Skip to main content
Feed the Future
This project is part of the U.S. Government's global hunger and food security initiative.
  • About
subscribe

Agrilinks

Search Log In

Main Menu

  • Topics
  • Events
  • Activities
  • Tools & Training
  • Members
  • About
subscribe

Emerging Evidence from Tanzania that Sustainable Intensification Can Improve Child Nutrition

Andra Williams

Jan 30, 2020
Farmer discussion on soil health and sustainable intensification
Discussions on soil health and community health benefits of sustainable intensification with a community of farmers in Singida, Tanzania, in a field outside of Singida town, Feb 2017, photo credit S. Snapp

This post is written by Jongwoo, K., Mason, N.M and Snapp, S., Michigan State University

In many developing countries, including Tanzania, food insecurity and child malnutrition remain persistent problems. In 2017, globally, about 151 million children under age five are stunted, where 55 percent and 39 percent of these children live in Asia and Africa, respectively; but Africa has shown relatively slow progress in reducing stunting and it is the only region where the rate of stunting has risen since 2000. Malnutrition is a leading cause of child mortality, making children more vulnerable to severe diseases. Approximately 45 percent of global deaths of children under age five are linked to malnutrition, and the mortality rate of children in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is the highest in the world. Tanzania — a focal country in this study — is the third worst affected country in SSA based on the prevalence of stunting.

Agriculture and nutrition are closely linked because the majority of undernourished people still live in rural areas and many of them are smallholder farmers. This linkage suggests that agricultural intensification via farmers’ adoption of improved inputs and management practices may improve the nutritional status of nutritionally vulnerable household members including young children. This can be done by enhancing the household’s agricultural production, productivity, and/or income, as well as by providing better access to more diverse or nutritious foods. However, there is an emerging consensus that conventional agricultural intensification via high-yielding crop varieties and inorganic fertilizers may be insufficient to sustainably raise agricultural productivity and could have negative environmental consequences (Pingali, 2012). Moreover, in many parts of SSA, rapidly growing populations and a lack of new land to farm has led to continuous cultivation of plots and reduced fallowing, thereby degrading soils and adversely affecting crop yields and yield response to inorganic fertilizers. A major question then is, what is the impact of this declining natural resource base on family nutrition status, and should agricultural development just focus on intensification (via fertilizer subsidies), or pay equal attention to organic matter technologies and agrobiodiversity for a sustainable approach to intensification?

In this context, agricultural sustainable intensification (SI) is, at its core, an approach that seeks to “produce more food from the same area of land while reducing the environmental impacts” (Godfray et al., 2010, p. 813). In our study, we focused on the effects of SI maize production on child nutrition outcomes in maize-growing households in Tanzania. We focused on maize due to its importance as a staple food in Tanzania, and because it accounts for approximately 75 percent of the total cropped area in the country. To do this, we applied a multinomial endogenous treatment effects (METE) model, combined with the correlated random effects (CRE) approach, using three waves of nationally representative household panel survey data (the Tanzania National Panel Surveys of 2008/09, 2010/11, and 2012/13). These surveys were conducted by the TNBS in conjunction with the World Bank.

Some of our key findings included the results from our exploration of the effects of different combinations of three soil-fertility management practices (inorganic fertilizer, organic fertilizer, and maize-legume intercropping) used by rural Tanzanian households on their maize plots on the nutritional outcomes of children aged 6-59 months within the household. The results suggested that joint use of inorganic fertilizer with maize-legume intercropping and/or organic fertilizer (which we refer to as the sustainable intensification or SI group of practices) is associated with increases in children’s height-for-age z-score (HAZ) and weight-for-age z-score (WAZ), as compared to households that adopt none of these practices. The positive effects of the SI group are mainly among children aged 25-59 months who, as compared to younger children, are less likely to be breastfed and may be more directly affected by household diet changes associated with changes in agricultural practices. The joint use of maize-legume intercropping and inorganic fertilizer is a key driver of the positive SI effects, in the form of crop income and productivity pathways.

Filed Under: Agricultural Productivity Education and Extension Nutrition Resilience

Comments

Related Resources

Does sustainable intensification of maize production enhance child nutrition? Evidence from rural Tanzania594.56 KB

You May Also Like

post

Are Benefits From Agricultural Intensification Related to Household Income, Level of Education and Gender?

In developing countries, agricultural intensification (defined as increased input per unit of land) is a key phenomenon of interest. These inputs may include land, fertilizers, pesticides and labor including use...

Tabby Kabui

Nov 09, 2017
post

Efforts to Develop High-Yielding, Striga-Tolerant Maize Seed is Bearing Fruit

Striga is a nutrient-sucking monster that stunts crops such as maize and sorghum, leaving affected farmers counting losses.

Joshua Masinde

Aug 25, 2020
post

How Climate-Smart Agriculture Is Affecting Yields & Livelihoods in Mozambique

Technical resources from the Feed the Future RAMA-BC program;s approach to climate-smart agriculture to illustrate how this approach is creating more resilience for farmers

Nicholas Dexter

Sep 25, 2020
post

Extension Services and Input Subsidies: Boosting Productivity and Food Security in Malawi

Research in Malawi shows that effective extension programs are needed to complement and realize the benefits of input subsidies.

International Food Policy Research Institute

Sep 06, 2018
Follow Agrilinks:
  • Youtube
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • RSS
Agrilinks
Achieving agriculture-led food security through knowledge sharing
MarketLinks
Market-based solutions for development
LearningLab
A collaborative learning community of development professionals
Landlinks
USAID's knowledge sharing platform focused on land tenure and property rights
Climatelinks
A global knowledge portal for climate change & development practitioners
Urbanlinks
USAID’s sharing platform for resources on sustainable urban development
Resiliencelinks
A global knowledge platform for resilience practitioners
Globalwaters
Sharing knowledge and ideas to solve global water and sanitation challenges
U.S. Agency for International Development
  • Accessibility
  • Contact
  • Help
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
The information provided on this website is not official U.S. government information and does not represent the views or positions of the U.S. Agency for International Development or the U.S. Government.

Search Agrilinks

My Account

  • My drafts and published content
  • My profile
Sign out

Contribute To Agrilinks

  • Add a post
  • Add an event
Need help?

Subscribe

Subscribe to receive our weekly newsletter featuring the latest and greatest Agrilinks content.

You'll also receive invitations to upcoming Agrilinks webinars and other special announcements. We won't share your email address and you can unsubscribe at any time.