Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2014

Abstract

International animal donation programs have become an increasingly popular way for people living in developed countries to transfer resources to families living in developing countries. We evaluate the impact of Heifer International’s dairy cow and meat goat donation programs in Rwanda. We find that the program substantially increases dairy and meat consumption among Rwandan households who were given a dairy cow or a meat goat, respectively. We also find marginally statistically significant reductions in weight-for-height z-scores and weight-for-age z-scores of about 0.4 standard deviations among children aged 0-5 years in households that were recipients of meat goats, and reductions in heightfor- age z-scores of about 0.5 standard deviations among children in households that received dairy cows. Our results suggest that increasing livestock ownership in developing countries may significantly increase consumption of nutrient dense animal-source foods and improve nutrition outcomes.

Comments

NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in the journal Food Policy. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in: Rosemary Rawlins, Svetlana Pimkina, Christopher B. Barrett, Sarah Pedersen, Bruce Wydick. Got milk? The impact of Heifer International’s livestock donation programs in Rwanda on nutritional outcomes. Food Policy. Volume 44, February 2014, Pages 202–213. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foodpol.2013.12.003

DOI

10.1016/j.foodpol.2013.12.003

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