Special focus on nutrition-sensitive programming

.....................................................
Research
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Nutrition incentives
in dairy contract
farming in northern
Senegal
Summary of research 1
IFPRI, Senegal, 2013
Pastoral children eating the
fortified yoghurt
Location: Senegal
What we know: Seasonality plays an important role in milk production in Senegal; milk production is the
cornerstone of nutrition, culture and livelihoods within pastoral communities.
What this article adds: A nutrition incentive (free micronutrient-fortified yogurt) accompanied by a behaviour
change campaign was offered to pastoral milk suppliers of a Senegalese social business (Laiterie du Berger) to
reduce variability in milk deliveries and improve children’s nutritional status in supplier households. A cluster
randomised control trial (RCT) was implemented over one year to test whether it worked. e nutrition
incentive increased regularity of milk deliveries during the dry season to those contracts headed by a woman.
Household milk consumption was not affected. e findings highlight that health-related incentives can trigger
important behavioural responses; however, targeting women may only be effective where they have decisionmaking
power. As a business model, the intervention was not cost-effective; however, from a public-health
perspective, public-private partnerships may have logistical benefits for delivering health services in remote
communities. It is notable that the incentive had a significant impact on increasing children’s haemoglobin
levels; detailed results will feature in a future publication and in Field Exchange.
Contract-farming arrangements are
agreements between farmers and buyers,
usually for high-value foods,
wherein farmers agree to produce a
given product and buyers agree to purchase it.
Contract farming has the potential to solve
many constraints faced by small farmers related
to lack of information, market opportunities
and credit. is paper documents the impact of
a contract-farming scheme in northern Senegal
that seeks to introduce a preventive health
product in agricultural contracts. In particular,
this study tests whether providing a micronutrient-fortified
food product can lead to a more
regular supply of milk delivered to a dairy processing
factory in northern Senegal.
water and pasture. Senegal’s livestock sector
contributes 37% of agricultural value added and
5.5% to national GDP (FAO, 2005). However,
milk production cannot keep up with the growing
demand for dairy products and two thirds of
the demand for dairy products is met by imported
milk powder.
Intervention
In 2006, the Laiterie du Berger (LDB), a Senegalese
social business, began to collect milk
from pastoralist families near the town of Richard
Toll in the Senegal River Valley. LDB’s business
model is to produce high-end products (mostly
yogurts) for urban populations, based on fresh
milk that it collects itself twice a day from
households living within 50 km of its processing
plant. e business has a social orientation and
the long-term company objective is to contribute
to generating additional milk-related earnings
for mostly poor, semi-nomadic households in
the area. In this setting, three potential factors
that lead to irregular and costly milk delivery to
the processing factory are: seasonality of milk
production; credit constraints which lead to
sub-optimal investment in inputs and risk coping
strategies; and not directly compensating women
for their labour.
In order to reduce the variability in milk
production and improve the nutritional status
of children in supplier households, a nutrition
incentive was offered to milk suppliers of LDB.
e nutrition incentive was delivery of free, micronutrient-fortified
yogurt (MNFY) for children
if suppliers delivered a certain amount of milk
to the LDB over a certain number of days. e
daily sachets of MNFY were manufactured by
the dairy company using the milk collected
from the dairy farmers. e yogurt was mixed
with cereal and fortified with 2.1 mg of EDTA
iron to address malnutrition of the study population
and in particular the high rates of anaemia,
which were 89% for children 6-23 months and
79% for children 24-59 months at baseline
(Hidrobo, Quinone, Le Port et al, 2013).
Milk production in the northern part of
Senegal is dominated by the Fulani, who have a
e MNFY was delivered daily to milk collection
points easily accessible to milk suppliers,
long nomadic pastoralist history. Livestock provide
the Fulani with a source of income through
and in particular women. A behavioural change
milk and meat production, a source of prestige
campaign (BCC) was also conducted with all
and social status, and an informal insurance
households in the study. Designed and implemented
in partnership with the Cellule Contre
device through which they sell their cattle during
negative-income shocks. Seasonality plays an
important role in milk production in the Sahel
1
Unpublished paper. Bernard, T., Hidrobo, M., Le Port, A. and
due to its semi-arid climate. Pastoralists and
Rawat, R. (2015) Nutrition incentives in dairy contract
herds move daily and seasonally in search of
farming in Northern Senegal, 25 October 2015.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
26