The effect of smallholder land tenure on child malnutrition in Nigeria

Abstract

Most farmers in Nigeria are food-insecure smallholders without secure land tenure. Children growing up in these households may be at higher risk of malnutrition. However, there is a paucity of evidence of the effect of land tenure on child nutrition. The present paper examines whether smallholders' mode of land acquisition and tenure documentation could influence child malnutrition in Nigeria. The paper relied on the three-round Nigerian nationally representative panel data of smallholder farming households with small children. The World Health Organisation's standards were used to determine child anthropometric deficits such as stunting, wasting, underweight, overweight and stunted-overweight. The study analysed the effect of smallholders' mode of land acquisition and tenure documentation on child malnutrition using the flexible panel difference-in-difference (flexpaneldid) model and fixed effect (FE) logistic regression. Households on family-inherited land were more likely to have stunted, underweight and overweight children. However, households that held community-distributed land were less likely to have stunted, overweight and underweight children. While the formal land certificate holders had a 13% chance of having stunted children, the informal land document holders were seven percent and five percent less likely to have wasted and underweight children. Smallholder land tenure had a small but relevant effect on reducing child malnutrition with community-level land distribution and informal land documents in Nigeria.