Child nutrition, agricultural production and satellite remotely sensed images: Exploring linkages in nepal

Celeste Sununtnasuk, Purdue University

Abstract

This thesis investigates the connections between agriculture and child nutrition outcomes in Nepal. Nepal has experienced economic growth and a general decline in poverty over the past decade, but continues to fall behind the rest of the world in child malnutrition rates. Sources of nutrition are often determined by local agricultural conditions. Harsh terrain, high transportation costs and poor infrastructure make it difficult to redistribute food from food-surplus to food-deficit areas. Using data from the 2011 Nepal Demographic Health Survey and satellite remotely sensed Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), I augment the standard approach to explaining child nutrition outcomes by including information about the intensity of green vegetation for growing season months during critical periods of a child's growth and development. NDVI measures are used in two Probit regressions to evaluate whether interannual variability in weather and its impact on food production influence a child's probability of being stunted or wasted. In a separate analysis, household level agricultural production characteristics from the 2010/2011 Nepal Living Standards Survey are used in a Seemingly Unrelated Regression (SUR) to explain variation in height-for-age and weight-for-height Z-scores. Results suggest that increases in NDVI anomalies for harvest months during the time a child is in utero are associated with modest reductions in the probability of stunting. Results from the SUR model highlight the importance of overall yields and specific crop groups in improving long-term nutrition outcomes. Larger shares of fruits and vegetables in the household crop portfolio and the production of meat or animal by-products are associated with significantly higher height-for-age Z-scores.

Degree

M.S.

Advisors

Shively, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Agricultural economics

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