Agriculture, nutrition and the green revolution in Bangladesh

This paper explores agriculture and nutrition linkages in Bangladesh, a country that achieved rapid growth in rice productivity at a relatively late stage in Asia's Green Revolution, as well as unheralded progress against undernutrition. To do so, we first outline a simple conceptual model to identi...

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Main Authors: Headey, Derek D., Hoddinott, John F.
Format: Journal Article
Language:Inglés
Published: Elsevier 2016
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/146313
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author Headey, Derek D.
Hoddinott, John F.
author_browse Headey, Derek D.
Hoddinott, John F.
author_facet Headey, Derek D.
Hoddinott, John F.
author_sort Headey, Derek D.
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description This paper explores agriculture and nutrition linkages in Bangladesh, a country that achieved rapid growth in rice productivity at a relatively late stage in Asia's Green Revolution, as well as unheralded progress against undernutrition. To do so, we first outline a simple conceptual model to identify the different impacts that productivity growth in a food staple(s) might have on child nutrition outcomes, with a particular focus on changes in diets at the household and child level. We then apply this framework to a descriptive overview of the evolution of Bangladesh's food system in recent decades. We show that this evolution is characterized rapid growth in yields and calorie availability, but relatively sluggish diversification in both food production and consumption, despite increasing reliance on imports for dietary diversification. Next, we create a multi-round district level panel that links changes in nutrition survey data with agricultural sample survey data over 1996–2011, a period in which rice yields rose by more than 70%. We then use this panel to more rigorously test for associations between yield growth and various anthropometric and child feeding indicators. Consistent with our descriptive evidence on dietary changes, we find that rice yields predict the earlier introduction of complementary foods to young children (most frequently rice) as well as increases in their weight-for-height, but no improvements in their dietary diversity or height-for-age. Since Bangladesh has one of the highest rates of child wasting in the world, these significant associations between yields and child weight gain are encouraging, but the lack of discernible effects on children's dietary diversity or linear growth is cause for concern. Indeed, it suggests that further nutritional impacts will require diversifying the Bangladeshi food basket through both supply and demand-side interventions.
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spelling CGSpace1463132025-09-25T13:01:45Z Agriculture, nutrition and the green revolution in Bangladesh Headey, Derek D. Hoddinott, John F. surveys households rice malnutrition nutrition productivity children yields food consumption diet wasting disease This paper explores agriculture and nutrition linkages in Bangladesh, a country that achieved rapid growth in rice productivity at a relatively late stage in Asia's Green Revolution, as well as unheralded progress against undernutrition. To do so, we first outline a simple conceptual model to identify the different impacts that productivity growth in a food staple(s) might have on child nutrition outcomes, with a particular focus on changes in diets at the household and child level. We then apply this framework to a descriptive overview of the evolution of Bangladesh's food system in recent decades. We show that this evolution is characterized rapid growth in yields and calorie availability, but relatively sluggish diversification in both food production and consumption, despite increasing reliance on imports for dietary diversification. Next, we create a multi-round district level panel that links changes in nutrition survey data with agricultural sample survey data over 1996–2011, a period in which rice yields rose by more than 70%. We then use this panel to more rigorously test for associations between yield growth and various anthropometric and child feeding indicators. Consistent with our descriptive evidence on dietary changes, we find that rice yields predict the earlier introduction of complementary foods to young children (most frequently rice) as well as increases in their weight-for-height, but no improvements in their dietary diversity or height-for-age. Since Bangladesh has one of the highest rates of child wasting in the world, these significant associations between yields and child weight gain are encouraging, but the lack of discernible effects on children's dietary diversity or linear growth is cause for concern. Indeed, it suggests that further nutritional impacts will require diversifying the Bangladeshi food basket through both supply and demand-side interventions. 2016-09-22 2024-06-21T09:06:35Z 2024-06-21T09:06:35Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/146313 en https://hdl.handle.net/10568/150998 Open Access Elsevier Headey, Derek D.; and Hoddinott, John F. 2016. Agriculture, nutrition and the green revolution in Bangladesh. Agricultural Systems 149(November 2016): 122-131. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2016.09.001
spellingShingle surveys
households
rice
malnutrition
nutrition
productivity
children
yields
food consumption
diet
wasting disease
Headey, Derek D.
Hoddinott, John F.
Agriculture, nutrition and the green revolution in Bangladesh
title Agriculture, nutrition and the green revolution in Bangladesh
title_full Agriculture, nutrition and the green revolution in Bangladesh
title_fullStr Agriculture, nutrition and the green revolution in Bangladesh
title_full_unstemmed Agriculture, nutrition and the green revolution in Bangladesh
title_short Agriculture, nutrition and the green revolution in Bangladesh
title_sort agriculture nutrition and the green revolution in bangladesh
topic surveys
households
rice
malnutrition
nutrition
productivity
children
yields
food consumption
diet
wasting disease
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/146313
work_keys_str_mv AT headeyderekd agriculturenutritionandthegreenrevolutioninbangladesh
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