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Conditional cash and in‐kind transfers improve the quality of the household diet in rural Mexico
Author(s) -
Leroy Jef L,
Gadsden Paola,
Gutiérrez Juan Pablo,
Rodríguez Sonia,
GonzálezCossío Teresa
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.22.1_supplement.876.4
Subject(s) - conditional cash transfer , micronutrient , cash transfers , consumption (sociology) , environmental health , food consumption , impact evaluation , agricultural economics , socioeconomics , cash , economics , geography , medicine , poverty , mathematics , economic growth , statistics , social science , pathology , sociology , macroeconomics
The objective of this study was to evaluate the differential impact of conditional cash versus in‐kind transfers on the monetary value (MV) and nutrient composition (NC) of household food consumption. Transfers were part of a government program. The study was conducted in poor rural communities in Southern Mexico. A total of 208 communities were randomly allocated to one of four groups: a monthly food basked (FB) with or without nutrition and health education, a cash transfer equivalent to the cost of the FB (about 13 USD/month) with education or the control group. In each community 33 households were randomly selected to be surveyed at baseline. The follow‐up survey was conducted in the same households 2 years later. A double difference model with household fixed effects was used to estimate program impact. The program significantly improved the household diet (P<0.05). The largest impacts were found in the MV of animal source foods, fruits and vegetables and in consumption of micronutrients (Zn, vitamins C and A). There were no differences between intervention groups in MV but the impact on NC was significantly larger in the FB group (P<0.05), due to the consumption of a micronutrient fortified milk. The results show that household dietary quality can be effectively improved through a conditional transfer program. Studies of household food consumption data benefit from analyzing both the MV and NC.