Abstract
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 448 - 470 |
| Number of pages | 23 |
| Journal | Journal of Agricultural Economics |
| Volume | 67 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2016 |
Keywords
- calorie availability
- dietary diversity
- food security
- malnutrition
- microcredit
Cite this
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Microcredit programme participation and household food security in rural Bangladesh. / Islam, Asadul; Maitra, Chandana; Pakrashi, Debayan; Smyth, Russell Leigh.
In: Journal of Agricultural Economics, Vol. 67, No. 2, 2016, p. 448 - 470.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
TY - JOUR
T1 - Microcredit programme participation and household food security in rural Bangladesh
AU - Islam, Asadul
AU - Maitra, Chandana
AU - Pakrashi, Debayan
AU - Smyth, Russell Leigh
PY - 2016
Y1 - 2016
N2 - Lack of access to credit prevents poor households in developing countries from diversifying into income-generating activities that could safeguard them against unforeseen shocks and seasonality, leaving them susceptible to food deprivation, even when aggregate food supplies are adequate. Microcredit programmes help these households to access financial capital that could help improve their food security situation. We examine how microcredit affects different measures of food security;namely, household calorie availability, dietary diversity indicators and anthropometric status of women of reproductive age (15–49 years) and children under the age of 5 years. We find that microcredit programme participation increases calorie availability both at the intensive and extensive margins, but does not improve dietary diversity and only has mixed effects on the anthropometric measures. We also find that the effect of microcredit participation on food security may be non-linear in which participation initially has either no effect on food security or may actually worsen it, before improving it in the longer run. Our results help to explain why existing short-term evaluations of microcredit sometimes do not show any positive effects.
AB - Lack of access to credit prevents poor households in developing countries from diversifying into income-generating activities that could safeguard them against unforeseen shocks and seasonality, leaving them susceptible to food deprivation, even when aggregate food supplies are adequate. Microcredit programmes help these households to access financial capital that could help improve their food security situation. We examine how microcredit affects different measures of food security;namely, household calorie availability, dietary diversity indicators and anthropometric status of women of reproductive age (15–49 years) and children under the age of 5 years. We find that microcredit programme participation increases calorie availability both at the intensive and extensive margins, but does not improve dietary diversity and only has mixed effects on the anthropometric measures. We also find that the effect of microcredit participation on food security may be non-linear in which participation initially has either no effect on food security or may actually worsen it, before improving it in the longer run. Our results help to explain why existing short-term evaluations of microcredit sometimes do not show any positive effects.
KW - calorie availability
KW - dietary diversity
KW - food security
KW - malnutrition
KW - microcredit
U2 - 10.1111/1477-9552.12151
DO - 10.1111/1477-9552.12151
M3 - Article
VL - 67
SP - 448
EP - 470
JO - Journal of Agricultural Economics
JF - Journal of Agricultural Economics
SN - 0021-857X
IS - 2
ER -