scholarly journals Poverty and household food security of black South African farm workers: the legacy of social inequalities

2006 ◽  
Vol 9 (7) ◽  
pp. 830-836 ◽  
Author(s):  
A Kruger ◽  
S Lemke ◽  
Mars Phometsi ◽  
H van't Riet ◽  
AE Pienaar ◽  
...  

AbstractObjectiveTo assess socio-economic indicators, nutritional status and living conditions of farm workers and their families, with the purpose to develop research and intervention programmes aimed at enhancing nutritional status and quality of life.Design and settingThree farm schools in two districts of the North-West Province and farming communities were selected. Anthropometrical measurements, structured face-to-face questionnaires and focus group discussions were carried out in 2002 and 2003 by a multidisciplinary research team.ResultsAccess to electricity, water and sanitation, as well as monthly food rations or subsidies, vary and depend on farm owners. The majority of adults have education below or up to grade four, farm schools provide only up to grade seven. Distance to farm schools and intra-household issues hamper children's attendance and performance at school. Household food security is compromised due to a lack of financial resources, infrastructure and also household resource allocation. This impacts negatively especially on children, with half of them being underweight, stunted or wasted. Employment is usually linked to men, while most women have access to casual jobs only. Insecurity of residence and the perceived disempowered position towards farm owners add to feelings of hopelessness and stress.Conclusions and recommendationsThis study highlights destitute living conditions of farm worker families. Apart from structural and financial constraints, paternalistic structures of the past might also hamper development. Based on these findings, follow-up research projects and in-depth investigations into underlying social issues with regard to nutrition insecurity and livelihoods of farm workers were initiated.

2002 ◽  
Vol 76 (1) ◽  
pp. 210-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donna M Matheson ◽  
John Varady ◽  
Ann Varady ◽  
Joel D Killen

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 4999
Author(s):  
Veronica Mwangi ◽  
Samuel Owuor ◽  
Boniface Kiteme ◽  
Markus Giger ◽  
Johanna Jacobi ◽  
...  

Smallholder farmers and pastoralists produce the largest proportion of food consumed in sub-Saharan Africa. However, they remain among the food insecure populations. This paper explores the food (in)security among smallholder farmers and pastoralists using a sample of 175 households in three agro-food value chains of wheat, dairy, and beef in the north-west Mt. Kenya region. The study seeks to answer if a farmer’s participation in a particular agro-food value chain determines his/her food security situation. We use the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) and two Poisson regression models, parsimonious and full, to assess the household food security status and determinants of food security among the smallholder farmers and pastoralists. The results show that 61% of the households were either mildly, moderately, or severely food insecure. Households in the beef value chain experienced relatively higher incidences of food insecurity compared to households in the wheat and dairy value chains. The HFIAS scores revealed a wide gap between households with minimum and maximum score. Household size, income and income-related variables (ability to save and borrow to meet family needs), transport assets, membership in farmers’ associations, and household energy were significant in determining household food security, while access to credit and to extension services was not. Strategies that focus on boosting smallholder farmers’ incomes, building strong and resilient farmers associations to improve inclusive and equitable value chains have the potential to get smallholder farmers out of recurrent food insecurity.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 92
Author(s):  
Arnati Wulansari

Chronic Energy Deficiency (CED) is the impact of poor nutritional status of pregnant women. One of determining factors that influence the nutritional status is household food security. The purpose of this study was to determine household food security and incidence of CED in pregnant women’s Suku Anak Dalam in Bungku Village Batanghari Regency. This study used crossectional study design and using a total sampling of 31 pregnant women. Measuring instruments using questionnaires and CED measured using CUA ribbon and energy intake 2x24 hours measuredby recall. Data analysis were used univariate and bivariate (spearman test). The results showed that the majority of respondent experienced the risk of CED(67.7%). As many as 45.2% household experienced food shortages. Most of respondent who experienced food shortages also have risk of CED was 25.8%. The results showed an correlation between food security and risk of CED (P<0.05). 


2011 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 51
Author(s):  
Drajat Martianto ◽  
Hadi Riyadi ◽  
Rizma Ariefiani

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 8.65pt .0001pt 13.5pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 31.5pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;" lang="en-us" xml:lang="en-us">This study aimed to analyze the impacts of feeding practices on underfive children’s nutritional status in different level of household food security. The study design was a cross-sectional study. Data on feeding practices were collected through personal interviews used questionnaire and nutritional status was calculated by using WHO-NCHS z-score. The average scores of feeding practices among samples were categorized as low (54.4%) and children of group very food-insecure had the lowest score of feeding practices. There was a significantly difference among the groups in the scores of sample’s feeding practices. The study showed that about 86 percent of children were categorized as normal (BB/TB indicator), but there were 11.6 percent categorized as wasting, while 32.0 percent and 54.3 percent categorized as underweight and stunting, respectively. Statistical analyses showed significant difference in term of nutritional status. There was a significant correlation between child’s nutritional status (BB/U, TB/U and BB/TB) and household food security. The study showed that child’s nutritional status (BB/TB) was influenced by energy’s adequacy level.</span></p>


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (105) ◽  
pp. 18912-18931
Author(s):  
U Mukherjee ◽  
◽  
JM Chalwe ◽  
S Mbambara ◽  
WH Oldewage-Theron ◽  
...  

Socio-demographic factors and household food insecurity are considered to influence the nutritional status of older women. The rapidly growing elderly population in Africa is a concern particularly in sustaining their health and nutritional status. In spite of this, there is a scarcity of information in older Zambian women and this study aimed to assess the socio-demographic factors, nutritional status and household food insecurity status of older women in rural Zambian communities. This cross-sectional study was conducted in Twatasha compound of Kitwe and Ndeke community of Ndola. The socio-demographic characteristics, anthropometric measurements, dietary intakes and household food security were evaluated in a convenience sample of 153 older women (≥ 50 years) through the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS). IBM SPSS version 26 was used for descriptive (frequencies, means and standard deviations, and medians with interquartile frequencies) and inferential (bivariate and Spearman correlations) statistical analyses. The socio-demographic characteristics showed that almost all (98.7%) of the participants had other members of the family residing with them. Most participants (57%) had attained primary school education, 19% had secondary education and 5% had college education. Almost half (49%) of the participants did not report their employment status and 36% reported to be unemployed. Over-nutrition was most prevalent (37.3% overweight and 39.8% obese) while 20.9 % and 2.0% of the respondents were normal weight and underweight respectively. The median (25th percentile; 75th percentile) dietary intakes showed inadequate intakes for most nutrients, except for carbohydrates (170 g [133;225]). The total fat intake represented 14% of total energy intake. The majority (86.0%) of the participants were identified as severely food insecure while only 6.0% were food secure. The majority of the participants (80-90%) used at least seven out of the nine behavioural responses to food insecurity. The findings show resource-poor and severely food insecure communities. We recommended urgent interventions to improve access to healthy foods (such as home gardening projects) and promote healthy dietary habits (including nutrition education).


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