Impacts of climate change on food utilization in Nepal

• Published date: 01 February 2023
• Author: Wenmei Guo,Veeshan Rayamajhee,Alok K. Bohara
• Date: 01 February 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/rode.12953

REGULAR ARTICLE

Impacts of climate change on food utilization in

Nepal

Wenmei Guo

1

| Veeshan Rayamajhee

2

| Alok K. Bohara

3

1

SellBackYourBook, Naperville, IL, USA

2

Department of Agribusiness and Applied

Economics, North Dakota State

University, Fargo, ND, USA

3

Department of Economics, University of

New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA

Correspondence

Veeshan Rayamajhee, Department of

Agribusiness and Applied Economics,

North Dakota State University, Fargo,

ND, USA.

Email: veeshan.rayamajhee@ndsu.edu

Abstract

Understanding how long‐term climate patterns affect

food security outcomes is crucial for crafting food pol-

icy in developing countries. In the case of Nepal, exis-

ting studies have focused overwhelmingly on food

production and supply, but relatively little attention

has been paid to understanding how extreme climate

trends affect food utilization. This study fills that gap in

the literature by examining the effects of temperature

and rainfall trends from 1976 to 2005 on individual

daily caloric intake and food diversity in Nepal. We use

the copula method to jointly estimate the two poten-

tially correlated food utilization outcomes. We find that

climate risk negatively affects both outcomes. One per-

cent increase (0.01 points) in climate risk index (index

ranges from 0 to 1) leads to a decrease in weighted calo-

ric intake by 8.1 calories (equivalent to 1.1% of average

weighted caloric intake of 726 calories) and food diver-

sity by 0.114 points (a reduction of 0.43% reduction of

the mean score). We also find that factors such as eco-

logical belts and social capital are strongly correlated

with food security. Based on our findings, we recom-

mend policies that attract private and public invest-

ments towards improving farmers' access to financial

institutions, transportation networks, and risk‐mitiga-

tion products and programs.

[Correction added on 26 October 2022, after first online publication: Abstract, Keywords, and JEL codes have been

added in this version.]

Received: 7 April 2021 Revised: 23 September 2022 Accepted: 26 September 2022

DOI: 10.1111/rode.12953

630 © 2022 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Rev Dev Econ. 2023;27:630–659.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/rode

KEYWORDS

climate change, food diversity, food security, food utilization,

Nepal, nutrition

JEL CLASSIFICATION

Q54, Q56, Q58, Q12, Q15

1|INTRODUCTION

There are four commonly accepted pillars of food security: availability, access, utilization, and sta-

bility (Upton et al., 2016). Of these, food security studies overwhelmingly focus on availability and

access, whereas utilization and stability get relatively little attention. As Hertel and de Lima (2020)

point out, this may be because researchers tend to look “under the streetlight”where data are plen-

tiful. Although availability and access are important, they are not sufficient to ensure effective food

utilization (Upton et al., 2016;Webbetal.,2006). Adequate food utilization means that the avail-

able food is properly used to meet one's energy and nutritional needs (Coates, 2013). This aspect of

food security covers factors such as feeding practices, food preparation, food waste, and

intrahousehold allocation of the available food. Common measures for availability and access such

as agricultural production and prices tell us little to nothing about how the produced food is utilized

over time (Upton et al., 2016, p. 135). In fact, these measures may not map well onto the nutritional

status of households, especially in the face of increasing climate uncertainty and the resulting inter-

annual and seasonal variability in production. Moreover, the lack of agricultural insurance and a

market for agricultural products can limit the possibility of consumption smoothing even with suffi-

cient production (Kazianga & Udry, 2006). Thus, this study focuses on food utilization.

Food security concepts and measurements have undergone substantial revisions since the

1990s when they were discussed mainly in the context of international aid to developing econo-

mies (Coates, 2013). We now know that aggregated measures of food availability ar e poor predic-

tors of the prevalence and severity of food insecurity (Barrett, 2010). For instance, food insecurity

can increase even as aggregate food production increases. Sen's (1982) seminal work revealed that

a decline in food availability did not cause famines in the 1970s.

1

We also know that household

or individual data routinely reveal higher food insecurity estimates than what aggregate produc-

tion data would suggest (Smith et al., 2006). Recent findings suggest that experiential data col-

lected through household and individual surveys offer more precise estimates than availability

measures (Coates, 2013). For instance, the use of dietary diversity indices to capture food utiliza-

tion within a household offers consistent and simple measures of diet quality and better predicts

women's and children's nutritional status (Arimond et al., 2010;Coates,2013).

Similar to the earlier studies on food security, current literature on climate change impacts on

developing economies has focused overwhelmingly on food production. A large number of studies

show that climate change has led to a decline in agricultural production at the national, regional,

and global scales (Feng et al., 2017;Lobelletal.,2011; Nordhaus, 2019;Rayamajheeetal.,2020).

However, relatively little research has been conducted on the impact of climate change on food

utilization. Related studies report that temperature variability affects the incidence of food poison-

ing and diarrheal diseases (D'souza et al., 2004; Kim et al., 2015). This can have implications for

both total nutrient availability and micronutrient uptake (Schmidhuber & Tubiello, 2007). How-

ever, this remains an understudied area. Some studies also suggest that climate change can

increase food contamination and costs of food storage, and can reduce the nutritional quality of

GUO ET AL.631