How to ensure environmental sustainability and food security through the use of payments for environmental services in developing countries

Abstract

Agricultural input subsidies have often been promoted as the solution to target food insecurity. This paper aims to investigate the impact of the National Agricultural Input Subsidy (NAIVS) on small-scale farmers in Tanzania particularly, for household food security, while investigating if the programme had any differential impact on female-headed households. On examining the general impact of the NAIVS on small-scale farmers, it is clear that the programme did affect food-security at the household level. Literacy also had a significant impact on household food-security and in terms of production. In terms of the specific impact of the programme on female-headed households, beneficiary female-headed households preferred spending more on education, birth control and family planning.They were also more food-secure and consumed more meals on an average, while the non-beneficiary households preferred spending more on food -- suggesting a lack of food self-sufficiency. However this cannot be attributed the input subsidy alone and needs further research. This paper aims to inform policy-making around agricultural input subsidies and its impacts on female headed households.