Exploring the effects of increasing underutilized crops on consumers’ diets: the case of millet in Uganda

Known in the literature as underutilized, neglected or orphan crops, these crops have been cited as having the potential to improve food and nutritional security. The literature also highlights however that consumers in developing countries are increasingly abandoning their traditional diets that these crops are part of, and are replacing them by western diets. In this context, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the consumption and nutritional implications of expanding the participation of underutilized crops in current diets. This was done using a modified version of the microeconomic consumer problem. This was augmented with a linear constraint using generalized rationing theory that can be found in the economics literature. The method was applied to the case study of the consumption of millet (finger millet, botanical name: Eleusine coracana) by rural, urban-poor and urban-affluent Ugandan socioeconomic groups. The results indicated that millet could contribute to improving the intake of macronutrients and of some micronutrients, though the overall picture is complex. However, under current preferences and given its demand inelasticity, to achieve a substantial increase in the quantity of millet in the diet will require a significant reduction of its price. Otherwise, the net impact on nutrition as measured by the mean adequacy ratio will be only slightly positive for rural and urban-poor households. Our findings indicate that supply-side initiatives aimed at increasing the productivity of underutilized crops (reducing crop price) are likely to produce disappointing results in restoring their importance unless accompanied by specific interventions to expand demand.

Dairy Value Chain

Livestock sector is the backbone of Indian agriculture and plays a crucial role in the development of the rural economy. More than one-fifth (23%) of agricultural households with area less than 0.01 hectare reported livestock as their principal source of income (GoI Government of India (2014) Key indicators of situation of agricultural). Livestock is one of the fastest-growing sectors of Indian agriculture. While the share of overall agriculture and allied sectors in Gross Value Added (GVA) declined from 18.2% in 2014–15 to 17.8% in 2019–20, the share of livestock sector in GVA increased from 4.4% to 5.1% in the same period (GoI Government of India (2021) The economic survey (2020–21). Ministry of Finance. Government of India). Livestock sector accounts for 31% of the gross value of output in agriculture and allied sector (GVOA). Within livestock, milk is the biggest component with 20% share in GVOA. In fact, milk is the largest agriculture commodity in terms of value of output worth INR 772,705 crores in 2018–19 which was more than the value of cereals, pulses, oilseeds and sugarcane combined worth INR 623,462 crores (MoSPI. (2021). National Accounts Statistics 2020. Central Statistical Organization. Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation.). Around 70 million of rural households are engaged in milk production, most of them are landless, marginal, and small farmers (NCAER. (2020). Analyzing Socio-Economic Impact of National Dairy Plan—I. National Council for Applied Economic Research. February 2020.). As a source of livelihood for million of poor households, dairying also supplements their dietary sources of protein and nutrition thus playing a critical role in the country’s food security needs.

INDIVIDUAL AND CONTEXTUAL FACTORS AFFECTING DPT IMMUNIZATION IN INDONESIA

Nowadays, diphtheria cases always increase from year to year. Until now, no drug has been found to cure diphtheria, but there is the most effective way of prevention through immunization. It is known that diphtheria sufferers who don’t get immunizations increase every year. The purpose of this study is to determine the individual and contextual factors that influence the status of DPT immunization in Indonesia and its trends and to know the diversity between cities. The data used in this study are Susenas KOR and consumption and expenditure (KP) modules. The results of multilevel binary logistic regression analysis indicate that individual factors that influence the status of DPT immunization are residence classification, highest maternal education, ownership of immunization cards, birth order, and household poverty status. While the contextual are the ratio of posyandu to 100,000 population and PDRB. Characteristics of children aged 12-59 who do not get immunizations tend to live in rural areas, have mothers with the highest education in junior high school, don’t have immunization cards, who born late in households with many children, and come from poor households. Besides that, there is a diversity of characteristics between cities, which amounted to 22,19%.

Determinants of Smallholder Households’ Resilience to Livelihood Insecurity in Goncha District, Northwest Highlands of Ethiopia

Poor households are more likely less resilient under climate change, risks of productive assets, social-related shocks, and decline of land productivity. The ability to deal with household resilience against poverty under the uncertain condition of risk is limited in the highlands of Ethiopia. The study aims to identify determinants of household resilience to livelihood insecurity under the crop-livestock mixed farming systems in Goncha district, Northwest highlands of Ethiopia. Primary data were collected by conducting face-to-face interviews among 280 households using structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, Kruskal-Wallis test and structural equation modeling were used to analyse the data. The results disclosed that sustainable management of the farming systems, cultivation of more fertile farmland, saving performance, diversification of income-earning activities, intensification of livestock husbandry practices, access to irrigation, and familiarity with practical technologies were found to be significant determinants at p<0.001 to household resilience of smallholder farmers. Social network development and tree plantation were explained household resilience to livelihood insecurity at P<0.01 and P<0.1 significant levels, respectively. The study concluded that scaling up sustainable management of the farming system and practical technologies, enhancing saving behavior, promoting income diversification, and intensifying agroforestry are significant for household resilience to livelihood insecurity of smallholders across agro-ecologies.

