Effect of Land Policies and Women Empowerment on Nutrition: Panel Data Evidence from Malawi
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Date
2023-07
Authors
Nyirenda, Zephania Bondera
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
African Economic Research Consortium
Abstract
There is growing interest in the productivity impacts of land tenure regularization and separately in nutritional outcomes of increased agricultural productivity. Nonetheless,there is minimal scientific evidence on the linkages between land tenure security and nutrition. This paper analyses the impact of land tenure security of households and women on maize productivity, agricultural income and nutrition (household dietary diversity, micronutrient dietary diversity, food consumption scores, calorie, Vitamin A, Iron and Zinc intake). Using nationally representative panel data from Malawi, the study reveals that land tenure security has a positive and statistically significant influence on household and women headed household’s agricultural income and negative and statistically significant influence on household and women headed household’s maize productivity. In addition, the study found that land tenure security of households and women headed households is positively and significantly associated with calorie, Vitamin A, Iron and Zinc intake. The relationship between land tenure security and
dietary diversity is positive but not statistically significant. However, land tenure security is inversely associated with food consumption scores both for households and female headed households. Thus, we can expect the registration of customary land under the new land laws to accelerate women's empowerment and household nutrition in Malawi significantly.