How does the ownership of land affect household nutrition? Revisiting the agriculture-nutrition disconnect in two north Indian villages

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1 How does the ownership of land affect household nutrition? Revisiting the agriculture-nutrition disconnect in two north Indian villages Assoc Prof Bill Pritchard Prof Anu Rammohan Prof Madhushree Sekher

2 The argument 1. Prevailing narratives have been shaped by the agrarian romanticism of the self-sufficient, nutritionally diverse, home-producing smallholder. 2. In contexts of rural livelihood diversity, and where land holdings are declining in average size and becoming increasingly fragmented, this imaginary needs reconsideration. 3. Land remains the pre-eminent asset for most rural households, but is attached to nutritional outcomes in increasingly complex ways. 4. The agriculture-nutrition disconnect model establishes a framework for appreciating this complexity but requires more extensive empirical assessment to document the routes by which land: i. Can be an enabler of different livelihood pathways within households ii. iii. With implications for the gendered composition of household activities That flow into different ways in which households procure food; compose diets; and manage the distribution of food within intra-household contexts. 5. This paper uses case study research in India to explore these pathways. 2

3 The Agriculture-Nutrition Disconnect in India (TANDI): Agriculture-nutrition pathways (edited) 1. Agriculture as a source of food for households. 2. Agriculture as a source of income, either through wages earned by agricultural workers or through the marketed sales of food produced 3. The extent to which income derived from agriculture is spent on nutrition-enhancing activities 4. The connection between women s participation in agriculture and their ability to manage the care, feeding, and health of young children 5. The connection between women s participation in agriculture and their own nutritional status Gillespie, S., Harris, J. & Kadiyala, S., The agriculture-nutrition disconnect in India: What do we know? IFPRI Discussion Paper

4 The study Document agriculture-nutrition pathways under conditions of rural livelihood diversity; Link these pathways to assessments of food intake and nutritional adequacy. Assess implications for nutrition-sensitive agricultural development Identify two proximate rural communities with different agriculture-livelihood contexts Baseline survey of 100 households (2011) Repeat survey of same households (2013) Instrument: Integrated questionnaire with (i) Livelihood survey and (ii) Semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (SQFFQ) with 30 day recall. Follow-up qualitative interviews with 32 purposively targeted households (2014) 4

5 70% own land (0.7 ha av.size); wheat/maize rotation with fodder powerful families (only 23% landownership); extensive non-ag livelihood exposure 5

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7 Estimated per capita daily kilojoule intake (Survey: average of 2011/13 data) Kalyanagar Bhimpur Land-owning Landless Land-owning Landless Cereals - Rice 1,442 1,578 1,854 1,803 - Wheat 3,124 3,674 3,456 3,512 - Corn Pulses Fruit and vegetables Milk 1, , Meat and eggs Biscuits Sugar , Oil and ghee , Other Total 8,909 8,863 10,072 8,825 7

8 Insight 1: cereal consumption Progressive redistribution effect of Public Distribution System offset absence of home production for landless households In both communities, cereals accounted for around 60% of daily kilojoules for landless households but 51-52% for landowners. 8

9 Insight 2: Fruits and vegetables Relatively minor use of kitchen gardens or own-production for own-consumption. Land-ownership associated with no significantly noticeable pattern in consumption. Home storage and freshness issues meant households relied on market purchases 9

10 Percentage of households owning a cow or buffalo Land-owning households Insight 3: milk Landless households Kalyanagar 77% 19% Bhimpur 92% 42% Land is deployed for fodder production to support household cow/buffalo ownership, with direct implications for food intakes. 10

11 Conclusion 1. The agriculture-nutrition disconnect model establishes a framework for appreciating this complexity but requires more extensive empirical assessment to document the routes by which land: i. Can be an enabler of different livelihood pathways within households The study confirmed the complexity of the landlivelihood relation ii. With implications for the gendered composition of household activities This issue not (yet) reported on in our study iii. That flow into different ways in which households procure food; compose diets; and manage the distribution of food within intra-household contexts. Land implicated in cereal consumption via PDS; and in milk consumption, but unclear patterns for other food groups 11