The Effect of Agricultural Diversification and Commercialization on the Anthropometric Outcomes of Children: Evidence from Tanzania

This paper provides evidence of the effect of agricultural diversification and commercialization on the health of preschool children. We use a nationally representative sample of households taken from the Tanzania National Panel Survey (TNPS) to describe the correlations between agricultural diversification and commercialization on child nutrition. We find that engaging in contract farming for producing food crops has a negative effect on both nutritional stunting and wasting. Diversification only has a positive effect on child nutrition for children at the bottom of the nutritional distribution. The effect of commercialization vary by the type of crop produced and the position of children in the nutritional distribution. The results provide insight into the effects of agricultural diversification and commercialization on the household welfare.