Impact of agricultural land ownership on child nutrition in rural Sudan: an investigation across gender
Abstract
Purpose
In light of the inequality in access to farming land and the high prevalence of child malnutrition in Sudan, there is a lack of empirical research on the relationship between land ownership and child nutritional status. This study aims to examine the influence of agricultural landholding on the nutritional status of children under the age of five in rural Sudan.
Design/methodology/approach
The study utilizes data from Sudan’s 2014 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS), covering a sample of 10,753 rural children. The empirical analysis uses the two-stage least squares (2SLS) approach, adopting various estimation methods and model specifications for robustness check and comparison.
Findings
The results demonstrate that agricultural land has a positive and significant effect on reducing child malnutrition, signifying that children from families with agricultural land are less susceptible to malnutrition in Sudan. When examining the male and female sub-samples separately, the findings indicate a positive influence of land ownership on child malnutrition in the female sub-sample, while no significant impact is observed in the male sub-sample. This indicates a gender disparity in the effects of land ownership on child nutrition, with girls benefiting more from access to agricultural land compared to boys.
Originality/value
The study has several significant contributions. First, this is the sole study that examines the impact of agricultural land ownership on child malnutrition in Sudan. Second, considering the gender variations in nutritional status, investigating the influence of land ownership on child nutrition across genders addresses a significant gap in the current literature. Finally, the findings resulting from this study can contribute to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be achieved by 2030, precisely focusing on SDG2 Goal 2: Zero hunger and SDG 10: Goal 10: Reduced inequalities.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge The African Economic Research Consortium (AERC) for financial, technical and intellectual support in carrying out this research work, under grant number RC18526. The findings, opinions and recommendations are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Consortium, its individual members or the AERC Secretariat.
Citation
Mohamed Nour, S. and Ebaidalla, E.M. (2024), "Impact of agricultural land ownership on child nutrition in rural Sudan: an investigation across gender", China Agricultural Economic Review, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/CAER-06-2023-0145
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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