An investigation of the relationships among homegardens, dietary diversity, and the nutritional status of children aged 0 to 5 in Indian households

Using micro level household survey data from India, I investigate the variation in the presence of the household homegardens, the household dietary diversity and the nutritional status of children between the ages of 0 to 5. The investigative analysis using household survey data from India for the year 2004-2005 reveals that the household socio-economic, demographic, geographic and family attributes influence the choice of homegardens, dietary diversity and the nutritional status of children. Results from my analysis show that the choice of a homegarden by a household seems to depend on a number of factors like household size, number of children in the household, female education, mother’s employment, and the size of the area that a household owns and cultivates, other things being equal. Religion, caste, and residence in different states seem to affect the presence of homegardens too. Household dietary diversity (HDDS) is positively associated with the household crop diversity and presence of homegardens in the household. The results of this study show that the short term nutritional status weight-for age scores (WAZ) of children in the ages 0 to 5 is negatively related to household dietary diversity , while the presence of a homegarden positively affects the long term nutritional status denoted by height-for-age scores (HAZ).

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Agricultural & Applied Economics

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2015

Author dc:creator

• Chauhan, Richa

Contributors dc:contributor

• Arends-Kuenning, Mary P.
• Winter-Nelson, Alex E.
• Baylis, Kathy

• Homegardens
• Nutritional Status
• Dietary Diversity
• Indian Households

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2015 Richa Chauhan

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/88094

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/88094