(OR17-02-25) Investigating the Impact of Un Oeuf Trial on Egg Production and Child Egg Consumption in Burkina Faso

Objectives: The objective of the study is to examine the impact of the Un Oeuf trial on household egg production and its subsequent effect on child egg consumption, with a focus on the role of integrated nutrition and agriculture (INA) training.

Methods: A clustered randomized controlled trial, Un Oeuf, was conducted in Burkina Faso. 18 villages were randomly assigned to one of the three intervention arms: Full, Partial, or Control. In the Full intervention arm, children were gifted four chickens, and caregivers of these children received a behavior change communication (BCC) package that included monthly trainings on integrated nutrition and agriculture (INA). In the Partial intervention group, caregivers received the BCC package and INA training but did not receive chickens. The control group did not receive any intervention. The intervention continued for 9 months from July 2018 to April 2019. Using monthly data from 260 households and children, the study employs a Generalized Linear Mixed Effect Model (GLMM) to assess intervention effects on household egg production and child egg consumption.

Results: In the Full intervention group, daily egg production was statistically significant and 2.5 times higher [95% CI: 1.96, 3.27] as compared to the control group. In the Partial intervention group, daily egg production was significantly higher, but the increase was less than that in Full intervention group at 1.4 [95% CI: 1.03,1.04] times. The impact of egg production on egg consumption was also found to be statistically significant with each increase in egg production per day associated with an increased probability of egg consumption by 0.62 [95% CI:0.35,0.67].

Conclusions: These findings illustrate the role that behavior change communication and training play in translating improved agricultural production to consumption – importantly, nutritious foods among children. With a higher effect of the full intervention, it showed the augmenting effect of gifting chickens to children over just INA trainings.

Funding Sources: This work was funded in whole or part by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Bureau for Resilience, Environment and Food Security under Agreement # AID-OAA-L-15–00003 as part of Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Livestock Systems. Additional funding was received from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation OPP#060115. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed here are those of the authors alone.