Diapositiva 1

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FAO - ERP NR Department
University of Roma Tre Department of Economics
Education for Rural People and Food SecurityA
cross-Country Analysis Francesco Burchi
and Pasquale De Muro
Workshop on Education for Rural People in Africa
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Overall objectives

• To explore and measure the relations between
  education and food security
• in the general case
• with a special attention to rural areas

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Theoretical foundations (1)

• The capability approach (Sen, 1985, 1999)
• The life of a person can be described as a set of
  functionings, that are the various things that a
  person manages to do or to be. Functionings may
  vary from elementary ones, such as being free
  from avoidable disease, to complex activities,
  such as taking part in the life of the community.
• A persons capability refers to the alternative
  combinations of functionings that are feasible
  for her to achieve. Capability is thus a kind of
  freedom.

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Theoretical foundations (2)

• Being adequately nourished and being educated
  are two basic functionings (among others).
• A relevant feature of any basic functioning and
  corresponding capability is that they can be
  considered both as (primary) goals and as
  (principal) means of development.
• The Human Development strategy (UNDP) is based on
  the capability approach, that is on the expansion
  of human substantial freedoms.

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The relations between education and food security
(1)

• Usually, education and food security are
  considered only as development goals (e.g. MDG1
  and MDG2)

• Sometimes, food security (or adequate nutrition)
  is considered a means to achieve better or wider
  basic education, especially for children (e.g.
  School feeding programmes, Food for education-WFP)

• Although acclaimed as one of the most powerful
  engine for reducing hunger (FAO, SOFI 2005),
  education is rarely considered in practice also
  as a means to achieve food security

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The relations between education and food security
/2

• There are good reasons to assume that the strong
  relations between education and food security are
  bidirectional

• In our paper we investigate in the less explored
  direction, that is the causal link from education
  (as a mean) to food security (as a goal)

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Education
Food security
Primary
TV training
Higher
Skills
Employment Income Productivity
Economic opportunities
Child health
Entitlements
Basic capabilities
Literacy B.knowledge A.information
Social opportunities
Participation Agency
Child care
Women
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Quantitative AnalysisObjectives

• To assess the overall impact of education on
  food insecurity among rural people
• To analyze which level of education (primary,
  basic, secondary or tertiary) provides the most
  significant contribution to hunger reduction

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Data and Sources

• Source Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS),
  rural areas.
• Observations 48 countries (30 African, 10
  Asian, and 8 Latin American).
• Year of survey between 1998 and 2004
• Model type cross-section.

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Variables (1)

• Education

• School attendance rate of children in different
  age-groups

• Maximum level of education attended by the
  individual.

NB there are no available data for rural areas
concerning literacy, school completion or quality
of education.
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Variables (2)

• Primary Education measured by the school
  attendance rate of rural population aged 6-10,
  and by the percentage of rural people with no
  education attended (lack of primary education in
  the last case).
• Lower Secondary Education measured by the
  attendance rate for the rural population aged
  11-15 school attendance.
• Basic Education measured by the attendance rate
  for the rural population aged 6-15 school
  attendance. Basic education is given by primary
  and lower secondary education.
• Secondary Education measured by the attendance
  rate for the rural population aged 16-20.
• Secondary Tertiary Education measured by the
  proportion of rural people that have attended at
  least secondary education.
• Tertiary Education measured by the attendance
  rate for the rural population aged 21-24 and by
  the percentage of students who have attended
  tertiary education.

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Variables (3)

• Household Food Insecurity

An indicator based on nutritional and survival
data. While many scholars use a supply and
production- based indicator of food security,
which addresses the phenomenon at national level
(process indicator, Maxwell and Frankenberger
1992), here we use an outcome indicator
(Maxwell and Frankenberger 1992) that focuses on
access to food at household and individual
level. This indicator better explains the
functioning being adequately nourished.
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FOOD SECURITYWFS 1996

• Food security exists when all people, at all
  times, have physical and economic access to
  sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet
  their dietary needs and food preference for an
  active and healthy life.

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HFI Indicator asan outcome indicator

• Component 1 food adequacy, through
  anthropometric measures of rural children (Mean
  stunting, underweight, and wasting)
• Component 2 adequate survival status, which
  is measured by mortality rates among rural
  children
• Component 3 female malnutrition expressed by
  the percentage of rural women whose body mass
  index is lower than an internationally fixed
  threshold

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HFI Indicator

• Component 1 (Fa) under-5 mortality
  infantmortality
• 
  2

Component 2 (Fb) stunting wasting
underweight 3
Component 3 (Fc) female malnutrition (low BMI)

• rurHFI1 (Fa Fb Fc)/3
• rurHFI2 (1/3 Fa² 1/3 Fb² 1/3 Fc²)1/2

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Exploratory Analysis Primary Education - HFI
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Exploratory Analysis SecondaryTertiary
Education - HFI
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Exploratory Analysis Tertiary Education - HFI
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Exploratory AnalysisCorrelation

• Tab. 1 correlation coefficients school
  attendance - HFI

Tab. 2 correlation coefficients educational
level - HFI
Not significant at 5 significance level
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Impact of Education for Rural People on Food
Insecurity

• Now we move from an analysis of bilateral
  relationship between education and food
  insecurity to a study of causality what is the
  quantitative impact of education on food
  insecurity among rural people?

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Rural Model (1)
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Rural Model (2)
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Results

• Determinants of food insecurity
• Primary Education ceteris paribus an increase
  by 100 causes a decrease of HFI by approximately
  20 or 24.
• Asset-based Poverty lack of basic assets affects
  positively HFI, but its impact is lower than
  access to primary education (0.12 and 0.16)
• No Toilet facilities this proxy of lack of
  basic HH hygienic conditions gives a satisfactory
  (positive) contribution.

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Next Steps of the research

• To explain a part of education impact mothers
  schooling on child (0-5) food security in rural
  areas of Mozambique
• Research questions
• - Do educational attainments count?
• - Which educational level?
• - Is the contribution mediated by income?
• - Is the impact higher in rural or urban areas?

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Conclusions (1)

• The quantitative analysis shows that education
  has a key role in promoting food security in the
  rural areas of developing countries, confirming
  what was initially stated in the theoretical
  framework.

• Primary education for rural people provides
  larger benefits in terms of hunger reduction,
  rather than secondary or tertiary education

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Conclusions (2)

• These conclusions can be extended to overall
  national food security (and not only for rural
  areas).

Source IFAD and UNFPA
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Conclusions (3)

• What is the role of Primary Education for MDGs?

• Intrinsic value MDG 2 and MDG 3.

• A means to achieve MDG 1 halve the proportion
  of people who suffer from hunger.

• A means to achieve MDG 4 (reduce child
  mortality), MDG 5 (improve maternal health), and
  MDG 6 (combat diseases).

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Urban bias in Education (2)
Source DHS
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Urban bias in Education (1)
Haiti
Source DHS
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Urban bias in Education (3)
Source DHS
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Model with no control variables
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Post-Estimation Tests

• Significance of each coefficient (5 level) and
  of the model as a whole
• Normality in the distribution of the error terms
  (Skewness Kurtosis, Shapiro-Wilk)
• Lack of multi-collinearity (Variance Inflection
  Factor-Vif test)
• Homoskedasticity (White and Breusch-Pagan)
• Linearity of the relationship (graphical tools)
• Correct specification (linktest and ovtest)