The impact of irrigated agriculture on child nutrition outcomes in southern Ghana

In this study, we investigated whether irrigated agriculture results in improved child nutrition outcomes among farm households in southern Ghana. Using panel data collected between 2014 and 2015, this study seeks to add to the growing body of literature on the determinants of irrigated agriculture adoption, its effects on child nutrition, and the potential pathways through which irrigation can affect child nutrition outcomes. The results from the inverse probability weighted regression adjustment (IPWRA) estimator suggest that children living in irrigating households have, on average, 0.23 standard deviations of weight-for-age and 0.27 standard deviations of weight-for-height higher than their counterparts; with males and under-five children gaining substantial improvements. Disaggregating irrigation by types, the results indicate that households planting on riverbeds or riverbanks had improved child nutrition. In contrast, children living with households lifting water from water sources had higher height-for-age and weight-for-age. Further analysis of the underlying pathways suggests that an increase in health care financing and improvement in environmental quality rather than decreases in illness incidence may be the crucial channels. Altogether, the findings show the importance of investments in agricultural development, particularly in small-scale irrigated agriculture technologies, to reduce childhood undernutrition.