Agricultural correlates of aggregate nutritional outcomes in Malawi: District-level rank analysis

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cg.authorship.typesCGIAR single centreen_US
cg.contributor.donorIrish Aiden_US
cg.coverage.countryMalawien_US
cg.coverage.iso3166-alpha2MWen_US
cg.coverage.regionAfricaen_US
cg.coverage.regionSub-Saharan Africaen_US
cg.coverage.regionSouthern Africaen_US
cg.coverage.regionEastern Africaen_US
cg.creator.identifierTodd Benson: 0000-0001-7919-778Xen_US
cg.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1177/0030727017744940en_US
cg.identifier.projectIFPRI - Development Strategy and Governance Divisionen_US
cg.identifier.publicationRankBen_US
cg.isijournalISI Journalen_US
cg.issn0030-7270en_US
cg.issue4en_US
cg.journalOutlook on Agricultureen_US
cg.reviewStatusPeer Reviewen_US
cg.volume46en_US
dc.contributor.authorBenson, Todden_US
dc.date.accessioned2024-06-21T09:06:23Zen_US
dc.date.available2024-06-21T09:06:23Zen_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10568/146262en_US
dc.titleAgricultural correlates of aggregate nutritional outcomes in Malawi: District-level rank analysisen_US
dcterms.abstractObtaining empirical evidence on the importance of agriculture in determining nutritional status is difficult, as there are few data sets that contain information on both nutrition outcomes and the agricultural livelihoods of survey respondents. Here we take advantage of the fact that the Demographic and Health Survey fielded in Malawi in 2010, which collected detailed information on nutrition outcomes, used comparable survey strata to a household consumption and expenditure survey in 2010–2011 that collected extensive information on agricultural production. While the samples for the two surveys involved different households, the results of both are representative at district level. Using a non-parametric rank correlation approach, we use the district-level results from the surveys to examine whether there are associations between five aggregate nutritional outcomes and characteristics of agricultural production in 27 districts of Malawi. The analysis is then extended to explore other non-agricultural determinants of nutritional status. Limited associations between aggregate agricultural production and aggregate nutritional outcomes were found, suggesting that the direct relationship between the two is relatively weak in Malawi. Moreover, the sign of many of the associations runs contrary to expectations: in some cases, strengthened agricultural livelihoods are negatively related to nutritional outcomes. When the analysis is extended to consider non-agricultural determinants of nutritional status, slightly stronger associations are found – aggregated measures of women’s empowerment, the availability of food and micronutrients and measures of household wealth are positively related to aggregate nutrition outcomes. Nonetheless, this analysis should be treated as exploratory. It is presented to stimulate more detailed examination of the association in Malawi between nutrition outcomes and agriculture using individual- and household-level data.en_US
dcterms.bibliographicCitationBenson, Todd. 2017. Agricultural correlates of aggregate nutritional outcomes in Malawi: District-level rank analysis. Outlook on Agriculture 46(4): 279-288. https://doi.org/10.1177/0030727017744940en_US
dcterms.extentpp. 279-288en_US
dcterms.issued2017en_US
dcterms.languageenen_US
dcterms.publisherSAGE Publicationsen_US
dcterms.replaceshttps://ebrary.ifpri.org/digital/collection/p15738coll5/id/6094en_US
dcterms.subjecthousehold surveysen_US
dcterms.subjectsurveysen_US
dcterms.subjectagricultureen_US
dcterms.subjectnutritionen_US
dcterms.typeJournal Articleen_US

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