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Agriculture, Infrastructure and Nutrition

Linkages in Rural India:

A State-Level Analysis

Mehroosh Tak and Bhavani Shankar

LCIRAH - Leverhulme Centre for Integrative Research on Agriculture and Health

SOAS – School of Oriental African Studies

• What role does agriculture and food systems

infrastructure (roads, market facilities) play in

promoting diet diversity?

Research Question

• Strong case for role of agriculture in improving diet

diversity

• However, evidence base is limited

• At household level and cross-sectional

• Value chains for nutrition studies focus on individual

nutritious foods

• Infrastructure that cut across value chains

• Unable to capture meso-level determinants of local

food environment

• Such as food availability and market distribution

mechanisms that impact nutrition

Background

4

Conceptual Framework

• Assembled panel

• Two decade period: 1990 to 2009-10

• State-level for rural India

• Dietary diversity time series was constructed using household

consumption data for India (15 survey rounds)

• Combined with stock of infrastructure, demographic and growth

data

• Village Dynamics in South Asia (VDSA) from ICRISAT

• Census

• Reserve Bank of India

• Final panel is an unbalanced panel for 16 states

Data

• Measures

- Dietary Diversity Score (DDS)

12 food groups

Cereals; roots and tubers; vegetables; fruits; eggs; milk;

legumes; nuts and seeds; meat; seafood; oils; sweets; and

spices, condiments and beverages

- Simpson (SI) and Entropy Index (EI)

Measure of concentration in markets

Higher the score the more diverse the diet

- Expenditure share of non-cereal food groups

Dietary Diversity

• DD𝑖,t =𝛼+ 𝛽.Y𝑖,𝑡+𝜸.E𝑖,𝑡+𝜹.M𝑖,𝑡+Φ.R𝑖,𝑡+σ.CD𝑖,𝑡+ 𝜀𝑖,𝑡

- DD – Dietary diversity

- Y – Income || State GDP

- E – Education || Female literacy rate

- M – Markets || Number of agriculture markets

- R – Roads|| road density per ‘000 kilometers

- CD – Crop diversity

• Panel data methods

- To assess time and state-fixed effects

Methods

Dietary Diversity in Rural IndiaFood expenditure share

Dietary Diversity in Rural IndiaFood expenditure share

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Rural Urban

Consumption of Milk

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Rural Urban

Consumption of Cereals and Tubers

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.49

.6

DD

S

0 .2 .4 .6 .8Crop Diversity

95% CI lpoly smooth

kernel = epanechnikov, degree = 0, bandwidth = .09, pwidth = .14

Crop and Diet Diversity

8.5

99

.5

DD

S

0 200 400 600 800Number of Agricultural Markets

95% CI lpoly smooth

kernel = epanechnikov, degree = 0, bandwidth = 45.89, pwidth = 68.83

Agricultural Markets and Diet Diversity

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10

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DD

S

0 500 1000 1500 2000Road Density (per 1000 sq. km)

95% CI lpoly smooth

kernel = epanechnikov, degree = 0, bandwidth = 47.99, pwidth = 71.99

Road Density and Diet Diversity

8.5

99

.51

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DD

S

0 200 400 600Per Capita GDP (per Rs.100)

95% CI lpoly smooth

kernel = epanechnikov, degree = 0, bandwidth = 24.44, pwidth = 36.66

Per Capita GDP and Diet Diversity

• Both production diversity and market food availability are important in

improving dietary diversity in rural India

• Agriculture markets for number of food groups (DDS) but not distribution

(indices)

Results

• Different determinants flag up for expenditure share of non-cereal foods

(per capita GDP)

Results

• Results are robust

Results: Neighbouring States Crop Diversity

• Diets in rural India have diversified, but progress on micronutrient

deficiencies in slow

• Role of production diversity and market infrastructure for agriculture

is important in improving dietary diversity

• Evidence in support of road infrastructure on dietary diversity is

weak

• Further work that goes beyond household level determinants of

nutrition and individual value chains to further investigate macro

level food systems investments

Conclusion