Introducing orange sweet potato: tracing the evolution of evidence on its effectiveness

The introduction of orange sweet potato (OSP), rich in vitamin A, can have important and lasting impacts on reducing vitamin A deficiency among smallholder farmers in the developing world. In this paper, we describe the evolution of evidence about the effectiveness of disseminating OSP to smallholder farmers on vitamin A deficiency. We trace projects from a small trial in 10 villages in western Kenya through the Reaching End Users program in Mozambique and Uganda that reached thousands of households in both countries, while demonstrating that households receiving integrated programs teaching them to grow OSP and the nutritional benefits of vitamin A had notable impacts on the probability of vitamin A deficiency and on biological markers for vitamin A in women of child-bearing age and young children, relative to members of households not selected for participation. The evidence generated through research has played an important role in efforts to disseminate the crop more widely, and future evaluations will help build understanding about how OSP can be combined with other interventions, such as health visits or disseminating additional biofortified foods.Keywords: Orange Sweet Potato, Vitamin A, Impact Evaluation, Biofortificatio

Who decides to grow orange sweet potatoes? Bargaining power and adoption of biofortified crops in Uganda.

The goal of the HarvestPlus reaching end users (REU) orange sweet potato (OSP) project is to increase vitamin A intake and improve vitamin status among Vulnerable populations (women and children) in rural Uganda by introducing beta-carotene-rich OSP, as well as related messages concerning agronomy, nutrition, and marketing. Most households obtain planting material for these crops through interaction with other households. This raises a number of important questions about the roles of social interaction, intrahousehold division of labor, and gender in determining the rates at which these biofortified crops are adopted and spread. As part of the Gender, Agriculture, and Assets Project (GAAP), this study examines the effect of women’s bargaining power, as revealed in gender¬‐based patterns of ownership and control of land and assets, on adoption ofOSP and vitamin A intake among children

Bargaining power and biofortification: The role of gender in adoption of orange sweet potato in Uganda

We examine the role of gender in adoption and diffusion of orange sweet potato, a biofortified staple food crop being promoted as a strategy to increase dietary intakes of vitamin A among young children and adult women in Uganda. As an agricultural intervention with nutrition objectives, intrahousehold gender dynamics regarding decisions about crop choice and child feeding practices may play a role in adoption decisions. Also, most households access sweet potato vines through informal exchange, suggesting again that gender dimensions of networks may be important to diffusion of the crop. We use data from an experimental impact evaluation of the introduction of OSP in Uganda to study how female bargaining power, measured by share of land and nonland assets controlled by women, affect adoption and diffusion decisions. We find that the share of assets controlled by women does not affect the probability of adopting OSP at the household level. In examining adoption decisions within households, plots of land exclusively controlled by women are not more likely to contain OSP, but plots under joint control of men and women, in which a woman has primary control over decisionmaking are significantly more likely to contain OSP. Plots exclusively controlled by men are the least likely to contain OSP. Also, we find that the share of nonland assets controlled by women increases dietary intakes of vitamin A, but this measure of female bargaining power does not increase the impact of the OSP project on vitamin A, suggesting that the project had similar impacts across households with different levels of female bargaining power

Introducing orange sweet potato: Tracing the evolution of evidence on its effectiveness

The introduction of orange sweet potato (OSP), rich in vitamin A, can have important and lasting impacts on reducing vitamin A deficiency among smallholder farmers in the developing world. In this paper, we describe the evolution of evidence about the effectiveness of disseminating OSP to smallholder farmers on vitamin A deficiency. We trace projects from a small trial in 10 villages in western Kenya through the Reaching End Users program in Mozambique and Uganda that reached thousands of households in both countries, while demonstrating that households receiving integrated programs teaching them to grow OSP and the nutritional benefits of vitamin A had notable impacts on the probability of vitamin A deficiency and on biological markers for vitamin A in women of child-bearing age and young children, relative to members of households not selected for participation. The evidence generated through research has played an important role in efforts to disseminate the crop more widely, and future evaluations will help build understanding about how OSP can be combined with other interventions, such as health visits or disseminating additional biofortified foods

The impact of agricultural extension and roads on poverty and consumption growth in fifteen Ethiopian villages

This article investigates whether public investments that led to improvements in road quality and increased access to agricultural extension services led to faster consumption growth and lower rates of poverty in rural Ethiopia. Estimating an Instrumental Variables model using Generalized Methods of Moments and controlling for household fixed effects, we find evidence of positive impacts with meaningful magnitudes. Receiving at least one extension visit reduces headcount poverty by 9.8 percentage points and increases consumption growth by 7.1 percentage points. Access to all-weather roads reduces poverty by 6.9 percentage points and increases consumption growth by 16.3 percentage points. These results are robust to changes in model specification and estimation method

Productive Safety Net Program and Children's Time Use Between Work and Schooling in Ethiopia

Government, non-government, and donor organizations have developed a social assistance program known as Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP) which has two sub-programs namely public work program (PWP) and Direct Support Program (DSP). PSNP is designed to reduce the vulnerability of poor people to drought and it targets household and in most cases without considering ex ante the issue of intra-household resource distribution. This paper assesses, using Young Lives Survey data, the impacts of the Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP) and the Agricultural Extension Program (AEP) on time use between work and schooling as well as highest grade completed by 12-year-old children in rural and urban Ethiopia. Empirically the study used propensity score matching techniques to estimate the impact of PSNP and AEP on child welfare measured by time use in various types of work, schooling, and studying. We found that PWP in rural areas increases child work for pay, reduces children’s time spent on child care and household chores and total hours of time children spent on work all kind of work combined, and increases girls spending on study. The DSP in rural and urban areas reduces time children spent on paid and unpaid work, and increases the highest grade completed by boys in urban areas. On the other hand, AEP in rural areas was effective in reducing child work for pay and total work, increasing time girls spent on schooling and highest grade completed by girls