Does ownership of improved dairy cow breeds improve child nutrition? A pathway analysis for Uganda

The promotion of livestock production is widely believed to support enhanced diet quality and child nutrition, but the empirical evidence for this causal linkage remains narrow and ambiguous. This study examines whether adoption of improved dairy cow breeds is linked to farm-level outcomes that tran...

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Autores principales: Kabunga, Nassul S., Ghosh, Shibani, Webb, Patrick
Formato: Journal Article
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/147481
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author Kabunga, Nassul S.
Ghosh, Shibani
Webb, Patrick
author_browse Ghosh, Shibani
Kabunga, Nassul S.
Webb, Patrick
author_facet Kabunga, Nassul S.
Ghosh, Shibani
Webb, Patrick
author_sort Kabunga, Nassul S.
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description The promotion of livestock production is widely believed to support enhanced diet quality and child nutrition, but the empirical evidence for this causal linkage remains narrow and ambiguous. This study examines whether adoption of improved dairy cow breeds is linked to farm-level outcomes that translate into household-level benefits including improved child nutrition outcomes in Uganda. Using nationwide data from Uganda’s National Panel Survey, propensity score matching is used to create an unbiased counterfactual, based on observed characteristics, to assess the net impacts of improved dairy cow adoption. All estimates were tested for robustness and sensitivity to variations in observable and unobservable confounders. Results based on the matched samples showed that households adopting improved dairy cows significantly increased milk yield—by over 200% on average. This resulted in higher milk sales and milk intakes, demonstrating the potential of this agricultural technology to both integrate households into modern value chains and increase households’ access to animal source foods. Use of improved dairy cows increased household food expenditures by about 16%. Although undernutrition was widely prevalent in the study sample and in matched households, the adoption of improved dairy cows was associated with lower child stunting in adopter household. In scale terms, results also showed that holding larger farms tends to support adoption, but that this also stimulates the household’s ability to achieve gains from adoption, which can translate into enhanced nutrition.
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spelling CGSpace1474812025-01-24T14:12:41Z Does ownership of improved dairy cow breeds improve child nutrition? A pathway analysis for Uganda Kabunga, Nassul S. Ghosh, Shibani Webb, Patrick milk production income child nutrition livestock production milk yield malnutrition nutrition propensity score matching child stunting dairy cows The promotion of livestock production is widely believed to support enhanced diet quality and child nutrition, but the empirical evidence for this causal linkage remains narrow and ambiguous. This study examines whether adoption of improved dairy cow breeds is linked to farm-level outcomes that translate into household-level benefits including improved child nutrition outcomes in Uganda. Using nationwide data from Uganda’s National Panel Survey, propensity score matching is used to create an unbiased counterfactual, based on observed characteristics, to assess the net impacts of improved dairy cow adoption. All estimates were tested for robustness and sensitivity to variations in observable and unobservable confounders. Results based on the matched samples showed that households adopting improved dairy cows significantly increased milk yield—by over 200% on average. This resulted in higher milk sales and milk intakes, demonstrating the potential of this agricultural technology to both integrate households into modern value chains and increase households’ access to animal source foods. Use of improved dairy cows increased household food expenditures by about 16%. Although undernutrition was widely prevalent in the study sample and in matched households, the adoption of improved dairy cows was associated with lower child stunting in adopter household. In scale terms, results also showed that holding larger farms tends to support adoption, but that this also stimulates the household’s ability to achieve gains from adoption, which can translate into enhanced nutrition. 2017 2024-06-21T09:22:56Z 2024-06-21T09:22:56Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/147481 en Open Access Public Library of Science Kabunga, Nassul S.; Ghosh, Shibani; and Webb, Patrick. 2017. Does ownership of improved dairy cow breeds improve child nutrition? A pathway analysis for Uganda. PLoS ONE 12(11): e0187816. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0187816
spellingShingle milk production
income
child nutrition
livestock production
milk yield
malnutrition
nutrition
propensity score matching
child stunting
dairy cows
Kabunga, Nassul S.
Ghosh, Shibani
Webb, Patrick
Does ownership of improved dairy cow breeds improve child nutrition? A pathway analysis for Uganda
title Does ownership of improved dairy cow breeds improve child nutrition? A pathway analysis for Uganda
title_full Does ownership of improved dairy cow breeds improve child nutrition? A pathway analysis for Uganda
title_fullStr Does ownership of improved dairy cow breeds improve child nutrition? A pathway analysis for Uganda
title_full_unstemmed Does ownership of improved dairy cow breeds improve child nutrition? A pathway analysis for Uganda
title_short Does ownership of improved dairy cow breeds improve child nutrition? A pathway analysis for Uganda
title_sort does ownership of improved dairy cow breeds improve child nutrition a pathway analysis for uganda
topic milk production
income
child nutrition
livestock production
milk yield
malnutrition
nutrition
propensity score matching
child stunting
dairy cows
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/147481
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