Exploring agriculture-child nutrition pathways: Evidence from Malawi’s Farm Input Subsidy Program

Abstract

Child undernutrition is highly prevalent around the world, particularly in low-income countries where economies are largely driven by the agricultural sector. Agricultural policies have the potential to impact total food production as well as food quality and diversity, thereby shaping nutritional status. In this study, we first corroborate evidence that Malawi’s Farm Input Subsidy Program (FISP), which provides subsidized vouchers for farm inputs to targeted rural households, boosts child nutritional status. Our analysis includes recent years during which the program’s nutrition impacts have not been previously examined. We then investigate three broad categories of agriculture-child nutrition linkages in the context of this program: (1) farm production and diversity, (2) crop sales, non-farm enterprises, and food consumption from different sources (purchases and own production), and (3) women’s empowerment and the health environment. In order to identify plausibly causal estimates, we employ a fixed effects-instrumental variable (FE-IV) approach. Our results demonstrate that FISP is associated with an increase in use of agricultural inputs (fertilizer) and boosts crop production. In addition, there are positive impacts on the likelihood that households sell maize, the crop targeted specifically by the program, and operate non-farm enterprises. Recipient households also purchase more vegetables on the market and consume more cereals from the crops they produce themselves. The evidence from this study highlights the main pathways through which an agricultural policy shapes short-term hunger and child nutritional outcomes.