Can agricultural interventions improve child health?
Written by: Anna Folke Larsen and Helene Bie Lilleør
Severely reduced height-for-age due to undernutrition is widespread in young African children, with serious implications for their health and later economic productivity. It is primarily caused by growth faltering due to hunger spells in critical periods of early child development. We assess the impact on child health, measured as height-for-age, of an Agricultural intervention that improved food security among smallholder farmers by providing these with a basket of new technology options. We find that height-for-age measures among children from participating households increased by about 0.8 standard deviation and the incidence of stunting among them reduced by about 17 percentage points.
More about the initiative

Initiative
RIPAT
Go to initiativeLatest releases on the same welfare topic

Comment
The controversy regarding ‘criminal families’ concerns divergent perspectives
September 2025

Knowledge overview
Innovative employment initiative gives young people a work identity – and higher wages
September 2025

Research report
Co-Ethnic Neighbours and Integration of Migrant Children
September 2025

Knowledge overview
The more neighbors who speak the same language, the worse refugee children fare in young adulthood
September 2025