The effect of crop post-harvest losses on household expenditure and nutrition security of smallholder farmers in Uganda.

Abstract

About one-third of global food production is lost before consumption which threatens nutrition security. As the world's population continues to grow and demand for food escalates, addressing crop post-harvest losses becomes increasingly imperative. This study examines the effect of crop post-harvest losses on food consumption, non-food consumption expenditure and nutrition security among smallholder farmers in Uganda. Using a balanced panel dataset of 621 smallholder farming households collected as part of the Centre for development (ZEF) project across eight districts between June 2020 and August 2021, the research applies fixed-effects panel regression and binary probit panel regression models to analyze the effect of crop post-harvest losses on household food, non-food consumption expenditure and nutrition security. Results reveal that crop post-harvest losses significantly increase both food and non-food consumption expenditure, indicating that households divert more resources to compensate for lost produce. However, crop post-harvest losses do not affect household nutrition security. Regional disparities are evident, with Karamoja exhibiting the lowest consumption levels and Eastern showing the highest food consumption expenditure. Socioeconomic variables such as region, occupation, sex of the household head, land ownership, education of household head, and household size were found to influence household food consumption expenditure. In addition, variables like region, marital status, occupation, land ownership, access to remittances, access to credit, household size, and level of education of the household head were found to influence household non-food consumption expenditure. Finally, variables like region, occupation, land ownership, access to remittances, household size, level of education, age of the household head, and income of the household head were found to influence household nutrition security. The findings underscore that reducing crop post-harvest losses could improve household welfare by enhancing food availability, stabilizing incomes, and freeing resources for non-food needs. There is therefore a need to reduce crop post- harvest losses through improving storage facilities, strengthening extension services, and enhancing farmers’ access to credit and markets.