School meals as a market for smallholder agriculture: Experimental evidence from Ghana

Governments and international development partners investing over $40 USD billion a year in school meals have shown interest in linking these programs with agriculture sector development, through what has become known as “Home-Grown” school feeding (HGSF). Nevertheless, evidence on the effectiveness...

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Autores principales: Gelli, Aulo, Masset, Edoardo, Adamba, Clement, Alderman, Harold, Arhinful, Daniel K., Aurino, Elisabetta, Folson, Gloria, Osei-Akoto, Isaac, Asante, Felix Ankomah
Formato: Artículo preliminar
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: International Food Policy Research Institute 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/143467
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author Gelli, Aulo
Masset, Edoardo
Adamba, Clement
Alderman, Harold
Arhinful, Daniel K.
Aurino, Elisabetta
Folson, Gloria
Osei-Akoto, Isaac
Asante, Felix Ankomah
author_browse Adamba, Clement
Alderman, Harold
Arhinful, Daniel K.
Asante, Felix Ankomah
Aurino, Elisabetta
Folson, Gloria
Gelli, Aulo
Masset, Edoardo
Osei-Akoto, Isaac
author_facet Gelli, Aulo
Masset, Edoardo
Adamba, Clement
Alderman, Harold
Arhinful, Daniel K.
Aurino, Elisabetta
Folson, Gloria
Osei-Akoto, Isaac
Asante, Felix Ankomah
author_sort Gelli, Aulo
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Governments and international development partners investing over $40 USD billion a year in school meals have shown interest in linking these programs with agriculture sector development, through what has become known as “Home-Grown” school feeding (HGSF). Nevertheless, evidence on the effectiveness of HGSF and agriculture is limited. This article reports on the findings of a three-year cluster randomized trial implemented in 58 districts of Ghana including a panel of 1,668 households. Communities were randomly assigned to 1) standard school meals; 2) HGSF or 3) control with no intervention. Post-intervention, the caterer-level analysis highlighted major challenges related to delayed program disbursements, resulting in a mismatch between budgeted and actual caterer outlay on food purchases per pupil equivalent to approximately 50% of the budgeted per child per day allocation. For caterers, by far the largest procurement channel was through traders, though there is evidence that HGSF may have increased the share of value purchased directly from smallholders. We find no strong evidence that the school feeding program or HGSF affected smallholders market structure, farm, non-farm and household income. When interpreting these null results, it is important to consider the findings of two parallel studies that showed positive effects of this national program on school children’s learning, cognition, and nutrition outcomes. The national program can still be considered as an effective social protection strategy with multiple objectives, even if the agriculture objectives remain aspirational.
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spelling CGSpace1434672025-12-09T21:37:14Z School meals as a market for smallholder agriculture: Experimental evidence from Ghana Gelli, Aulo Masset, Edoardo Adamba, Clement Alderman, Harold Arhinful, Daniel K. Aurino, Elisabetta Folson, Gloria Osei-Akoto, Isaac Asante, Felix Ankomah school feeding impact evaluation agriculture schoolchildren smallholders markets nutrition children impact assessment Governments and international development partners investing over $40 USD billion a year in school meals have shown interest in linking these programs with agriculture sector development, through what has become known as “Home-Grown” school feeding (HGSF). Nevertheless, evidence on the effectiveness of HGSF and agriculture is limited. This article reports on the findings of a three-year cluster randomized trial implemented in 58 districts of Ghana including a panel of 1,668 households. Communities were randomly assigned to 1) standard school meals; 2) HGSF or 3) control with no intervention. Post-intervention, the caterer-level analysis highlighted major challenges related to delayed program disbursements, resulting in a mismatch between budgeted and actual caterer outlay on food purchases per pupil equivalent to approximately 50% of the budgeted per child per day allocation. For caterers, by far the largest procurement channel was through traders, though there is evidence that HGSF may have increased the share of value purchased directly from smallholders. We find no strong evidence that the school feeding program or HGSF affected smallholders market structure, farm, non-farm and household income. When interpreting these null results, it is important to consider the findings of two parallel studies that showed positive effects of this national program on school children’s learning, cognition, and nutrition outcomes. The national program can still be considered as an effective social protection strategy with multiple objectives, even if the agriculture objectives remain aspirational. 2021-10-04 2024-05-22T12:14:20Z 2024-05-22T12:14:20Z Working Paper https://hdl.handle.net/10568/143467 en Open Access application/pdf International Food Policy Research Institute Gelli, Aulo; Masset, Edoardo; Adamba, Clement; Alderman, Harold; Arhinful, Daniel K.; Aurino, Elisabetta; Folson, Gloria; Osei-Akoto, Isaac; and Asante, Felix A. 2021. School meals as a market for smallholder agriculture: Experimental evidence from Ghana. IFPRI Discussion Paper 2045. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). https://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.134616.
spellingShingle school feeding
impact evaluation
agriculture
schoolchildren
smallholders
markets
nutrition
children
impact assessment
Gelli, Aulo
Masset, Edoardo
Adamba, Clement
Alderman, Harold
Arhinful, Daniel K.
Aurino, Elisabetta
Folson, Gloria
Osei-Akoto, Isaac
Asante, Felix Ankomah
School meals as a market for smallholder agriculture: Experimental evidence from Ghana
title School meals as a market for smallholder agriculture: Experimental evidence from Ghana
title_full School meals as a market for smallholder agriculture: Experimental evidence from Ghana
title_fullStr School meals as a market for smallholder agriculture: Experimental evidence from Ghana
title_full_unstemmed School meals as a market for smallholder agriculture: Experimental evidence from Ghana
title_short School meals as a market for smallholder agriculture: Experimental evidence from Ghana
title_sort school meals as a market for smallholder agriculture experimental evidence from ghana
topic school feeding
impact evaluation
agriculture
schoolchildren
smallholders
markets
nutrition
children
impact assessment
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/143467
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