Does organic farming jeopardize food security of farm households in Benin?
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Does organic farming jeopardize food security of farm households in Benin? / Aïhounton, Ghislain B.D.; Henningsen, Arne.
In: Food Policy, Vol. 124, 102622, 2024.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Does organic farming jeopardize food security of farm households in Benin?
AU - Aïhounton, Ghislain B.D.
AU - Henningsen, Arne
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2024 The Author(s)
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - The prevalence of organic farming and other sustainability standards is increasing around the globe. While effects of organic farming on productivity, income, and poverty alleviation have been analyzed in numerous empirical studies, its effects on food security are barely understood. Using data from smallholder cotton farmers in Benin, we aim to empirically investigate how adopting organic farming affects their food security. According to our results, organic farming is conditionally associated with a notably lower experienced food security and a slightly lower dietary diversity and consumption of vitamin A-rich foods. Evaluating pathways, we find that the negative conditional association between organic farming and food security is a result of a lower household income of organic farms due to lower income from cotton farming given a smaller land area cultivated with cotton, while a larger land area cultivated with food crops cannot fully compensate for the reduced income from cotton farming. This alarming result illustrates the need for evaluating and eventually improving programs for organic farming in developing countries to ensure that good intentions for more sustainable production practices do not jeopardize the livelihoods of vulnerable smallholder farmers.
AB - The prevalence of organic farming and other sustainability standards is increasing around the globe. While effects of organic farming on productivity, income, and poverty alleviation have been analyzed in numerous empirical studies, its effects on food security are barely understood. Using data from smallholder cotton farmers in Benin, we aim to empirically investigate how adopting organic farming affects their food security. According to our results, organic farming is conditionally associated with a notably lower experienced food security and a slightly lower dietary diversity and consumption of vitamin A-rich foods. Evaluating pathways, we find that the negative conditional association between organic farming and food security is a result of a lower household income of organic farms due to lower income from cotton farming given a smaller land area cultivated with cotton, while a larger land area cultivated with food crops cannot fully compensate for the reduced income from cotton farming. This alarming result illustrates the need for evaluating and eventually improving programs for organic farming in developing countries to ensure that good intentions for more sustainable production practices do not jeopardize the livelihoods of vulnerable smallholder farmers.
KW - Dietary diversity
KW - Farm households
KW - Food security
KW - Organic farming
U2 - 10.1016/j.foodpol.2024.102622
DO - 10.1016/j.foodpol.2024.102622
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85189519277
VL - 124
JO - Food Policy
JF - Food Policy
SN - 0306-9192
M1 - 102622
ER -
ID: 389408722