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survey, the range of land size for food crop production was 0-4.s
hectares and the average was 0.22 hectares. The percentage of households
cultivating food crops on less than 0.22 hectares of land was
63.8. Because of variations among households in the size of land cultivated
for food crops, variability in nutritional status of children from
different households could be expected.
53
Factors that were indicators of child feeding habits, such as whether
the child was breast fed, received addiLional food and frequency of
additional food, affected Ht/Àge of children more than either agricultural
or health factorsr âs indicated by a relatively high R-sguare
value and highly significant relationship with Ht/Age (rable 1b and 1B).
Thus, it appears that the chronic malnutrition (treignt-retardation)
observed in the children surveyed was mostly due to child feeding habits
of households in the survey area. Health or medical factors, such as
presence of diarrhea' were observed to be more important in the etiology
of acute nalnutrition than in chronic malnutrition (rable l6 and 1B).
Àcute malnutrition is more l-ikely Lo occur, when children suffer from
with diarrheal diseases. During an acute attack of diarrhea, mothers
often restrict the food intake of the chitd and thus aggravale any malnutrition
thal is already present, thereby precipitating kwashiorkor or
other nutritional deficiency diseases Jelriffe and Jelliffe, 197g) "