The heterogenous relationship of food stamp participation with body mass: Quantile regression model

This study explores the heterogenous relationship between Food Stamp Program (FSP) participation and body mass index (BMI) for low income individuals whose per capita family income falls in the bottom two quintiles. We estimate changes in the dispersion of the entire distribution of BMI following FSP participation using a quantile regression model in both cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses. For women, we find that the mean OLS estimate of FSP participation underestimates the extent of the positive association with BMI at the top quantiles in both cross-sectional and longitudinal individual fixed effects models. Controlling for individual fixed effects in the quantile regression model reduces the estimated magnitude of the association by a factor of three to four, although the estimates remain statistically significant for women. For men, a marginally statistically significant positive association of FSP participation with BMI is found at the top quantiles compared to no statistically significant mean estimate although the association is no longer statistically significant when time-constant individual heterogeneity is adjusted for in the individual fixed effect models.     

Food aid,domestic policy and food security: Contrasting experiences from South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa

Food aid, both for short-term emergency relief and as program food aid that helps address medium-term food “deficits”, is often a major component of food security strategies in developing countries. This study reviews the experience with food aid of four major recipients of food aid (India, Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Zambia) regarding food production, trade, markets, consumption and safety nets, as well as the policy responses to food emergencies. The widely varying experiences of the study countries suggest that food aid that supports building of production and market enhancing infrastructure, is timed to avoid adverse price effects on producers, and is targeted to food insecure households can play a positive role in enhancing food security. However, food aid is not the only, or in many cases, the most efficient means of addressing food insecurity. In many cases private markets can more effectively address shortfalls in food availability and cash transfers may be a viable alternative to food transfers in-kind.     

Changing food patterns in West Africa: Implications for policy research

West African consumption of wheat and rice is growing rapidly despite technological barriers to production of these cereals in the region. Soaring imports are of particular concern in view of likely consumption trends. Maize imports are also growing rapidly, as is production in the more humid countries, to the detriment of sorghum. The latter is performing relatively better in the drier countries. Possible factors underlying consumption shifts are discussed, including price policies at variance with stated objectives. Possible policies to slow down these shifts are discussed, along with research requirements for effective diagnosis and implementation.     

National food strategies and food policy reform

National food strategies, sponsored by the World Food Council, are intended to produce policy blueprints for improving food production in poor countries. International experience with agricultural development discloses wide agreement on national and local policy specifics which should have priority. However, the absence of research into the political attitudes and processes which foster consensus on goals and the reconciliation of competing desirable policies, eg short term v long term, equity v efficiency, may impede the desired policy reform.     

Managing food price risks and instability in a liberalizing market environment: Overview and policy options

Managing food price risks and instability is a major challenge in the midst of ongoing food market reforms. Key findings from the papers in this special volume revolve around five broad areas: (i) the sources and magnitudes of food price instability in different country contexts; (ii) the economic and social costs stemming from price instability; (iii) the lessons from food market reforms to date; (iv) the design of policy reforms in ways that promote efficient and stable market development and protect the interests of the poor; and (v) potential policy responses to food price instability in a liberalizing market environment.     

Smallholder market participation: Concepts and evidence from eastern and southern Africa

This paper reviews the evidence on smallholder market participation, with a focus on staple foodgrains (i.e., cereals) in eastern and southern Africa, in an effort to help better identify what interventions are most likely to break smallholders out of the semi-subsistence poverty trap that appears to ensnare much of rural Africa. The conceptual and empirical evidence suggests that interventions aimed at facilitating smallholder organization, at reducing the costs of intermarket commerce, and, perhaps especially, at improving poorer households’ access to improved technologies and productive assets are central to stimulating smallholder market participation and escape from semi-subsistence poverty traps. Macroeconomic and trade policy tools appear less useful in inducing market participation by poor smallholders in the region.     

Regional trade,government policy and food security: Recent evidence from Zambia

Given heavy dependence on rainfed maize production, countries in East and Southern Africa must routinely cope with pronounced production and consumption volatility in their primary food staple. Typical policy responses include increased food aid flows, government commercial imports and stock releases, and tight controls on private sector trade. This paper examines recent evidence from Zambia, using a simple economic model to assess the likely impact of maize production shocks on the domestic maize price and on staple food consumption under alternative policy regimes. In addition to an array of public policy instruments, the analysis evaluates the impact of two key private sector responses in moderating food consumption volatility – private cross-border maize trade and consumer substitution of an alternate food staple (cassava) for maize. The analysis suggests that, given a favorable policy environment, private imports and increased cassava consumption together could fill roughly two-thirds of the maize consumption shortfall facing vulnerable households during drought years.     

