The impact of armed conflict on household dietary diversity: Evidence from Ethiopia

Ethiopia has recently endured a devastating internal armed conflict, leaving the country in disorder and causing a widespread humanitarian crisis. Using two rounds of Living Standards Measurement Survey (LSMS) data and conflict event records from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED), we analyze the effect of armed conflict on household dietary diversity. The fixed-effects estimation results show a significant negative effect of armed conflict, with a 0.64-unit decrease in the household dietary diversity score for households exposed to conflict within a 10 km radius of their location. Moreover, the negative effect increases with conflict intensity, as measured by the number of fatalities. Exposure to armed conflict also changes the composition of household food consumption sources, reducing consumption from own food production and increasing consumption from market purchases. Results from an alternative estimation method, propensity score matching, are consistent with the above results, indicating the negative impact of conflict exposure on household dietary diversity. One of the transmission mechanisms through which armed conflict affects household dietary diversity is food price shocks.