Cultivating Collaboration through Joint Participation: Evidence from a Video-Based Nutrition-Sensitive Agricultural Extension Program in Ethiopia

Micronutrient deficiency, or hidden hunger, remains a significant problem affecting more than 2 billion people globally. Consuming a diet that is diverse in agricultural products is a primary way of decreasing hidden hunger. Nutrition-sensitive agriculture is recommended as a means of ensuring that investments in agriculture also translate into nutritional gains. Nutrition-sensitive agriculture is a multisectoral approach that requires coordination and cooperation across what are often gendered domains of control inside and outside the home. Agriculture is usually treated as men’s domain and nutrition women’s, with programming generally targeting recipients based on their assumed domain of control. Using evidence from a study of a video-based nutrition-sensitive agriculture program in Ethiopia, this paper provides an in-depth qualitative examination of why targeting both men and women with information on nutrition-sensitive agriculture is preferred by both female and male farmers. The findings indicate that the participation of men and women within the same household not only reduces inequalities in access to information, but also changes whether and how conversations about household production and consumption happen. Household investments in nutrition-sensitive agriculture often involve risk-taking and may require the labor of both men and women. Nutrition-sensitive agriculture interventions that provide information to both women and men ease information-sharing frictions, including those related to intrahousehold gender inequality, and encourage consensus building and the joint assessment of potential benefits and risks. The findings from this study indicate that dual targeting is important for promoting nutrition-sensitive agriculture and addressing hidden hunger because of the potential benefits related to intrahousehold collaboration.