Income and Nutritional Outcomes in Rwanda ’ S Rural Areas , 1990 and 2000

KEY FINDINGS: This Policy Synthesis examines the evidence on changes in household income and consumption to understand the apparent paradox of improving child nutrition indicators during a period of extreme and increasing poverty and vulnerability among the poorest households. While households in the three poorest categories demonstrated lower total incomes compared to the poorest categories in 1990, the poorest households also shifted their agricultural production out of cash crops and dedicated more land to cropping food staples. More of those staples were then consumed at home, rather than marketed, leading to nutritional improvements.