Crop diversification and child health: empirical evidence from Tanzania

Lovo, S. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6231-4142 and Veronesi, M. (2019) Crop diversification and child health: empirical evidence from Tanzania. Ecological Economics, 158. pp. 168-179. ISSN 0921-8009 doi: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2019.01.005

Abstract/Summary

Malnutrition is recognized as a major issue among low-income households in developing countries with long-term implications for economic development. Recently, crop diversification has been considered as a strategy to improve nutrition and health. However, there is no systematic empirical evidence on the role played by crop diversification in improving human health. We use three waves of the Tanzania National Panel Survey to test the effect of crop diversification on child health. We implement two instrumental variable approaches, and perform several robustness checks to address potential endogeneity concerns. We find a positive but small effect of an increase in crop diversification on child height-for-age z-scores, through greater dietary diversity. The effect is larger for subsistence households and children living in households with limited market access.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/81456
Identification Number/DOI	10.1016/j.ecolecon.2019.01.005
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Arts, Humanities and Social Science > School of Politics, Economics and International Relations > Economics
Publisher	Elsevier
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