Weather shocks and child nutritional status in rural Bangladesh: Does labor allocation have a role to play?
Despite efforts to improve food and nutrient intake in the last decades, child undernutrition remains a challenge, particularly in rural areas of developing countries. Although household labor reallocation after weather shocks is an important ex-post strategy to mitigate weather-shock impacts, a com...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | Inglés |
| Published: |
Elsevier Ltd.
2025
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178804 |
| _version_ | 1855538210061418496 |
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| author | Homma, Kirara Islam, Abu Hayat Md. Saiful Matsuura-Kannari, Masanori Debela, Bethelhem Legesse |
| author_browse | Debela, Bethelhem Legesse Homma, Kirara Islam, Abu Hayat Md. Saiful Matsuura-Kannari, Masanori |
| author_facet | Homma, Kirara Islam, Abu Hayat Md. Saiful Matsuura-Kannari, Masanori Debela, Bethelhem Legesse |
| author_sort | Homma, Kirara |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | Despite efforts to improve food and nutrient intake in the last decades, child undernutrition remains a challenge, particularly in rural areas of developing countries. Although household labor reallocation after weather shocks is an important ex-post strategy to mitigate weather-shock impacts, a comprehensive understanding of how households adjust their labor and its implications in the context of child health is lacking. We investigate how different forms of labor activity is associated with the impacts of rainfall shock on child nutritional status, using nationally representative panel data from rural households in Bangladesh, in conjunction with monthly precipitation and temperature data for the last three decades. We find that less rainfall during the main cropping season in the previous year worsens nutritional status of children under the age of five years, while less rainfall in the current year increases child nutrition. We also find heterogeneous associations of different types of labor with the identified linkages between rainfall shock and child nutritional status. While maternal off-farm selfemployment plays a potential role in mitigating the negative impact of rainfall shortage, maternal on-farm labor may worsen child nutrition under rainfall shocks. We do not find any significant associations for household-level total labor time and other household members’ labor time. Our results therefore underscore the importance of providing sufficient off-farm employment opportunities for mothers and addressing maternal time constraints through targeted policies to cope with extreme weather and improve child nutrition. |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | CGSpace178804 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| publishDateRange | 2025 |
| publishDateSort | 2025 |
| publisher | Elsevier Ltd. |
| publisherStr | Elsevier Ltd. |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace1788042025-12-15T01:15:50Z Weather shocks and child nutritional status in rural Bangladesh: Does labor allocation have a role to play? Homma, Kirara Islam, Abu Hayat Md. Saiful Matsuura-Kannari, Masanori Debela, Bethelhem Legesse food security child nutrition weather shock undernutrition households off-farm employment labour allocation Despite efforts to improve food and nutrient intake in the last decades, child undernutrition remains a challenge, particularly in rural areas of developing countries. Although household labor reallocation after weather shocks is an important ex-post strategy to mitigate weather-shock impacts, a comprehensive understanding of how households adjust their labor and its implications in the context of child health is lacking. We investigate how different forms of labor activity is associated with the impacts of rainfall shock on child nutritional status, using nationally representative panel data from rural households in Bangladesh, in conjunction with monthly precipitation and temperature data for the last three decades. We find that less rainfall during the main cropping season in the previous year worsens nutritional status of children under the age of five years, while less rainfall in the current year increases child nutrition. We also find heterogeneous associations of different types of labor with the identified linkages between rainfall shock and child nutritional status. While maternal off-farm selfemployment plays a potential role in mitigating the negative impact of rainfall shortage, maternal on-farm labor may worsen child nutrition under rainfall shocks. We do not find any significant associations for household-level total labor time and other household members’ labor time. Our results therefore underscore the importance of providing sufficient off-farm employment opportunities for mothers and addressing maternal time constraints through targeted policies to cope with extreme weather and improve child nutrition. 2025-07-25 2025-12-15T01:15:49Z 2025-12-15T01:15:49Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178804 en Limited Access Elsevier Ltd. Homma, Kirara, Abu Hayat Md Saiful Islam, Masanori Matsuura-Kannari, and Bethelhem Legesse Debela. "Weather shocks and child nutritional status in rural Bangladesh: Does labor allocation have a role to play?." Food Policy 135 (2025): 102918. |
| spellingShingle | food security child nutrition weather shock undernutrition households off-farm employment labour allocation Homma, Kirara Islam, Abu Hayat Md. Saiful Matsuura-Kannari, Masanori Debela, Bethelhem Legesse Weather shocks and child nutritional status in rural Bangladesh: Does labor allocation have a role to play? |
| title | Weather shocks and child nutritional status in rural Bangladesh: Does labor allocation have a role to play? |
| title_full | Weather shocks and child nutritional status in rural Bangladesh: Does labor allocation have a role to play? |
| title_fullStr | Weather shocks and child nutritional status in rural Bangladesh: Does labor allocation have a role to play? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Weather shocks and child nutritional status in rural Bangladesh: Does labor allocation have a role to play? |
| title_short | Weather shocks and child nutritional status in rural Bangladesh: Does labor allocation have a role to play? |
| title_sort | weather shocks and child nutritional status in rural bangladesh does labor allocation have a role to play |
| topic | food security child nutrition weather shock undernutrition households off-farm employment labour allocation |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178804 |
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