Agricultural Production, Dietary Diversity, and Climate Variability

Nonseparable household models outline
the links between agricultural production and household
consumption, yet empirical extensions to investigate the
effect of production on dietary diversity and diet
composition are limited. Although a significant literature
has investigated the calorie-income elasticity abstracting
from production, this paper provides an empirical
application of the nonseparable household model linking the
effect of exogenous variation in planting season production
decisions via climate variability on household dietary
diversity. Using exogenous variation in degree days,
rainfall, and agricultural capital stocks as instruments,
the effect of production on household dietary diversity at
harvest is estimated. The empirical specifications estimate
production effects on dietary diversity using both
agricultural revenue and crop production diversity.
Significant effects of agricultural revenue and crop
production diversity on dietary diversity are estimated. The
dietary diversity-production elasticities imply that a 10
percent increase in agricultural revenue or crop diversity
results in a 1.8 percent or 2.4 percent increase in dietary
diversity, respectively. These results illustrate that
agricultural income growth or increased crop diversity may
not be sufficient to ensure improved dietary diversity.
Increases in agricultural revenue do change diet
composition. Estimates of the effect of agricultural income
on share of calories by food groups indicate relatively
large changes in diet composition. On average, a 10 percent
increase in agricultural revenue makes households 7.2
percent more likely to consume vegetables and 3.5 percent
more likely to consume fish, and increases the share of
tubers consumed by 5.2 percent.