The Impact of Farmers' Health and Nutritional Status on Their Productivity and Efficiency: Evidence from Ethiopia

Abstract

This article focuses on the link between agricultural productivity and health and nutrition status of peasants in Ethiopia. The data come from the first round of the Ethiopian Rural Household Survey conducted in 1994. The sites selected were those in which farmers practice ox-plow cultivation of cereals. A stochastic frontier approach was adopted for the agricultural production. The findings of the study show that the distance to the source of water as well as nutrition and morbidity status affect agricultural productivity. The market wage rate is also very responsive to the weight-for-height as well as the body-mass index and height. In a context where separability between consumption and production decisions of the household is rejected elasticities of labor productivity with respect to nutritional status are noted to be strong and similar in technology estimates and wage equations. Moreover returns to investment in nutrition are clearly high in the Ethiopian context. Overall the results indicate substantial loss in output due to technical inefficiency even after accounting for the health and nutrition of workers.