The pattern of poor household food consumption: The case of West Java Province

The result of a LA-AIDS showed that the food consumption of poor households in West Java is influenced by its own-price, the price of other commodities, income, number of household members, household location, education of the head of household, and work type of the head of the household. The own-price elasticity identified that the price increase in each commodity group does not affect the consumption of the general food group. The cross-price elasticity of food groups showed more complementary.

Determinants of households’ livelihood diversification strategies to adapt with natural disasters: Evidence from ecologically vulnerable haor region of Bangladesh

The haor region of Bangladesh is exposed to a variety of natural disasters such as flash floods, seasonal floods, droughts, riverbank erosions, embankment breaches due to climate change, which impacts the haor people's lives and livelihoods. The study aims to assess the various livelihood strategies adopted by the haor households, as well as the factors that influence their decision to pursue more environmentally friendly and sustainable livelihood strategies. The primary data from the 300 haor households in Kishoregonj, Netrokona and Sunamgonj districts were collected with a multi-stage stratified random sample technique taking 100 of each district. We provide inimitable insight into the analysis framework for understanding sustainable rural livelihood, as well as empirical evidence of how livelihood resources, livelihood strategies, and livelihood outcomes are strongly interrelated. The study classified households’ economic activities into five distinct categories together with crop farming to cope with natural disasters. Among the livelihood options, crop plus livestock rearing is the most productive livelihood strategy for haor households. The findings revealed that the higher returning livelihood diversification strategies are significantly influenced by the household’s head age and education, dependency ratio, land holdings, household assets value, access to credit, annual income, membership of any organization, home to road, market, and haor distances, communication during the dry season, duration of waterlogged, and agro-ecology. In order to change the local context and enable poor households to establish more profitable livelihood strategies, policies should aim to promote the significant determinants of livelihood strategies, as well as ensure livelihood assets, a strong infrastructure, and minimize natural disasters.

Beyond “Women's Traits”: Exploring How Gender, Social Difference, and Household Characteristics Influence Trait Preferences

Demand-led breeding strategies are gaining importance in public sector breeding globally. While borrowing approaches from the private sector, public sector programs remain mainly focused on food security and social impact related outcomes. This necessitates information on specific user groups and their preferences to build targeted customer and product profiles for informed breeding decisions. A variety of studies have identified gendered trait preferences, but do not systematically analyze differences related to or interactions of gender with other social dimensions, household characteristics, and geographic factors. This study integrates 1000minds survey trait trade-off analysis with the Rural Household Multi-Indicator Survey to study cassava trait preferences in Nigeria related to a major food product, gari. Results build on earlier research demonstrating that women prioritize food product quality traits while men prioritize agronomic traits. We show that food product quality traits are more important for members from food insecure households and gender differences between men and women increase among the food insecure. Furthermore, respondents from poorer households prioritize traits similar to respondents in non-poor households but there are notable trait differences between men and women in poor households. Women in female headed household prioritized quality traits more than women living with a spouse. Important regional differences in trait preferences were also observed. In the South East region, where household use of cassava is important, and connection to larger markets is less developed, quality traits and in ground storability were prioritized more than in other states. These results reinforce the importance of recognizing social difference and the heterogeneity among men and women, and how individual and household characteristics interact to reveal trait preference variability. This information can inform trait prioritization and guide development of breeding products that have higher social impact, which may ultimately serve the more vulnerable and align with development goals.

IMPACTS OF FINANCIAL INCLUSION ON POVERTY AND INCOME INEQUALITY IN DEVELOPING ASIA

This study investigates the impacts of financial inclusion on poverty and income inequality in 27 developing countries in Asia during 2004–2019 based on a composite financial inclusion index (FII) constructed using principal component analysis (PCA). The generalized method of moments (GMM) was employed for the estimation. The results show that financial inclusion can influence the reduction in both poverty and income inequality. The empirical findings also reveal the contribution of such control variables as economic growth in decreasing income disparity and trade openness in helping improve the standard of living of poor households despite its tendency to co-vary with income inequality. The present empirical evidence supporting the role of financial inclusion in reducing poverty and income inequality in developing countries has led to a policy implication that financial sector development should focus on the availability, usage, and depth of credit to cover all poor households or low-income groups to help improve their access to financial services, enable them to increase their income, and reduce the income gap between poor and rich households.