COVID-19 and food security in Ethiopia: Do social protection programs protect?

We assess the impact of Ethiopia’s flagship social protection program, the Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP) on the adverse impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on food and nutrition security of households, mothers, and children. We use both pre-pandemic in-person household survey data and a post-pan...

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Autores principales: Abay, Kibrom A., Berhane, Guush, Hoddinott, John F., Tafere, Kibrom
Formato: Artículo preliminar
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: International Food Policy Research Institute 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/143557
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author Abay, Kibrom A.
Berhane, Guush
Hoddinott, John F.
Tafere, Kibrom
author_browse Abay, Kibrom A.
Berhane, Guush
Hoddinott, John F.
Tafere, Kibrom
author_facet Abay, Kibrom A.
Berhane, Guush
Hoddinott, John F.
Tafere, Kibrom
author_sort Abay, Kibrom A.
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description We assess the impact of Ethiopia’s flagship social protection program, the Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP) on the adverse impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on food and nutrition security of households, mothers, and children. We use both pre-pandemic in-person household survey data and a post-pandemic phone survey. Two thirds of our respondents reported that their incomes had fallen after the pandemic began and almost half reported that their ability to satisfy their food needs had worsened. Employing a household fixed effects difference-in-difference approach, we find that the household food insecurity increased by 11.7 percentage points and the size of the food gap by 0.47 months in the aftermath of the onset of the pandemic. Participation in the PSNP offsets virtually all of this adverse change; the likelihood of becoming food insecure increased by only 2.4 percentage points for PSNP households and the duration of the food gap increased by only 0.13 months. The protective role of PSNP is greater for poorer households and those living in remote areas. Results are robust to definitions of PSNP participation, different estimators and how we account for the non-randomness of mobile phone ownership. PSNP households were less likely to reduce expenditures on health and education by 7.7 percentage points and were less likely to reduce expenditures on agricultural inputs by 13 percentage points. By contrast, mothers’ and children’s diets changed little, despite some changes in the composition of diets with consumption of animal source foods declining significantly.
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spelling CGSpace1435572025-12-02T21:02:41Z COVID-19 and food security in Ethiopia: Do social protection programs protect? Abay, Kibrom A. Berhane, Guush Hoddinott, John F. Tafere, Kibrom income nutrition security programmes covid-19 households social protection capacity development food security social safety nets dietary diversity We assess the impact of Ethiopia’s flagship social protection program, the Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP) on the adverse impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on food and nutrition security of households, mothers, and children. We use both pre-pandemic in-person household survey data and a post-pandemic phone survey. Two thirds of our respondents reported that their incomes had fallen after the pandemic began and almost half reported that their ability to satisfy their food needs had worsened. Employing a household fixed effects difference-in-difference approach, we find that the household food insecurity increased by 11.7 percentage points and the size of the food gap by 0.47 months in the aftermath of the onset of the pandemic. Participation in the PSNP offsets virtually all of this adverse change; the likelihood of becoming food insecure increased by only 2.4 percentage points for PSNP households and the duration of the food gap increased by only 0.13 months. The protective role of PSNP is greater for poorer households and those living in remote areas. Results are robust to definitions of PSNP participation, different estimators and how we account for the non-randomness of mobile phone ownership. PSNP households were less likely to reduce expenditures on health and education by 7.7 percentage points and were less likely to reduce expenditures on agricultural inputs by 13 percentage points. By contrast, mothers’ and children’s diets changed little, despite some changes in the composition of diets with consumption of animal source foods declining significantly. 2020-11-01 2024-05-22T12:15:04Z 2024-05-22T12:15:04Z Working Paper https://hdl.handle.net/10568/143557 en https://hdl.handle.net/10986/34794 https://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.134179 https://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.134381 https://doi.org/10.1086/715831 Open Access application/pdf International Food Policy Research Institute Abay, Kibrom A.; Berhane, Guush; Hoddinott, John F.; and Tafere, Kibrom. 2020. COVID-19 and food security in Ethiopia: Do social protection programs protect? IFPRI Discussion Paper 1972. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). https://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.134146.
spellingShingle income
nutrition security
programmes
covid-19
households
social protection
capacity development
food security
social safety nets
dietary diversity
Abay, Kibrom A.
Berhane, Guush
Hoddinott, John F.
Tafere, Kibrom
COVID-19 and food security in Ethiopia: Do social protection programs protect?
title COVID-19 and food security in Ethiopia: Do social protection programs protect?
title_full COVID-19 and food security in Ethiopia: Do social protection programs protect?
title_fullStr COVID-19 and food security in Ethiopia: Do social protection programs protect?
title_full_unstemmed COVID-19 and food security in Ethiopia: Do social protection programs protect?
title_short COVID-19 and food security in Ethiopia: Do social protection programs protect?
title_sort covid 19 and food security in ethiopia do social protection programs protect
topic income
nutrition security
programmes
covid-19
households
social protection
capacity development
food security
social safety nets
dietary diversity
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/143557
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AT taferekibrom covid19andfoodsecurityinethiopiadosocialprotectionprogramsprotect