In this study, the author uses data from Feed the Future datasets from Ghana, Zambia, and Bangladesh to examine the impact of precipitation extremes on food security as well as the role of natural land cover and women’s empowerment in creating resilience. The author first model the effects of extreme rainfall on indicators of nutrition and food security and then examine whether women’s empowerment and environmental land cover types can dampen the effects of rainfall shocks on these food security and nutrition outcomes. He found that there is a strong association between extreme precipitation and household hunger. Further, he suggests that in certain contexts land cover types providing ecosystem services can reduce household hunger scores, that empowering women can mitigate the effects of precipitation shocks, and that there may be an interactive effect between ecosystem service availability and women’s empowerment.
Author: Matthew Cooper
Source: The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)
