IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jfpoli/v34y2009i2p166-175.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Do agricultural outputs of partly autarkic peasants affect their health and nutrition? Evidence from Rwanda

Author

Listed:
  • Muller, Christophe

Abstract

In rural areas of less developed countries because of market imperfections, the health and nutritional status of peasants may directly depend on the production levels of specific agricultural goods rather than solely on income levels. This channel of health and nutrition determination has never been studied. In order to assess and test the empirical possibility of this channel, we estimate the responses of health and nutritional status of autarkic agricultural households in Rwanda with respect to differences in socio-demographic characteristics and the main agricultural outputs and inputs while controlling for local environment and sampling scheme. Several food outputs are found to have a positive influence on health and nutrition, whereas the production of traditional beers has a negative impact. Moreover, greater land negatively affects health and nutrition, conditionally on agricultural production, perhaps because of a larger relative workload for households who have a large farm. An alternative interpretation of the estimates is that they inform on the validity of the common hypothesis of perfect agricultural input/output markets with no effect of agricultural inputs/outputs on health and nutrition status. This hypothesis is rejected.

Suggested Citation

  • Muller, Christophe, 2009. "Do agricultural outputs of partly autarkic peasants affect their health and nutrition? Evidence from Rwanda," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 166-175, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jfpoli:v:34:y:2009:i:2:p:166-175
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306-9192(08)00090-0
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. von Braun, Joachim & Haen, Hartwig de & Blanken, Juergen, 1991. "Commercialization of agriculture under population pressure: effects on production, and nutrition in Rwanda," Research reports 85, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    2. Senauer, Benjamin & Garcia, Marito, 1991. "Determinants of the Nutrition and Health Status of Preschool Children: An Analysis with Longitudinal Data," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 39(2), pages 371-389, January.
    3. Khan, Qaiser M., 1984. "The impact of household endowment constraints on nutrition and health : A simultaneous equation test of human capital divestment," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(1-3), pages 313-328.
    4. Appleton, Simon, 1998. "The Impact of Public Services on Health Care and Illness: A Treatment Effects Model with Sample Selectivity," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 7(1), pages 1-33, March.
    5. Heller, Peter S. & Drake, William D., 1979. "Malnutrition, child morbidity and the family decision process," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 6(2), pages 203-235, April.
    6. Mullahy, John & Sindelar, Jody L, 1993. "Alcoholism, Work, and Income," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 11(3), pages 494-520, July.
    7. Schultz, T. Paul & Tansel, Aysit, 1997. "Wage and labor supply effects of illness in Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana: instrumental variable estimates for days disabled," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(2), pages 251-286, August.
    8. Stefan Dercon & Pramila Krishnan, 2000. "In Sickness and in Health: Risk Sharing within Households in Rural Ethiopia," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 108(4), pages 688-727, August.
    9. de Janvry, Alain & Fafchamps, Marcel & Sadoulet, Elisabeth, 1991. "Peasant Household Behaviour with Missing Markets: Some Paradoxes Explained," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 101(409), pages 1400-1417, November.
    10. Schultz, T. Paul, 1997. "Assessing the productive benefits of nutrition and health: An integrated human capital approach," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 77(1), pages 141-158, March.
    11. Bhargava, Alok, 1997. "Nutritional status and the allocation of time in Rwandese households," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 77(1), pages 277-295, March.
    12. Pitt, Mark M & Rosenzweig, Mark R & Hassan, Md Nazmul, 1990. "Productivity, Health, and Inequality in the Intrahousehold Distribution of Food in Low-Income Countries," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 80(5), pages 1139-1156, December.
    13. Paul A. Higgins & Harold Alderman, 1997. "Labor and Women's Nutrition: The Impact of Work Effort and Fertility on Nutritional Status in Ghana," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 32(3), pages 577-595.
    14. de Janvry, Alain & Fafchamps, M. & Sadoulet, Elisabeth, 1991. "Peasant Household Behavior with Missing Markets: Some Paradoxes Explain," CUDARE Working Papers 198579, University of California, Berkeley, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics.
