Do the benefits of improved management practices to nutritional outcomes “dry up” in the presence of drought? Evidence from East Africa

Using a panel of nearly 3000 agricultural households in Tanzania and Mozambique from 2016–2018, this paper investigates the associations of nutritional outcomes and agricultural management practices under drought risk. We show drought has significant consequences on two nutritional outcomes in particular: food security and dietary diversity. Importantly, these consequences are evident even for households using improved management practices, such as improved seed, chemical fertilizer, and production diversity. This finding has important implications in the context of how policy makers use the tools at their disposal – including both promotion of improved agricultural management practices and direct transfers – to prevent costly coping strategies that reduce future resilience. •Dietary diversity and food security capture different nutritional outcomes•Drought has serious consequences on both dietary diversity and food security•Best management practices (BMPs) are associated with improved nutritional outcomes•The positive associations of BMPs do not fully offset drought’s consequences