Women's work in agriculture and child nutrition in Tanzania

This paper examines the food related work that women are doing, and the possible effect on child feeding and nutritional status. Women's participation in food production may have positive as well as negative consequences for child nutrition. On the one hand, it may augment the total amount of food procured, while on the other, it may give women less time for child care and feeding. The data show that women are using less time in cooking and children are fed less often during the peak labour seasons. However, a profound and conclusive negative effect of mother's agricultural work on child nutritional status could not be shown. This finding is explained by various compensatory mechanisms employed by the mothers which may buffer the negative effect of the women's time constraints. The norm of feeding children at the maximum only three times a day was seen as the major contributing factor to child malnutrition. According to the women, this feeding frequency was seen as the maximum possible taking into account their heavy work in agricultural production.