    15. Strauss, John & Thomas, Duncan, 1995. "Human resources: Empirical modeling of household and family decisions," Handbook of Development Economics, in: Hollis Chenery & T.N. Srinivasan (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 34, pages 1883-2023, Elsevier.
    16. Foster, Andrew D & Rosenzweig, Mark R, 1994. "A Test for Moral Hazard in the Labor Market: Contractual Arrangements, Effort, and Health," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 76(2), pages 213-227, May.
    17. von Braun, Joachim & Puetz, Detlev & Webb, Patrick, 1989. "Irrigation technology and commercialization of rice in the Gambia: effects on income and nutrition," Research reports 75, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    18. Cebu Study Team, 1992. "A child health production function estimated from longitudinal data," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 323-351, April.
    19. Wilcox-Gok, Virginia L, 1983. "The Determination of Child Health: An Application of Sibling and Adoption Data," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 65(2), pages 266-273, May.
    20. Christophe Muller, 1999. "The impact of the production composition on the nutrition status of agricultural households in Rwanda," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 6(2), pages 125-131.
    21. Behrman, Jere R. & Deolalikar, Anil B., 1988. "Health and nutrition," Handbook of Development Economics, in: Hollis Chenery & T.N. Srinivasan (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 14, pages 631-711, Elsevier.
    22. Kochar, Anjini, 1995. "Explaining Household Vulnerability to Idiosyncratic Income Shocks," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(2), pages 159-164, May.
    23. Tatsuo Hatta, 1980. "Structure of the Correspondence Principle at an Extremum Point," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 47(5), pages 987-997.
    24. von Braun, Joachim & Hotchkiss, David & Immink, Maarten D. C., 1989. "Nontraditional export crops in Guatemala: effects on production, consumption, and nutrition," Research reports 73, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Christophe Muller & Nouréini Sayouti, 2019. "How Do Agro-Pastoral Policies Affect the Dietary Intake of Agro-Pastoralists? Evidence from Niger," AMSE Working Papers 1917, Aix-Marseille School of Economics, France, revised Apr 2020.
    2. Maryia Bakhtsiyarava & Kathryn Grace, 2021. "Agricultural production diversity and child nutrition in Ethiopia," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 13(6), pages 1407-1422, December.
    3. Smith, Michael D. & Kassa, Woubet & Winters, Paul, 2017. "Assessing food insecurity in Latin America and the Caribbean using FAO’s Food Insecurity Experience Scale," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 48-61.
    4. Sven Bergau & Tim K. Loos & Orkhan Sariyev, 2022. "On- and Off-Farm Diversification and Travel Time to Markets: Linkages to Food Security in Rural Ethiopia," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 34(5), pages 2543-2560, October.
    5. repec:hal:cdiwps:halshs-02532955 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Kibrom T. Sibhatu & Matin Qaim, 2018. "Farm production diversity and dietary quality: linkages and measurement issues," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 10(1), pages 47-59, February.
    7. Katharina Lehmann-Uschner & Kati Kraehnert, 2017. "Food Intake and the Role of Food Self-Provisioning," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(8), pages 1303-1322, August.
    8. Pace, Noemi & Sebastian, Ashwini & Daidone, Silvio & Prifti, Ervin & Davis, Benjamin, 2022. "Mediation analysis of the impact of the Zimbabwe Harmonized Social Cash Transfer Programme on food security and nutrition," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    9. Andrew Dillon & Kevin McGee & Gbemisola Oseni, 2015. "Agricultural Production, Dietary Diversity and Climate Variability," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(8), pages 976-995, August.
    10. Christophe Muller & Nouréini Sayouti, 2019. "How do agro-pastoral policies affect the dietary intake of agro-pastoralists in Niger?," CERDI Working papers halshs-02165137, HAL.
    11. Genova, C. & Umberger, W. & Peralta, A. & Newman, S., 2018. "Dietary diversity of children and teenagers in Northern Vietnam," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 276033, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    12. Christophe Muller & Nouréini Sayouti, 2019. "How do agro-pastoral policies affect the dietary intake of agro-pastoralists in Niger?," Working Papers halshs-02165137, HAL.
    13. Mauricio R. Bellon & Gervais Ntandou-Bouzitou & Janet E. Lauderdale & Francesco Caracciolo, 2023. "Combining market and nonmarket food sources provides rural households with more options to achieve better diets in Southern Benin," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 15(2), pages 411-422, April.
