Farm Commercialization and Nutritional Status of Children: The Case of the Vegetables, Fruits, and Cash Crops Programme in Western Nepal

Abstract

There are two conflicting views regarding the effects of commercialization of subsistence agriculture on health and nutrition. While the proponents of agricultural commercialization argue that commercialization raises income, increases food availability, and improves the health and nutritional status of rural households, the critics claim that shifting resources from subsistence to commercial crops reduces food security and increases women's work burden, thereby affecting the health and nutrition of farm families, especially that of women and children. the literature also fails to provide clear evidence whether the commercialization of subsistence agriculture results in an improvement or a deterioration in health and nutrition. This paper examines the effects of farmers’ participation in a USAID-sponsored vegetables, fruits, and cash crops (VFC) programme on the nutritional status of children in western Nepal. According to a simple dichotomous comparison between the participating and non-participating households, the VFC programme had a positive impact on the nutritional status of children, especially in terms of standardized weight-for-age and weight-for-height measures. However, according to multivariate regression analysis, the VFC programme did not have a notable impact on children's nutritional status. the results suggest that household demographics, the nutrition and demographics of mothers, individual child demographics, and a complex set of other unknown factors play a greater role in children's nutritional performance than household economic strategies.