Food Security during the COVID-19 Pandemic : the Impact of a Rural Development Program and Neighbourhood Spillover Effect in the Solomon Islands

We examine differences in food security indicators between (rural development program) treated and untreated farmers in the Solomon Islands in the COVID-19 post-treatment period. Our findings show that treated farmers report significantly lower nutrition problems in the pandemic period. We as well consider that the project in its components (building local infrastructure, transmitting knowledge and competences and providing links and easier access to business partners) can produce positive spillovers in terms of externalities to control farmers in proportion to their geographical proximity to treatment farmers. Our findings are consistent with this hypothesis since the majority of treatment nutrition score outcomes are enhanced when controlling for spillover effects