Herein, we examine characteristics and determinants of child malnutrition in the districts of Bara and Rautahat of the Terai region of Nepal. The sample studied consists of 510 rural children ranging in age from 3 to 10 yr. The Nepali children were found to have one of the highest reported prevalences of stunting (65% were less than 90% National study for Health Statistics median height for age). The study children were also 1 to 1.5 kg lighter when compared to US children of the same height. Fat deposits, as measured by anthropometric variables and Hb levels were also very low. Multiple regression analysis showed that age, district of residence, household income, breast-feeding, and several specific food items were significant predictors of nutritional status. Association with other factors such as caste and parental schooling, were not evident in multiple regressions. Boys were as likely to be malnourished as girls. Prolonged breast-feeding was associated with greater fat stores, but with reduced stature and low Hb values. Both landholdings and household income were found to be positively and significantly associated with almost all measures of nutritional status.

Using farm-level data from an area of Western Kenya, this paper investigates possible differences between male and female fa.rm managers in the possession of, and means of acquiring, technical information relevant to the production of maize (Zea mays, or corn), the staple commodity of the area. By ''technical information," we mean knowledge relating to the manner in which inputs a.re combined. Producers a.re said to differ in technical efficiency when they experience systematic differences in the output produced from a given combination of inputs. 1 Allocative decision-making, which has to do with the quantities of inputs used as distinct from the techniques of input use (cf. Shapiro, p. 2), is excluded from our analysis in the absence of fa.rm-specific price data. The section that follows describes the geographic area, giving an explanation of the high proportion of female fa.rm managers. (relative to the ratios found in most farming communities, in Africa and elsewhere). In section two, the data are described, and the model set out in general terms. Section three presents the empirical analysis, and section four, some conclusions. Women as Fa.rm Managers in Vihiga Division The sample 2 consists of 152 maize farmers in Vihiga, an administrative di vision of roughly 200 square miles and 300,000 people in Western Kenya. Reflecting the high average population density, the typical holding consists of 7 resident members and just 2.5 acres. 3 The area's response to population pressure is a pattern of circular labor migration, .especially on the pa.rt of male household heads •-In a random survey conducted in 1971, one-third of farm heads was found to be currently away from the family fa.rm, engaged in work or work-search. The typical fa.rm head had spent nearly a. quarter of his total yea.rs away. The mean cumulative migration period was ll years. In the head's absence, farm management is relegated to another farm family

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