Gender: A Key Dimension Linking Agricultural Programs to Improved Nutrition and Health

This short brief finds that gender is a critical factor shaping the impact of agricultural programming on food security and health. The paper suggests that positive impacts are more likely when the agricultural intervention enhances women's control over assets and includes nutrition education to ensure better use of additional food or income.  The brief presents three agricultural development strategies in terms of their gender impacts — household food production, linking smallholders to markets, and large-scale agriculture — and recommends ways to ensure that each of these strategies create positive impacts upon gender.