary quality? Cluster-randomised controlled trial evidence in Myanmar's Central Dry Zone. Matern Child Nutr 2021; 17:e13259. [PMID: 34409727 PMCID: PMC8420230 DOI: 10.1111/mcn.13259] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2021] [Revised: 07/19/2021] [Accepted: 07/20/2021] [Indexed: 12/02/2022]
Abstract
We evaluate the immediate impact of a nutrition and gender behaviour change communication on dietary quality in rural communities in Myanmar and assess whether the communication helped mitigate the effect of the COVID‐19 crisis on dietary quality. The intervention was designed and implemented as a cluster‐randomised controlled trial in which 15 villages received the intervention and 15 control villages did not. The intervention was implemented from June to October 2020. This paper provides an assessment of the intervention's impact on dietary quality based on the results of two phone surveys conducted in August and October 2020. Immediate impacts of the intervention indicate an improvement in women's dietary diversity scores by half a food group out of 10. At baseline, 44% of women were likely to have consumed inadequately diverse diets; results indicate that 6% (p‐value: 0.003, SE: 0.02) fewer sample women were likely to have consumed inadequately diverse diets. More women in treatment villages consumed pulses, nuts, eggs and Vitamin A‐rich foods daily than in control villages. In response to economic shocks related to COVID‐19, households in the treatment villages were less likely to reduce the quantity of meat and fish consumption than in control villages. The long‐term impacts of the intervention need to be continuously evaluated.
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Affiliation(s)
- Catherine Ragasa
- Development Strategy and Governance Division (DSGD), International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Washington, District of Columbia, USA
| | - Isabel Lambrecht
- Development Strategy and Governance Division (DSGD), International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Yangon, Myanmar
| | - Kristi Mahrt
- Development Strategy and Governance Division (DSGD), International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Denver, Colorado, USA
| | - Hongdi Zhao
- Development Strategy and Governance Division (DSGD), International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Washington, District of Columbia, USA
| | - Zin Wai Aung
- Development Strategy and Governance Division (DSGD), International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar
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Ragasa C, Lambrecht I, Mahrt K, Aung ZW, Wang M. Immediate impacts of COVID-19 on female and male farmers in central Myanmar: Phone-based household survey evidence. Agric Econ 2021; 52:505-523. [PMID: 34149133 PMCID: PMC8207076 DOI: 10.1111/agec.12632] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/16/2020] [Accepted: 11/04/2020] [Indexed: 05/07/2023]
Abstract
This article provides evidence of the immediate impacts of the first months of the COVID-19 crisis on farming communities in central Myanmar using baseline data from January 2020 and follow-up phone survey data from June 2020 with 1,072 women and men. Heterogeneous effects among households are observed. Fifty-one percent of the sample households experienced income loss from various livelihood activities, and landless households were more severely affected by the crisis, mainly because of lost farm and nonfarm employment and negative impacts on rural enterprises. Women and men in these landless households were equally engaged and affected by lower wages or more difficulties in finding farm work; fewer women were engaged in nonfarm work, but almost all of them lost such nonfarm wage employment. Women in landless households are also particularly vulnerable in terms of worsened workload and increased tension in the household during COVID-19. Landed households were also affected through lower prices, lower demand for crops, and difficulties in input access. Women and men differ in levels of stress, fear, and pessimism regarding the effects of COVID-19. In most households, there were no signs that household task-sharing and work balance improved, and no clear shift in intrahousehold relations was observed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Catherine Ragasa
- International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)WashingtonDCUSA
| | - Isabel Lambrecht
- International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)YangonMyanmar
| | - Kristi Mahrt
- International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)ColoradoUSA
| | - Zin Wai Aung
- International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)YangonMyanmar
| | - Michael Wang
- International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)YangonMyanmar
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Boughton D, Goeb J, Lambrecht I, Headey D, Takeshima H, Mahrt K, Masias I, Goudet S, Ragasa C, Maredia MK, Minten B, Diao X. Impacts of COVID-19 on agricultural production and food systems in late transforming Southeast Asia: The case of Myanmar. Agric Syst 2021; 188:103026. [PMID: 36570045 PMCID: PMC9757923 DOI: 10.1016/j.agsy.2020.103026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/16/2020] [Revised: 12/06/2020] [Accepted: 12/08/2020] [Indexed: 05/13/2023]
Abstract
The objective of this contribution is to report the initial impacts of measures taken to contain the COVID-19 pandemic on Myanmar's agri-food system. Myanmar is one of several late-transforming low-income countries in Southeast Asia where agriculture still plays a large role in rural livelihoods, and where food prices are a key factor affecting nutrition security for poor urban and rural households. Whereas the economic impacts of COVID-19 disruptions on tourism and manufacturing were obvious to policymakers, the impacts on the agri-food system were less evident and often more indirect. This resulted in the rural sector being allocated only a very small share of the government's initial fiscal response to mitigate the economic impacts of COVID-19. To correct this information gap, a suite of phone surveys covering a wide spectrum of actors in the agri-food system were deployed, including farm input suppliers, mechanization service providers, farmers, commodity traders, millers, food retailers and consumers. The surveys were repeated at regular intervals prior to and during the main crop production season which began shortly after nationwide COVID-19 prevention measures were implemented in April. While the results indicate considerable resilience in the agri-food system in response to the initial disruptions, persistent financial stress for a high proportion of households and agri-food system businesses indicate that the road to a full recovery will take time. The experience provides important lessons for strengthening the resilience of the agri-food system, and the livelihoods of households that depend on it.
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Affiliation(s)
- Duncan Boughton
- Department of Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics, Michigan State University, Justin S Morrill Hall of Agriculture, 446 West Circle Drive, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
| | - Joseph Goeb
- Department of Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics, Michigan State University, Justin S Morrill Hall of Agriculture, 446 West Circle Drive, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
| | - Isabel Lambrecht
- Development Strategy and Governance Division, International Food Policy Research Institute, 1201 Eye St., NW, Washington, DC 20005-3915, USA
| | - Derek Headey
- Poverty, Health and Nutrition Division, International Food Policy Research Institute, 1201 Eye St., NW, Washington, DC 20005-3915, USA
| | - Hiroyuki Takeshima
- Development Strategy and Governance Division, International Food Policy Research Institute, 1201 Eye St., NW, Washington, DC 20005-3915, USA
| | - Kristi Mahrt
- Development Strategy and Governance Division, International Food Policy Research Institute, 1201 Eye St., NW, Washington, DC 20005-3915, USA
| | - Ian Masias
- Development Strategy and Governance Division, International Food Policy Research Institute, 1201 Eye St., NW, Washington, DC 20005-3915, USA
| | - Sophie Goudet
- Independent consultant and Academic visitor, School of Sport, Exerise and Health Sciences, Loughborough University, Epinal Way, Loughborough LE11 3TU, United Kingdom
| | - Catherine Ragasa
- Development Strategy and Governance Division, International Food Policy Research Institute, 1201 Eye St., NW, Washington, DC 20005-3915, USA
| | - Mywish K Maredia
- Department of Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics, Michigan State University, Justin S Morrill Hall of Agriculture, 446 West Circle Drive, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
| | - Bart Minten
- Development Strategy and Governance Division, International Food Policy Research Institute, 1201 Eye St., NW, Washington, DC 20005-3915, USA
| | - Xinshen Diao
- Development Strategy and Governance Division, International Food Policy Research Institute, 1201 Eye St., NW, Washington, DC 20005-3915, USA
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