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Nutrition sensitive agriculture: An equity-based analysis from India

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  • Nichols, Carly

Abstract

Malnutrition remains a problem across India, particularly among women and children in rural areas. In response, nutrition-sensitive agriculture (NSA) programs have emerged, which promote activities such as crop diversification, nutrition education, and women’s empowerment. While research has assessed whether NSA programs have an impact on nutrition indicators, less work has examined whether such programs are equitable in distributive, procedural, and recognitional terms. This study investigates how one non-governmental organization (NGO) working through women-led self-help groups (SHGs) in eastern India has incorporated NSA practices into its traditional focus of improving cereal productivity and promoting cash crops. Given that both research sites in northern Jharkhand and eastern Madhya Pradesh have seen agricultural practices shift from more diverse, traditional cropping to high-yielding rice over the past decade, this research examines women’s responses to these new NSA promotion efforts. This 11-month study employed ethnographic methods including participant observation and 117 interviews with village women along with NGO and government workers across both sites. This analysis employed an equity framework based on the decolonial concept of cognitive justice, which asserts that epistemological inequity precedes socioeconomic inequities. The findings suggest while all respondents reacted positively to the tenets of NSA promotion, due to high-yielding paddy’s labor requirements and cultural aspirations to maximize rice production, many farmers (especially those engaged in improved paddy cultivation) were unable to adopt NSA practices robustly. While poorer farmers not growing improved paddy were better positioned to adopt NSA, many were less active in SHG activities due to structural barriers and an observed lack of cognitive justice. As NSA programs are still emerging, little research has detailed the ways such efforts may exacerbate or allay rural inequities. This study suggests NSA could have more impact on cropping practices and nutrition outcomes if it led with an equity approach centered on cognitive justice.

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  • Nichols, Carly, 2020. "Nutrition sensitive agriculture: An equity-based analysis from India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:133:y:2020:i:c:s0305750x20301303
    DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.105004
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    1. Kumar, Neha & Raghunathan, Kalyani & Arrieta, Alejandra & Jilani, Amir & Pandey, Shinjini, 2021. "The power of the collective empowers women: Evidence from self-help groups in India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    2. Mohapatra, Souryabrata & Wen, Le & Sharp, Basil & Sahoo, Dukhabandhu, 2024. "Unveiling the spatial dynamics of climate impact on rice yield in India," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 922-945.
    3. Carly Nichols & Halie Kampman & Mara Bold, 2022. "Forging just dietary futures: bringing mainstream and critical nutrition into conversation," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 39(2), pages 633-644, June.
    4. Carly E. Nichols, 2022. "Digesting agriculture development: nutrition-oriented development and the political ecology of rice–body relations in India," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 39(2), pages 757-771, June.
    5. Indu K. Sharma & Dirk Essink & Victoria Fumado & Malay Kanti Mridha & Lalita Bhattacharjee & Jacqueline E. W. Broerse, 2021. "What Influences the Implementation and Sustainability of Nutrition-Sensitive Agriculture Interventions? A Case Study from Southern Bangladesh," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-20, October.
    6. Mockshell, Jonathan & Nielsen Ritter, Thea, 2024. "Applying the six-dimensional food security framework to examine a fresh fruit and vegetable program implemented by self-help groups during the COVID-19 lockdown in India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).

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