Urban agriculture, dietary diversity and child health in a sample of Tanzanian town-folk

Wagner, Natascha; Tasciotti, Luca

Abstract

Undernutrition and micronutrient deficiency continue to be two of the major health burdens in less developed economies. In this study, we explore the link between urban agriculture, dietary diversity and child health, using weight-for-age and height-for-age Z-scores. The study makes use of two rounds of observational data for urban Tanzania and employs an instrumental variables estimation approach. We show that practising urban agriculture leads to the consumption of a greater variety of food items and the health status of urban children living in households practising urban agriculture significantly improves in the short and, more importantly, long term.

Citation

Wagner, N., & Tasciotti, L. (2017). Urban agriculture, dietary diversity and child health in a sample of Tanzanian town-folk. Canadian Journal of Development Studies, 39(2), 234-251. https://doi.org/10.1080/02255189.2017.1375902

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jun 15, 2017
• Online Publication Date: Nov 27, 2017
• Publication Date: Nov 27, 2017
• Deposit Date: Sep 28, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 28, 2017
• Journal: Canadian Journal of Development Studies
• Print ISSN: 0225-5189
• Electronic ISSN: 2158-9100
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 39
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 234-251
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/02255189.2017.1375902