Price shocks, vulnerability and food and nutrition security among rural and urban households in Tanzania
This paper (PDF) by the Italian Association of Agricultural and Applied Economics (AIEAA), investigates the impact of the recent food price crisis on the quantity and quality of the dietary composition of rural and urban households in Tanzania. Results using household data from the 2008/09, 2010/11 and 2012/13 waves of the Tanzania National Panel Survey show that urban households are more vulnerable than rural households to food price shocks. The researchers find evidence that price movements negatively affected also the quality of the diet, in particular, looking at the regional distribution, fats, calcium and vitamin A were the most cutback macro and micronutrients. The authors recommend short-term policy measures, such as food fortification or micro-nutrient supplementation programmes, in order to strengthen diet diversity and micronutrient intake of Tanzanian vulnerable households and to improve the ability of poor to cope better with food price instability.