Crop choice and nutrition: implications on the integrated rural area development program approach
Date
1989-03
Authors
Figueroa, Ermi Amor T.
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Abstract
This paper studies the nutritional consequences of agricultural development projects using an IADP, particularly the Bicol River Basin Development Program (BRBDP) as empirical setting. It starts off with the main objective of finding out which farmers, those engaged in food crop or cash crop, have children with better nutrition. It is hypothesized that the choice of the crop to cultivate has significant consequences on the nutritional status of the farmers' children. Nutritional status is measured by the weight-to-standard-weight ratio, with wage of the father as the main economic variable and the weights of the parents as the non-economic variables. A simple model based on Becker's household production function is used to organized the issues explored.
Empirical results in this study show that the wage variable is very significant in explaining for variations in nutritional status. For rice farmers, the wage variable is significant but has negative impact. An increase in wages results in a decline in the weight ratio. Food crop farmers incur high opportunity costs in producing rice for nutrition, such that with higher wages a substitution away from food is obtained, and thus are able to consume less of goods required for nutrition.