Association between poor food production and intimate partner violence among smallholder farmers in northwestern Benin

ABSTRACT

Rates of intimate partner violence (IPV) remain concerningly high in Benin, particularly in the predominantly rural region of Atacora in the northwest. In the context of increasing food insecurity, concerns have been raised regarding the role that lack of food in the household may be playing in increasing the rate of IPV in this context. This study aims to investigate the association between household food production and IPV in Atacora, Benin. Using a social ecological model and drawing from family stress theory, we analysed data from a cross-sectional survey of 300 women in the study region. Logistic regression and sequential modelling results show that after controlling for individual, household and community level factors, insufficient food production is positively associated with women’s likelihood of experiencing physical (adjusted OR=6.50 [2.48, 17.04], p < .01) and sexual violence (adjusted OR=4.49 [1.68, 11.99], p < .01). We conclude that production-oriented interventions in rural farming communities may reduce women’s risk of IPV by increasing households’ access to food and reducing family stress. Long term interventions would do well to focus on improving women’s access to land and building capacity in the management of marital conflict without violence.

KEYWORDS:

• Intimate partner violence (IPV)
• food production
• agrarian
• Benin
• sub-Saharan Africa (SSA)

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data used in the manuscript are subject to ethics stipulations and therefore are not publicly available.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by International Development Research Centre: [Grant Number 108838-032]; Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada: [767-2018-2235].