Religion, Food Choices, and Demand Seasonality: Evidence from the Ethiopian Milk Market.

The impact of religious behavior on food systems in developing economies has been understated in scholarly studies. With its different Christian, Islamic, and traditional faiths, Ethiopia emerges as a suitable country to investigate the impact of religious practices on demand. The inclusion of livestock products in Ethiopian diets is extremely low, even by African standards, a phenomenon often explained by supply and marketing problems combined with low income levels.

Verifying Validity of the Household Dietary Diversity Score: An Application of Rasch Modeling.

Background: The Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS) was developed to measure household food access, one of the levels of food security. Previous research has shown dietary diversity is related to food security. However, the validity of the HDDS in the form developed by the Food and Nutrition Technical Assistance (FANTA) project-12 food groups, 24-hour recall-and most frequently used by development organizations and nongovernmental organizations has never been verified.

Assessing the cross-sectional and inter-temporal validity of the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) in Burundi.

Objective: To examine the cross-sectional and inter-temporal validity of the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) for rural households in Burundi.

Design: Longitudinal survey about food security and agricultural production, individually administered by trained interviewers in June 2007 and 2012.

Setting: Ngozi, north of Burundi.

Food for Survival: Diagnosing Crop Patterns to Secure Lower Threshold Food Security Levels in Farm Households of Burundi.

Background: Burundi is one of the world's poorest countries, coming last in the Global Food Index (2013). Yet, a large majority of its population depends on agriculture. Most smallholder families do not produce enough to support their own families.

A validity assessment of the Progress out of Poverty Index (PPI)™.

Development organisations need easy-to-use and quick-to-implement indicators to quantify poverty when requested to measure program impact. In this paper we assess the validity of the Progress out of Poverty Index (PPI)™, a country-specific indicator based on ten closed questions on directly observable household characteristics, by its compliance to the SMART criteria. Each response receives a pre-determined score, such that the sum of these scores can be converted into the likelihood the household is living below the poverty line.