Doctoral Degrees (Food Security)

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10413/6609

Browse

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3

Does nutrition transition distort food choices and dietary patterns contributing to obesity among black African women? : a case of African women from Pietermaritzburg.
(2018) Dandala, Ntombizodwa Phumzile.; Green, Jannette Maryann.; Kolanisi, Unathi.; Van Onselen, Annette.
Obesity and its attendant nutrition-related non-communicable diseases and other risk factors has long been identified as a serious public health concern globally and locally. Based on those concerns, the author investigated the question: „Does nutrition transition distort food choices and dietary patterns, contributing to the overweight and obesity problem among the Black African women?‟ The nutrition transition is characterised by shifts from traditional diets to highly processed products with long shelf-life and regarded as energy-dense as they tend to have high oil, sugar and salt content, often purchased from supermarkets. Such diets are highly implicated in the global obesity epidemic. The focus was on women from Pietermaritzburg and the surrounding urban and rural communities. Qualitative and quantitative research methods using various research instruments were employed in the survey-based research design to elicit information from the participants. Qualitative methods used were in-depth and focus group interviews. Raw data were collected, computed and analysed. Four hundred and fifty-two women, excluding the pilot study, were interviewed. The participants were between the ages of eighteen and sixty-five years. Research included data from seventy-three women organised into six focus groups, complemented with key informants‟ interviews. The anthropometric data represented by the body mass index, reflected significantly high prevalence of obesity. The waist-to-hip ratios and the waist circumference, both indicators of abdominal obesity, similarly concurred. The socio-demographic information described the sample as homogenous in that they were all of childbearing age and more, oversaw food preparation in their households, of the same race group, culturally and geographically from the rural and urban areas of Pietermaritzburg. The socio-demographics analysed, were: marital status through the female-headed households‟ implied poverty; social grants‟ recipients as suggestive of household poverty; ownership of consumer durables as signifying a community undergoing a nutrition transition. ii The Household Food Insecurity (Access) Scale (HFIAS) measured the access component of food insecurity based on the experience of anxiety about food shortage; the perceptions of insufficient quality and variety of food and insufficient food intake. That was done through a nine occurrence- and frequency-of-occurrence questionnaire. The findings showed incidents of worrying about not having enough, as well as eating a limited variety and foods they really did not want to eat because of insufficient funds. Significantly, there were incidents of not eating any food of any kind because of lack of funds, including experiences of going to bed hungry, as well as going day and night without eating anything because there was not enough food. Those poignantly indicated a possibility of food insecurity at household level. The Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS) is a food group dietary diversity indicator assessed through varieties of food-groups consumed. The results revealed limited dietary diversity with monotonous starchy staples consumed and high consumption of oily, sweet and salty food groups implicated in nutrition transition and the obesity epidemic. Focus Groups and key informants seemed oblivious to obesity and venerated it. Overall, the participants seemed to be relatively food and nutrition insecure, concurrently undergoing a nutrition transition, with abundance of highly processed products that seemingly distorted food choices and dietary patterns.
Investigation of the socio-economic impacts of morbidity and mortality on coping strategies among community garden clubs in Maphephetheni, KwaZulu-Natal.
(2007) Chingondole, Samuel Mpeleka.; Hendriks, Sheryl Lee.; Green, Jannette Maryann.
The impact of morbidity and mortality on women’s coping strategies has not been explored or documented in South Africa. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to investigate the influence of morbidity and mortality on coping strategies among 10 community vegetable garden clubs representing 79 households in the Maphephetheni uplands, rural KwaZulu-Natal. An innovative mix of qualitative and quantitative methodologies was used to determine the impacts of morbidity and mortality on women’s coping strategies. Qualitative research methodologies included group sustainable livelihoods analyses. Quantitative methodologies included three annual household surveys conducted between 2003 and 2005. The coping strategy index was also used to determine the levels of food insecurity and understand how morbidity and mortality compromised the coping ability of participating households. The coping strategy index has not been previously used in assessing the impact of morbidity and mortality on coping strategies. Chi-Square tests, Pearson correlation, paired-sample t-tests, and frequency and descriptive statistics were applied to analyse data. The study found that the key contribution of women in community gardening and non-farm activities was compromised by the burden of morbidity and mortality that had negative effects on women’s coping strategies. Findings indicated that the frequency of illness among garden club and household members increased between 2003 (21.2% of household members) and 2004 (25%). Similarly, more households (42% of the sample households) experienced a death in 2004 compared to 7.6 percent of households in 2003. As a result, costs associated with health care and funerals were significantly (P = 0.01) lower in 2003 than in 2004. Most garden club and household members relied on subsidised medication to treat illness. Number of households dependent on subsidised medication dropped from 86 percent of households in 2003 to 66.7 percent in 2004. In 2004, households reported purchasing medication in addition to subsidised medication. Caring for the sick and contributions to household chores were significantly (P = 0.01) correlated in 2003 and 2004. This means that increased caring for sick members resulted in increased workloads for women. Caring for the sick and engagement in community garden activities were significantly (P = 0.01) correlated in both 2003 and 2004, suggesting that caring for the sick reduced