Trade and food policy: Case studies from three Pacific Island countries

There is growing interest in the use of trade policy to create a healthier food supply. Eighty percent of chronic disease deaths occur in low and middle income countries, and a responsive food policy is an absolute necessity. In this paper we analysed three trade-related food policy initiatives to reduce the supply of fatty meat in the Pacific, in order to help public health workers understand how to effect policy change in sectors beyond the health portfolio. We found that policy uptake and implementation were easier with advocacy, tailoring the policy to the political context, the selection of policy tools that align with Government priorities (e.g. trade commitments) – ideally tools that are already used by trade policy makers in other contexts – and a broad justification for the policy initiative. Barriers to policy success included a focus only on health concerns (not taking into account policy issues of other sectors), limited engagement from other sectors in proposing and developing these cross-sectoral policies, and lack of a clear enforcement mechanism.     

Urban food policies in German city regions: An overview of key players and policy instruments

Although food is an emerging topic on municipal policy and planning agendas, a systematic examination of policy development, its implementation and the instruments used at the urban level is lacking. This study was carried out with the aim of gaining new insights into the prevalence of certain food policy instruments and capacity of policy action. In order to do so, we developed an analytical framework to investigate urban policy and planning approaches related to food issues and applied it in ten large German cities. First, we identified different actor groups and analysed their role in urban food policy (level of involvement in municipal food projects). We then studied the variety of policy and planning instruments and their application for different elements in the food system. For the empirical study, we employed a case study approach and utilised data gathering methods of qualitative research, i.e. expert interviews and document analysis. Our empirical findings in the studied cities reveal that urban food policy activities are still very fragmented and often based on individual initiatives within the administration. Integrated urban food policies and their implementation through urban food strategies are still an exception in major cities in Germany. We found that municipal actors follow mainly sectoral approaches, using a wide array of steering instruments, i.e. informational instruments and public procurement policies. However, their capacities for policy implementation remain limited due to missing financial and staffing resources. Accordingly, the potential the urban food system offers for sustainable development through multifunctionality and sectoral integration, is still underexploited.The systematic approach developed in this study may contribute to a better understanding of different policy approaches taken. The applied typology of policy instruments might also be useful for identifying effective ways to implement urban food strategies, to understand mismatches between instruments and different policy domains, levels and administrative units, e.g. at the urban-rural interface, and to design of new policy instruments.     

Social imaginary and dilemmas of policy practice: The food safety arena in Japan

Through the string of food safety scares that has rocked Japanese society since the early 2000s, conflicts between the traditional notion of socially acceptable risk and the idea of a science-based risk analysis approach have surfaced in the food safety arena. Elites, including government officials and those members of scientific communities who support the science-based risk analysis approach, have become responsible for communicating seemingly contradictory ideas such as “food in Japan is safe” and “there is no such thing as zero risk with food.” This communication logjam has resulted in confusion and created public distrust of both government and scientific experts. Against this backdrop, this paper aims to examine the struggles and challenges faced by government officials in explaining and practicing policies that pertain to highly controversial food safety issues. The primary data used for illuminating the discourses is the official minutes of governmental committees including the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Committee and the Consumer Commission.     

A theory-based evaluation of food waste policy: Evidence from Italy

Italy recently reformed its food waste policy by introducing innovative measures, such as the possibility of donating food after the best-before date (BBD) and a significant simplification of the bureaucracy of donations. These measures are advocated by food waste specialists and are thought to increase donations almost automatically. The article performs a theory-based evaluation using the method of realist synthesis to investigate the two measures, test their implicit assumptions, and provide a more complete picture of how the policy works. The results highlight the marginal importance of bureaucratic procedures in the cost structure of donations, the diverse responses of different donors and food rescue organisations, and the importance of considering the capacity and preferences of charities when an increase in donations is expected. Further, the analysis uncovers severe reputational risks that limit both the supply of and demand for food past the BBD, despite legal provisions promoting its donation.     

Modelling of potential food policy interventions in Fiji and Tonga and their impacts on noncommunicable disease mortality

Background

To compare the likely costs and benefits of a range of potential policy interventions in Fiji and Tonga targeted at diet-related noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), in order to support more evidence-based decision-making.

Method

A relatively simple and quick macro-simulation methodology was developed. Logic models were developed by local stakeholders and used to identify costs and dietary impacts of policy changes. Costs were confined to government costs, and excluded cost offsets. The best available evidence was combined with local data to model impacts on deaths from noncommunicable diseases over the lifetime of the target population. Given that the modelling necessarily entailed assumptions to compensate for gaps in data and evidence, use was made of probabilistic uncertainty analysis.

Results

Costs of implementing policy changes were generally low, with the exception of some requiring additional long-term staffing or construction activities. The most effective policy options in Fiji and Tonga targeted access to local produce and high-fat meats respectively, and were estimated to avert approximately 3% of diet-related NCD deaths in each population. Many policies had substantially lower benefits. Cost-effectiveness was higher for the low-cost policies. Similar policies produced markedly different results in the two countries.

