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Background SELEVER is a nutrition- and gender-sensitive poultry value chain project designed and implemented by international NGO Tanager which consists of poultry market facilitation and behavior change activities aiming at increasing poultry production and improving diets without free inputs transfer. Objectives The study aimed at assessing the impact of SELEVER on diets of women and children during the lean season. Methods Within a cluster-randomized controlled trial, 45 communes were assigned to one of three arms, including 1) SELEVER interventions; 2) SELEVER with an intensive hygiene and sanitation component (SELEVER + WASH); and 3) a control group without intervention. Two rounds of survey were conducted 2 years apart during the lean season. Primary dietary outcomes were the probability of adequacy (PA) of iron, zinc and vitamin A intakes, mean PA (MPA) of 11 micronutrients and individual dietary diversity score collected through quantitative 24-hour recall in longitudinal samples of women and index children (2–4 years old) in 1,054 households; and minimum acceptable diet in the repeated cross-sectional sample of their younger sibling aged 6–23 months. Impacts were assessed by intention-to-treat analysis of covariance. Results Relative to control, SELEVER interventions (groups 1 + 2) increased the PA of iron intakes in women by 1.8 pp (P = 0.030). We found no further impact on primary outcomes, although eggs consumption increased in index children (+0.73 pp, P = 0.010; +0.69 kcal/d, P = 0.036). Across the three groups, we observed negative effects of SELEVER on the PA of zinc intakes in women relative to SELEVER + WASH (-4.1 pp, P = 0.038), and on a variety of secondary dietary outcomes relative to both other groups. The study was registered on the ISCRCTN registry (ISRCTN16686478). Conclusions information-only-based value-chain interventions may not have meaningful positive effects on diets of women and children in the lean season in settings with largely inadequate diets. We found suggestive evidence that synergies between intervention components may have introduced heterogeneity in effects on diet.

The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), a CGIAR Research Center established in 1975, provides research-based policy solutions to sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition. IFPRI's strategic research aims to foster a climate-resilient and sustainable food supply; promote healthy diets and nutrition for all; build inclusive and efficient markets, trade systems, and food industries; transform agricultural and rural economies; and strengthen institutions and governance. Gender is integrated in all the Institute's work. Partnerships, communications, capacity strengthening, and data and knowledge management are essential components to translate IFPRI's research from action to impact. The Institute's regional and country programs play a critical role in responding to demand for food policy research and in delivering holistic support for country-led development. IFPRI collaborates with partners around the world.

The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), a CGIAR Research Center established in 1975, provides research-based policy solutions to sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition. IFPRI's strategic research aims to foster a climate-resilient and sustainable food supply; promote healthy diets and nutrition for all; build inclusive and efficient markets, trade systems, and food industries; transform agricultural and rural economies; and strengthen institutions and governance. Gender is integrated in all the Institute's work. Partnerships, communications, capacity strengthening, and data and knowledge management are essential components to translate IFPRI's research from action to impact. The Institute's regional and country programs play a critical role in responding to demand for food policy research and in delivering holistic support for country-led development. IFPRI collaborates with partners around the world.

The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), established in 1975, provides research-based policy solutions to sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition. IFPRI's strategic research aims to foster a climate-resilient and sustainable food supply; promote healthy diets and nutrition for all; build inclusive and efficient markets, trade systems, and food industries; transform agricultural and rural economies; and strengthen institutions and governance. Gender is integrated in all the Institute's work. Partnerships, communications, capacity strengthening, and data and knowledge management are essential components to translate IFPRI's research from action to impact. The Institute's regional and country programs play a critical role in responding to demand for food policy research and in delivering holistic support for country-led development. IFPRI collaborates with partners around the world. AbstractPoultry rearing is widespread in rural Burkina Faso, and contributes to both the food security and cash income of smallholders farmers. The landlocked status of the country, coupled with increasing demand for poultry in urban areas implies an opportunity for significant, pro-poor growth through this sector. We use data from a survey of 1800 poultry producers to characterize smallholder poultry producers and their practices. We find that 88% of households in program areas raised poultry. While access to vaccination services and veterinary medicines at the village level is high, uptake of these services is limited, especially among smaller producers. Fewer women than men own poultry, but most women report that they control the proceeds from sales of their own birds, indicating the potential for development of the poultry sector to generate relatively equitable gains in terms of gender. Access to credit appears to increase women's poultry ownership, but remains limited, as does women's access to poultry output markets.In this paper, we describe the smallholder poultry enterprises of households in rural areas of the Boucle de Mouhoun, Centre-Ouest, and Haut-Bassins regions of Burkina Faso using two rounds of preintervention data from a study designed to evaluate SELEVER, a poultry value chain and nutrition intervention described by Gelli et al. (2017). The first-round data were collected from March to June 2017.Recall data from this round cover poultry production activities during the previous six months. The second-round data were collected from September to October 2017 and cover production during the rainy season, as well as the lean-season period, when food is typically scarcest.In the next section, we begin by briefly reviewing the literature on small-scale poultry production in Burkina Faso. This is followed by a description of the sample and data. In the third section, we present descriptive statistics from the first survey round, illustrating how poultry practices and outcomes vary by the scale and the gender of the producer, and explore the correlates of poultry enterprise scale, best prac...