Agriculture-Nutrition Linkages, Cooking-Time, Intrahousehold Equality Among Women and Children: Evidence from Tajikistan

Abstract

Household-level agriculture-nutrition linkage (ANL) tends to be strong where food markets are imperfect. In such an environment, markets for cooking services may also be imperfect. Nutrition outcomes of household members, including intrahousehold inequality among women and children can depend on a household’s self-production of food and cooking services, provided both by household labors, particularly of women. Using the primary data in Tajikistan, we show that longer cooking-time by women in the household often strengthens household-level ANL and also reduces intrahousehold inequality in nutritional outcomes among women and children. These effects are stronger in areas with lower nighttime light intensity and for households with lower values of cooking assets. In a context where household-level ANL is strong, ANL may also depend on households’ self-production of complementary inputs, including cooking services. This dependence reveals both unique opportunities for and vulnerabilities of ANL for the rural poor.