Date of Graduation

12-2019

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science in Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

Degree Level

Undergraduate

Department

Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness

Advisor/Mentor

Lawton, Nalley

Committee Member/Reader

popp, Jennie

Committee Member/Second Reader

Farmer, Amy

Abstract

In 2017, Mozambique ranked as one of the least-developed countries in the world by measures of health, education, and income, and had one of the lowest GDP per capita at $1,300. With a minimal income, purchasing adequate food to meet recommended levels of nutrients for a healthy diet is difficult, leaving almost half of the country’s population undernourished. This study researched what foods are available during the dry months (hungry season) of May through October in the Nampula province of Mozambique to analyze if it is possible to meet the National Institutes of Health’s recommended levels of nutrients from purchasing food, as well as growing supplemental food at home. Three different levels of income were used to determine what percentage of the country could purchase the recommended levels of nutrients. The lowest income group (Income #1) was attained from data from the World Bank and was the estimated 2018 per capita income ($426.22/year), followed by the wage posted by the Mozambican government as their minimum wage (Income #2, $771.71/year), and lastly the minimum wage at New Horizons Farm, a private foreign direct investor in the poultry industry in Nampula (Income #3, $895.46/year). Based on these income groups, a majority of the country would be unable to meet their needs from solely buying food from the market at any time of the year. Those who grow their own food made meeting their nutrient needs more feasible, as they did not need to purchase as much food as households that did not grow their own food. This is troubling for a country who is trying to diversify out of agriculture. Lastly, different models were constructed to analyze the effect of the supplementation of specific vitamins and minerals that are continuously difficult to obtain in Northern Mozambique. Nutrients that were a common binding constraint were removed from the model, eliminating the need to eat food items rich in the binding nutrient. Three different models were selected based on binding constraints: supplementing Vitamin D, supplementing calcium, and supplementing Vitamin D, calcium, and Vitamin C together. Total annual cost was compared between no supplementation and the three supplemented models. Supplementing only Vitamin D did not reduce the annual cost significantly. The most significant impact from supplementation was of calcium, reducing the theoretical percent of annual income spent on food from 325% to 65% in some scenarios. Lastly, supplementing Vitamin D, calcium, and Vitamin C together did not reduce total cost significantly more than just calcium. Based on these results, some form of calcium supplementation would provide the most value for the region of Northern Mozambique.

Keywords

Nutrition, international development

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