Conclusion

Despite the crudeness of the method, the consistent modelling approach used across all the options, allowed reasonable comparisons to be made between the potential policy costs and impacts. This type of modelling can be used to support more evidence-based and informed decision-making about policy interventions and facilitate greater use of policy to achieve a reduction in NCDs.     

The Thrifty Food Plan and low-income households in the United States: What food groups are being neglected?

Food assistance programs in the United States provide low-income households with the resources to purchase a healthy, nutritious, and palatable diet, if they buy the market baskets of food outlined in the Thrifty Food Plan. This study compares the cost of these baskets with actual spending on food at home by low-income households. Simulations reveal at-home food spending by low-income households to represent only 86% of what is needed to follow the Thrifty Food Plan. Married couples with children and female-headed households with children spend only 73% and 82%, respectively, and just 43% and 50% for at-home fruits and vegetables.     

Dairy food consumption,supply, and policy in Japan

We investigate Japanese dairy markets. We first provide an overview of consumer demand and how it evolved after World War II. Using historical data and econometric estimates of Japanese dairy demand, we identify economic, cultural and demographic forces that have been shaping consumption patterns. Then we summarize the characteristics of Japanese milk production and dairy processing and policies affecting them. We then describe the import regime and trade flows in dairy products. The paper concludes with policy recommendations of how to reform the Japanese dairy sector.     

The impact of household food consumption data collection methods on poverty and inequality measures in Niger

Many countries are faced with the problem of monitoring poverty indicators when different food data collection methodologies have been used in national household surveys over the years. This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of this problem in the case of Niger. The paper assesses the impact of three methods of food data collection on the welfare distribution, and poverty and inequality measures in Niger. The study leverages a food consumption experiment to evaluate the three methods of food data collection implemented in the country’s most recent national household surveys. The first method was 7-day recall, the second was usual month, and the third was 7-day diary. The study finds that there was a large difference in measures of consumption and poverty between the first two methods (which yielded similar results) and the 7-day diary method. Annual per capita consumption from the 7-day recall method was, on average, 28 percent higher than that from the 7-day diary method. This gap exists not only at the mean of the distribution, but at every level. The observed differences in measured annual per capita consumption leads to differences in poverty and inequality measures even when alternate poverty lines are used.     

Local poverty reduction in Chile and Mexico: The role of food manufacturing growth

This paper analyzes the relationship between local poverty and food manufacturing growth in Chile and Mexico using propensity score matching, differences in differences and spatial econometrics methods. We focus on food manufacturing as a sector with a number of characteristics that make it potentially pro-poor, and whose incentives for spatial distribution may either strengthen or dampen its poverty reduction potential. The overall results indicate growth in food manufacturing employment contributes to local poverty reduction.     

Conflict,food price shocks,and food insecurity: The experience of Afghan households

Using nationally-representative household survey data and confidential geo-coded data on violent incidents, we examine the relationship between conflict and food insecurity in Afghanistan. Spatial mappings of the raw data reveal large variations in levels of food insecurity and conflict across the country; surprisingly, high conflict provinces are not the most food insecure. Using a simple bivariate regression model of conflict (violent incidents and persons killed or injured) on food security (calorie intake and the real value of food consumed), we find mixed associations. But once we move to a multivariate framework, accounting for household characteristics and key commodity prices, we find robust evidence that in Afghanistan levels of conflict and food security are negatively correlated. We also find that households in provinces with higher levels of conflict experience muted declines in food security due to staple food price increases relative tohouseholds in provinces with lower levels of conflict, perhaps because the former are more disconnected from markets. Gaining a better understanding of linkages between conflict and food insecurity and knowing their spatial distributions can serve to inform policymakers interested in targeting scarce resources to vulnerable populations, for example, through the placement of strategic grain reserves or targeted food assistance programs.     

Stabilizing food markets in eastern and southern Africa

A major challenge for agricultural policy in Africa is how to address the market instability-related causes of low farm productivity and food insecurity. This paper highlights structural changes affecting the behavior of food markets in eastern and southern Africa and discusses their implications for the design of strategies to stabilize food prices. These changes include (1) an increasing trend in maize prices toward import parity levels, reflecting an emerging structural maize deficit in much of the region; (2) increasingly diversified food consumption patterns in both rural and urban areas; (3) highly concentrated marketed maize surplus, which have largely unrecognized implications for the magnitude of price risk faced by most farm households; and (4) the strategic interactions between private and public marketing actors leading in some cases to heightened market instability and food crises. In the prevailing dual market environment now characterizing most of the region, greater coordination, transparency, and consultation between private and public market actors is needed to achieve reasonable levels of food price stability and predictability.