Fasting, food and farming: Value chains and food taboos in Ethiopia
The impact of food taboos–often because of religion–is understudied. In Ethiopia, religious fasting by Orthodox Christians is assumed to be an important impediment for the sustainable development of a competitive dairy sector and desired higher milk consumption, especially by children. However, evid...
| Autores principales: | , , |
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| Formato: | Journal Article |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
| Publicado: |
Public Library of Science
2021
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| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/142851 |
| _version_ | 1855523091689504768 |
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| author | D’Haene, Eline Vandevelde, Senne Minten, Bart |
| author_browse | D’Haene, Eline Minten, Bart Vandevelde, Senne |
| author_facet | D’Haene, Eline Vandevelde, Senne Minten, Bart |
| author_sort | D’Haene, Eline |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | The impact of food taboos–often because of religion–is understudied. In Ethiopia, religious fasting by Orthodox Christians is assumed to be an important impediment for the sustainable development of a competitive dairy sector and desired higher milk consumption, especially by children. However, evidence is limited. Relying on unique data, we shed light on three major issues. First, we observe that the average annual number of fasting days that Orthodox adults are effectively adhering to is 140, less than commonly cited averages. Using this as an estimate for extrapolation, fasting is estimated to reduce annual dairy consumption by approximately 12 percent nationally. Second, farms adapt to declining milk demand during fasting by increased processing of milk into storable products–fasting contributes to larger price swings for these products. We further continued sales of milk by non-remote farmers and reduced production–by adjusting lactation times for dairy animals–for remote farmers. Third, fasting is mostly associated with increased milk consumption by the children of dairy farmers, seemingly because of excess milk availability during fasting periods. Our results suggest that fasting habits are not a major explanation for the observed poor performance of Ethiopia’s dairy sector nor low milk consumption by children. To reduce the impact of fasting on the dairy sector in Ethiopia further, investment is called for in improved milk processing, storage, and infrastructure facilities. |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | CGSpace142851 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| publishDateRange | 2021 |
| publishDateSort | 2021 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science |
| publisherStr | Public Library of Science |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace1428512025-01-24T14:12:43Z Fasting, food and farming: Value chains and food taboos in Ethiopia D’Haene, Eline Vandevelde, Senne Minten, Bart value chains eggs milk products fasting religion livestock meat farming systems The impact of food taboos–often because of religion–is understudied. In Ethiopia, religious fasting by Orthodox Christians is assumed to be an important impediment for the sustainable development of a competitive dairy sector and desired higher milk consumption, especially by children. However, evidence is limited. Relying on unique data, we shed light on three major issues. First, we observe that the average annual number of fasting days that Orthodox adults are effectively adhering to is 140, less than commonly cited averages. Using this as an estimate for extrapolation, fasting is estimated to reduce annual dairy consumption by approximately 12 percent nationally. Second, farms adapt to declining milk demand during fasting by increased processing of milk into storable products–fasting contributes to larger price swings for these products. We further continued sales of milk by non-remote farmers and reduced production–by adjusting lactation times for dairy animals–for remote farmers. Third, fasting is mostly associated with increased milk consumption by the children of dairy farmers, seemingly because of excess milk availability during fasting periods. Our results suggest that fasting habits are not a major explanation for the observed poor performance of Ethiopia’s dairy sector nor low milk consumption by children. To reduce the impact of fasting on the dairy sector in Ethiopia further, investment is called for in improved milk processing, storage, and infrastructure facilities. 2021-12-14 2024-05-22T12:11:11Z 2024-05-22T12:11:11Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/142851 en Open Access Public Library of Science D’Haene, Eline; Vandevelde, Senne; and Minten, Bart. 2021. Fasting, food and farming: Value chains and food taboos in Ethiopia. PLoS ONE 16(12): e025998. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0259982 |
| spellingShingle | value chains eggs milk products fasting religion livestock meat farming systems D’Haene, Eline Vandevelde, Senne Minten, Bart Fasting, food and farming: Value chains and food taboos in Ethiopia |
| title | Fasting, food and farming: Value chains and food taboos in Ethiopia |
| title_full | Fasting, food and farming: Value chains and food taboos in Ethiopia |
| title_fullStr | Fasting, food and farming: Value chains and food taboos in Ethiopia |
| title_full_unstemmed | Fasting, food and farming: Value chains and food taboos in Ethiopia |
| title_short | Fasting, food and farming: Value chains and food taboos in Ethiopia |
| title_sort | fasting food and farming value chains and food taboos in ethiopia |
| topic | value chains eggs milk products fasting religion livestock meat farming systems |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/142851 |
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