participation in community gardens. Analysis showed that reduced labour supply due to increased incidences of sickness and deaths, increased health care and funeral costs, reduced household income and increased care-giving minimised women’s ability to cope with adverse situations. Women used erosive coping strategies such as borrowing money, selling assets, limiting portion sizes at meal times and relying on less preferred and less expensive foods to cushion the effects of morbidity and mortality. Application of erosive coping strategies minimises household resilience to future shocks and stresses. Findings showed that farm and non-farm livelihood activities were critical components of rural livelihoods in Maphephetheni because sample households depended on community gardens, home gardens and small-scale non-farm enterprises for food and income to cushion the negative effects of morbidity and mortality. Community gardening contributed less to total monthly household income (4% of total monthly household income) than wages (41%), social grants (40.9%), home gardens (7%), small-scale enterprises (4.2%) and remittances (2.9%). Even though low, the contribution of community gardens to food security cannot be ignored considering the number of households (about 32% of sample households) that depended upon subsistence agriculture for food. Further analysis indicated that community gardens were themselves a coping strategy in the face of morbidity and mortality. Community gardens provided a risk aversion strategy and minimised risk by providing food resources and social and moral support for households facing hardship. Strategies to enhance household asset bases and promote more productive farm and non-farm activities are needed to improve resilience against the effects of morbidity and mortality. Government and non-governmental organisations need to establish a multi-purpose centre where women can learn agricultural and entrepreneurial skills to help households cope more effectively with shocks and stresses. However, such strategies should ensure that tasks allocated to various activities such as community gardening, non-farm activities and household chores such as fuel and water collection should be distributed equally across household members so that women do not carry excessive workloads since increased workloads reduce women’s ability to respond to livelihood insecurity shocks and stresses.
A synthesis of rural livelihood approaches in analysing household poverty, food security and resilience: A case study of Rushinga rural district in Zimbabwe.
(2018) Muzah, Onismo.; Green, Jannette Maryann.
Understanding rural livelihoods is an important goal to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals in Zimbabwe, in particular eradicating poverty and food insecurity in every household. Even though livelihoods of the rural poor are susceptible to recurrent shocks, risks and stresses, fostering resilience on rural livelihood approaches is a significant remedy for achieving household well-being. However rural livelihood failure to mitigate widespread poverty and food insecurity have never been adequately examined or explained in a context that can encourage rural development policies. The study provides a comprehensive analysis of livelihood approaches, specifically endeavouring to answer the following questions: What livelihood factors determine rural poverty and its dimensions in the study area? What is the extent of household vulnerability to food insecurity? Is the degree of livelihood resilience and adaptation to attain food security sustainable? The main objective of the study was to use the concept of livelihoods as the springboard to analyse and measure household vulnerability to poverty and food insecurity as well as the level of rural resilience. The study focused on three distinct Wards in the Rushinga District, Zimbabwe. The multi-stage sampling procedure was adopted to select fifteen villages and simple random sampling was used to select 300 households for the survey, 100 from each Ward and 20 from each village. The household level was used as the appropriate unit of analysis, because on aggregate, pooling of labour, consumption, resources, coping and survival strategies are relatively identified from a household perspective, as a common unit of analysis. Data analysis employed econometric models to compare livelihood outcomes from different socio-economic variables included in the study. Descriptive statistics such as chi-square, t-test, mean, percentages and frequencies were used to answer the objectives of the study and test the hypothesis. A theory of rural livelihood approaches was developed using conceptual frameworks compatible to the context of the study; the Sustainable Livelihood Framework (SLF), micro-level food security framework and the Resilience Framework (RF). In other words, the frameworks strive to explain that positive household well-being is a result of successful livelihood approaches and negative well-being is the result of livelihood failure. The Sustainable Livelihood Framework is an appropriate checklist tool to understand how poverty is influenced by socio-environmental factors, and also important for eradication models. It describes the relationship between the environmental context and the capitals or assets available to the rural poor. In negotiating possible livelihood outcomes, the poor select from a range of available options within a particular context and locality, and the study shows that natural and social capital are easily available to the poor. The Food Security Conceptual Framework (FSCF), just like the SLA, identifies the reason some households become food secure and some food insecure. It is because livelihood activities, processes and outcomes differ from one household to the other. Household food security is a function of availability and access to adequate food, both dimensions hinge on resource endowments to acquire sufficient food. Furthermore, the stability of availability and access to food is considered an important dimension of food security as well as utilisation which has a bearing on nutritional security. Utilisation is considered a biological perspective of food security; as the ability of the human body to ingest and metabolise food. Because of the vulnerability context within livelihood approaches, which eventually result in poverty traps, the study shows that the poor find themselves food insecure. When compared to resourceful households who are food secure, they have the capacity to produce and procure adequate food. In other words, food insecurity in the District was a result of poverty, as the poor lack the means to pursue other livelihood options. The Resilience Framework