The forgotten agriculture-nutrition link: farm technologies and human energy requirements

Abstract

In the quest to reduce global under- and malnutrition, which are particularly high among smallholder farmers, agriculture-nutrition linkages are receiving increasing attention. Researchers have analyzed the link between the quantity and diversity of food that farmers produce and nutritional outcomes but paid limited attention to a third agriculture-nutrition link: the link between how food is produced and nutritional outcomes. This neglect persists despite the majority of smallholder farmers relying on hand tools for farming, which implies heavy physical work and, thus, high energy requirements. To address this research gap, this study compares the energy requirements of farm households in rural Zambia that are characterized by three different levels of mechanization: hand tools, animal drought power, and tractors. 1638 days of detailed time-use and nutrition data were collected from 186 male and female adults and boys and girls during different seasons (land preparation, weeding, and harvesting/processing) using an innovative picture-based smartphone app called “Timetracker”. This data served to calculate different proxies for physical activity and energy requirements using “Ainsworth’s Compendium of Physical Activities”. The results suggest that detailed time-use data offers great potentials to study physical activity and energy requirements. The findings show strong linkages between farm technologies, physical activity levels, and energy requirements, suggesting that this agriculture-nutrition link deserves more scientific and political attention to reduce under- and malnutrition among smallholder farmers.

The Farming Question: Intergenerational Linkages, Gender and Youth Aspirations in Rural Zambia☆

“…It is also noteworthy that the "perfect farm" mostly centered on labor-saving mechanization (Daum 2019). The regression analysis also suggests a strong link between the types of power sources on the parents' farms and aspirations, highlighting the need for continued efforts for mechanization to make farming attractive (Daum and Birner 2020). Beyond mechanization, several other aspects are central to the "perfect farm," including not only access to water, land, inputs, and services but also the notion of "environmentally friendly farming.…”

“…It is often believed that most labor in agriculture comes from women. However, recent studies suggest an equal contribution of men and women to agriculture, with some differences depending on the tasks (e.g., males contributing slightly more during land preparation, and females contributing slightly more during weeding and processing) and the degree of mechanization (e.g., indicating a declining contribution by women with increased mechanization) (Adu‐Baffour, Daum, and Birner 2019; Daum and Birner 2021;Daum, Capezzone, and Birner 2021; Pelekamoyo and Umar 2019). Most of the household chores and care activities are conducted by females (Daum, Capezzone, and Birner 2021; Pelekamoyo and Umar 2019).…”

Mechanization and sustainable agri-food system transformation in the Global South. A review

“…Mechanization can affect utilization where it helps to improve food safety (see Section 5.1). Mechanization can also improve food security outcomes by reducing the physical requirements related to manual farming, which are associated with large energy requirements and can lead to caloric energy shortages (Daum and Birner 2021;Ogwuike et al 2014). Irrigation, processing, preservation, and storage technologies affect the stability pillar of food security (see Section 5.1).…”

“…This drudgery is particularly high under tropical conditions and will likely be intensified by climate change (Dasgupta et al 2021). Mechanization can help to reduce the drudgery associated with manual farming as well as allow for more leisure time (Benin 2015;Daum and Birner 2021;Daum et al 2021a, b;Theis et al 2019). Pingali (2007) describes how mechanical milling, a power-intensive and laborious task, which has spread across the world, has released farm family labor, "especially women from the arduous task of de-husking, pounding and milling grain, often on a daily basis" (p. 2800).…”

“…Proponents of mechanization typically highlight the potential of mechanization to improve social and economic aspects of agri-food systems, in particular, its potential to raise agricultural labor productivity, and subsequently, increase incomes, and reduce poverty (FAO and AUC 2018;Sims and Kienzle 2006). There are also strong arguments regarding its potential to reduce the heavy toil of farming (Daum and Birner 2021;FAO and AUC 2018), which will be exaggerated with climate change (Dasgupta et al 2021), and which is often shouldered by unpaid family members, including women and children (Lowder et al 2019;Takeshima and Vos 2022). But there are also concerns related to mechanization.…”