    14. Van den Broeck, Goedele & Mardulier, Myrthe & Maertens, Miet, 2021. "All that is gold does not glitter: Income and nutrition in Tanzania," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Christophe Muller, 1997. "The consequences of past agricultural output on interacting nutrition and health of autarkic peasants: evidence from Rwanda," Economics Series Working Papers WPS/1997-07, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    2. Marcel Fafchamps & Agnes R. Quisumbing, 1999. "Human Capital, Productivity, and Labor Allocation in Rural Pakistan," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 34(2), pages 369-406.
    3. Kirk, Angeli & Kilic, Talip & Carletto, Calogero, 2018. "Composition of Household Income and Child Nutrition Outcomes Evidence from Uganda," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 452-469.
    4. De Janvry, Alain & Sadoulet, Elisabeth & Murgai, Rinku, 2002. "Rural development and rural policy," Handbook of Agricultural Economics, in: B. L. Gardner & G. C. Rausser (ed.), Handbook of Agricultural Economics, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 31, pages 1593-1658, Elsevier.
    5. Marcel Fafchamps & Agnes R. Quisumbing & IFPRI, 2006. "Household Formation and Marriage Markets," Economics Series Working Papers GPRG-WPS-039, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    6. Adhvaryu, Achyuta & Nyshadham, Anant, 2011. "Labor Complementarities and Health in the Agricultural Household," Center Discussion Papers 107263, Yale University, Economic Growth Center.
    7. Katharina Lehmann-Uschner & Kati Kraehnert, 2017. "Food Intake and the Role of Food Self-Provisioning," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(8), pages 1303-1322, August.
    8. Haddad, Lawrence James & Peña, Christine & Nishida, Chizuru & Quisumbing, Agnes R. & Slack, Alison T., 1996. "Food security and nutrition implications of intrahousehold bias," FCND discussion papers 19, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    9. Jairo Núñez & Rocio Ribero, 1999. "Productivity of Household Investment in Health: The Case of Colombia," Research Department Publications 3052, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department.
    10. Issam Khelfaoui & Yuantao Xie & Muhammad Hafeez & Danish Ahmed & Houssem Eddine Degha & Hicham Meskher, 2022. "Effects of Health Shocks, Insurance, and Education on Income: Fresh Analysis Using CHNS Panel Data," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-17, July.
    11. Lindelow, Magnus & Wagstaff, Adam, 2005. "Health shocks in China : are the poor and uninsured less protected ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3740, The World Bank.
    12. Marcos Vera-Hernández & Aida Galiano Martínez, 2008. "Health shocks, household consumption, and child nutrition," Working Papers. Serie EC 2008-14, Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Económicas, S.A. (Ivie).
    13. repec:eee:labchp:v:3:y:1999:i:pb:p:2859-2939 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Unknown, 1992. "The Determinants of Household Income and Consumption in Rural Nampula Province: Implications for Food Security and Agricultural Policy Reform," Food Security Collaborative Working Papers 55994, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics.
    15. Christophe Muller, 1997. "The consequences of past agricultural outputs on the interacting nutrition and health of autarkic peasants," CSAE Working Paper Series 1997-07, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
    16. Stefan Dercon & John Hoddinott, 2003. "Health, Shocks and Poverty Persistence," WIDER Working Paper Series DP2003-08, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    17. Smith, Lisa C. & Chavas, Jean-Paul, 1999. "Supply response of West African agricultural households," FCND discussion papers 69, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    18. Damon, Maria & Zivin, Joshua Graff & Thirumurthy, Harsha, 2015. "Health shocks and natural resource management: Evidence from Western Kenya," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 36-52.
    19. Ueyama, Mika, 2007. "Income growth and gender bias in childhood mortality in developing countries:," IFPRI discussion papers 739, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    20. Hoddinott, John, 1997. "Water, health, and income," FCND discussion papers 25, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    21. Conning, Jonathan & Udry, Christopher, 2007. "Rural Financial Markets in Developing Countries," Handbook of Agricultural Economics, in: Robert Evenson & Prabhu Pingali (ed.), Handbook of Agricultural Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 56, pages 2857-2908, Elsevier.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Health and nutrition models Agricultural households;

    JEL classification:

    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jfpoli:v:34:y:2009:i:2:p:166-175. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/foodpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.