improves the understanding of how the interaction of capacity, socio-economic and environmental factors affect rural livelihoods and household consumption welfare. The study revealed that highly exposed and sensitive livelihood systems eventually “collapse”, leading to vulnerability to food insecurity as compared other household’s livelihood systems which were highly adaptive, resulting in easy “bouncing back” to normal household’s functions. Thus, livelihood approaches, in complex rural context, can only be sustainable to warrant food security if strengthened by the resilience of socio-ecological structures. Quantitative estimation of the dimensions of poverty measured in monetary metrics and food insecurity measured in calorie intake per adult equivalence using the Foster, Greer and Thorbecke (FGT) indices revealed that 70% of households were poor, thus, living below absolute food poverty line, average poverty gap was 38% and severity 15%. The prevalence calls for relevant stakeholders like the government to scale up efforts to minimize household poverty. Since poverty in this study was measured in terms of expenditure on food, household’s lack of purchasing power means households could be food insecure. Generally, the prevalence of food insecurity was high in the District; 60% households were deemed food insecure, the depth of food shortage per adult equivalence was 24% and the inequality among the food insecure households themselves was 13%. Notably, the results indicated that poverty and food insecurity were gender skewed and geographically concentrated. There were more poor female headed-households than male-headed households, and concentration of household vulnerability to food poverty in Ward 12 signals geographical poverty. This all points to inequality when it comes to controlling and access to key productive resources to enhance their livelihoods. At the household level, food insecurity alleviation strategies and policies should aim to empower women and transform the livelihood choices and priorities of vulnerable groups in society. The study revealed a strong relationship between geographically defined factors and level of well-being. Spatial disparities in living standards were caused by the existence of geographical poverty traps which caused cycles of livelihood failure, for example, inequality in resource endowments, education and health services and a host of other social economic factors. To examine the determinants of poverty, the study utilized a binary logic model. The results of the econometric model revealed that rural poverty is linked to geographic location, dependency ratio, marital status, total monthly income per capita, asset endowment, access to support services and maize yield (statistically significant at 10% and below). The implication of this result is that not a single livelihood predicator can cause poverty. These variables interact at a scale beyond the control of households, causing households to fall into severe poverty, over a given point in time. A binary logit model was also used to estimate the determinants of household food security, daily calorie availability per adult equivalence was adopted as the dependent variable. The results showed that household food insecurity was linked to dependency ratio, per capita monthly income, the value of assets, total livestock units (TLU) and maize yield. In the rural context, there was a link between the predictors of poverty and food insecurity. Whenever poor households were confronted with either transitory or chronic food insecurity, they developed mild, moderate and more severe food deficit coping strategies. Generally, the households in the study used minimal coping strategies, the cause was attributed to the availability of external aid rationings which eased the severity. Even though the utility of natural resources, in particular, land-based activities, constituted an important source of livelihoods, as Zimbabwe is regarded an agricultural economy, the sector has become a poverty and food insecurity trap. At the same time, results exhibited rural livelihood transition from conventional activities. In the rural context, the transition is owed to uncertainty in agriculture, because of erratic rainfall, shortage of labour, high costs of inputs, land degradation, among other factors. Resilience is a developing research discipline in the wake of climate change, described in different ways and understood in complex dimensions depending on context. In the context of rural livelihoods, it is described as the capacity of the rural economy to simultaneously balance social, economic, ecosystem and cultural functions when confronted with predicted or unpredicted vulnerability. As such, rural livelihood resilience is the ability of the socio-ecological system to cope, adapt absorb and transform from change. This study strives to quantitatively measure resilience in the domain of food security. Food security is an important aspect that every household strives to achieve. High costs of farm inputs, market failure, and rising food costs were among notable shocks uncounted by households in the study. However, agricultural drought was the major livelihood threat to land-based activities, as nearly 94% of interviewed households who relied on own production for their food security recorded absolute crop failure. To measure household resilience against food insecurity, the study used two-stage factor analysis using the Principal Component Factor method. The model considers resilience against food insecurity as available household options over a given time. Among other options, adaptive capacity is the most important livelihood option, which is the ability of a system to adjust and take advantage of opportunities in order to offset risks and shocks. Access to natural resources was not significant enough to explain resilience against food insecurity, this is mainly attributed to degradation of the resources or inequitable access, for example to land. Validation of the mean resilience index indicates that livelihood diversification correlates with high resilience because of high adaptive capacity as compared to a single livelihood option. The mean resilience index also revealed that male-headed households improved adaptive capacity, given their better access to resources, whereas female-headed remained vulnerable because they were either involved in non-diversified livelihoods or they are constrained in accessing productive assets and low endowment in human capital. Thus, rural development policies should spur livelihood diversification as core resilience strategy against food shortages.

Browse

Browsing Doctoral Degrees (Food Security) by Author "Green, Jannette Maryann."