Rural development projects and nutritional status of preschool children in Haiti - abstract

ABSTRACT

In order to assess the effect of agricultural development on nutrition, a survey was conducted in the Plaine of Gonaives (Haiti) where a land irrigation project had been implemented two years previously. The economy of the region is essentially based on agriculture. Drought is the major problem so that the traditional land irrigation system covers only 25 percent of needs. The main objective of the project was directed towards the exploitation of the water table in order to drain water to arable lands, as well as to improve agricultural extension services and export crop production. The Nutrition survey was conducted in October, 1981, and a sample of 108 children, aged 1 to 60 months, were selected from 2 villages which were similar in their ecosystem and social structure and were located inside and outside of the project area respectively. It was found that the agricultural yield per hectare was 5 times higher in the project area than in the control area. No difference was found in nutritional status between areas, assessed either by anthropometric indices or by incidence of stunting and wasting. The following table shows the percentage of malnourished children in each category expressed as per cent of the total (n) AREA Project - Normal 84.3, Stunted 9.8, Stunted and Wasted 3.9, Wasted 2.0, N 51; AREA Control - Normal 82.5, Stunted 12.3, Stunted and Wasted 1.8, Wasted 3.5, N 57; AREA National Survey (1978) - Normal 68.4, Stunted 25.5, Stunted and Wasted 3.0, Wasted 3.4, N 4460. About 85 percent of children were anaemic in both areas and the mean haemoglobin concentration was similar. In children aged 4-5 years, food consumption and therefore protein and energy consumption was higher in the project area, although in both areas, energy and protein consumption were less than the recommended dietary allowance for the Caribbean. This survey shows that an exclusively economic project, even if it improves family income and subsequently food intake, does not necessarily improve nutritional status. It stresses the importance of including components that are more closely related to nutritional status, such as health and education, into a rural development project (AU)