The State of Food Insecurity in Maputo, Mozambique

2016-10-17 Social Science

Author : Raimundo, Ines
Release : 2016-10-17
Genre : Social Science
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 115/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis The State of Food Insecurity in Maputo, Mozambique by : Raimundo, Ines

Download or read book The State of Food Insecurity in Maputo, Mozambique written by Raimundo, Ines. This book was released on 2016-10-17. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Food insecurity is a fact of life for the vast majority of households across Maputo’s poverty belt. The Maputo urban food security survey done by AFSUN as part of its baseline survey of 11 Southern African cities found that households exist in a constant state of food insecurity manifested in a lack of access to sufficient affordable food, poor dietary quality and undernutrition. Income is meagre and only those households with access to wage income have any chance of holding food insecurity at bay. With a vibrant informal food economy, Maputo’s poor are surrounded by fresh and processed food. Food availability is therefore not the primary determinant of food insecurity in Maputo. Certainly large-scale food import from South Africa and further afield makes the market price of food inherently volatile. But prices for the consumer are also driven down by the fact that there is intense competition among vendors on the streets and in the marketplaces. The real cause of food insecurity is high urban unemployment and a lack of regular and decent-paying work. Among its recommendations, AFSUN urges the city of Maputo to set up a food security strategy that is multisectoral and policy-oriented and based on a better understanding of food flows into and within the city, the operation of the city’s informal food economy and the likely impacts of formal retailing for the food security of the urban poor.

Urban Infrastructure and Household Vulnerability to Food Insecurity in Maputo, Mozambique

2016

Author : Cameron McCordic
Release : 2016
Genre :
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : /5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Urban Infrastructure and Household Vulnerability to Food Insecurity in Maputo, Mozambique by : Cameron McCordic

Download or read book Urban Infrastructure and Household Vulnerability to Food Insecurity in Maputo, Mozambique written by Cameron McCordic. This book was released on 2016. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Infrastructure is an important foundation for urban sustainability. Infrastructure includes both a system of institutions like banks and hospitals (known as social infrastructure) and a network of physical utilities like water and power grids (known as physical infrastructure). Social infrastructure allows households to access social services while physical infrastructure allows households to access physical resources. A lack of household access to either social or physical infrastructure can make a household vulnerable to poverty. Maputo provides one example of this relationship. The city is characterised by a dualistic split between a formal downtown core and informal peri-urban areas. The households in the formal areas of Maputo tend to have a greater access to both social and physical infrastructure, while households in the informal areas tend to have reduced access to both. In Maputo, a lack of household access to social and physical infrastructure also increases the odds that a household will be food insecure. This means that inconsistent infrastructure access seems to predispose a household to food insecurity. Using household survey data collected from 2071 households in Maputo, this investigation applied binary logistic regression analysis to predict three measures of household food insecurity: the Household Dietary Diversity Score, the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale, and the Months of Adequate Household Food Provisioning. Two sets of independent variables were used in this analysis: inconsistent household access to physical and social infrastructure (measured by inconsistent access to water, electricity, medical care, and a cash income) and a set of social vulnerability indicators (the sex, education, and employment status of the household head, low household income, household size, dwelling informality, and the chronic illness of a household member). The results demonstrate that households with inconsistent access to infrastructure have greater odds of being food insecure even while controlling for income level, the presence of chronic illness, household size, dwelling informality, or the gender of the household head. The relationship is also very reliable. Using only household access to water, electricity, medical care, and a cash income, it was possible predict whether a sampled household was food insecure with 75% accuracy (in the sampled population). This relationship has important implications for urban planning and municipal social policy. Households in areas with limited access to infrastructure are more likely to be food insecure even when low income is controlled for. Based on these findings, investment in urban infrastructure access may have a knock-on impact on household food insecurity in Maputo. These findings suggest a preliminary alternative intervention for household food security beyond complex and potentially confounding economic policy intervention.

The State of Food Insecurity in Blantyre City, Malawi

2016-10-17 Social Science

Author : Mvula, Peter
Release : 2016-10-17
Genre : Social Science
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 093/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis The State of Food Insecurity in Blantyre City, Malawi by : Mvula, Peter

Download or read book The State of Food Insecurity in Blantyre City, Malawi written by Mvula, Peter. This book was released on 2016-10-17. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Chronic food insecurity is considered to be one of the most important challenges facing the people and government of Malawi. Most attention tends to be given to the rural areas where the majority of the population live and where the prevalence of food insecurity is highest. However, Malawi is urbanizing at a rapid rate and those who move to the cities do not automatically become food secure. Urban food insecurity is likely to increase and therefore it is important for policy-makers to begin to think about this issue. AFSUN’s study of food insecurity in the city of Blantyre, Malawi’s industrial hub, formed part of its baseline survey of 11 Southern African cities. The study established that household dietary diversity is very low with most consuming a monotonous diet dominated by grain foods, especially maize. While the dependence on maize and its availability on the market means that absolute levels of food insecurity are lower here than in many other cities surveyed by AFSUN, there is also a clear seasonality to food security that coincides with the rural agricultural cycle. When maize prices rise, households immediately feel the pinch and levels of insecurity rise. Female-centred households, households with large family sizes, households that have lost a breadwinner through death, households with a sick member, and low-income households are more food insecure than the rest.

The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2020

2020-07-01 Political Science

Author : Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Release : 2020-07-01
Genre : Political Science
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 01X/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2020 by : Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Download or read book The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2020 written by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations . This book was released on 2020-07-01. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Updates for many countries have made it possible to estimate hunger in the world with greater accuracy this year. In particular, newly accessible data enabled the revision of the entire series of undernourishment estimates for China back to 2000, resulting in a substantial downward shift of the series of the number of undernourished in the world. Nevertheless, the revision confirms the trend reported in past editions: the number of people affected by hunger globally has been slowly on the rise since 2014. The report also shows that the burden of malnutrition in all its forms continues to be a challenge. There has been some progress for child stunting, low birthweight and exclusive breastfeeding, but at a pace that is still too slow. Childhood overweight is not improving and adult obesity is on the rise in all regions. The report complements the usual assessment of food security and nutrition with projections of what the world may look like in 2030, if trends of the last decade continue. Projections show that the world is not on track to achieve Zero Hunger by 2030 and, despite some progress, most indicators are also not on track to meet global nutrition targets. The food security and nutritional status of the most vulnerable population groups is likely to deteriorate further due to the health and socio economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The report puts a spotlight on diet quality as a critical link between food security and nutrition. Meeting SDG 2 targets will only be possible if people have enough food to eat and if what they are eating is nutritious and affordable. The report also introduces new analysis of the cost and affordability of healthy diets around the world, by region and in different development contexts. It presents valuations of the health and climate-change costs associated with current food consumption patterns, as well as the potential cost savings if food consumption patterns were to shift towards healthy diets that include sustainability considerations. The report then concludes with a discussion of the policies and strategies to transform food systems to ensure affordable healthy diets, as part of the required efforts to end both hunger and all forms of malnutrition.

The State of Poverty and Food Insecurity in Maseru, Lesotho

2016-11-25 Social Science

Author : Crush, Jonathan
Release : 2016-11-25
Genre : Social Science
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 123/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis The State of Poverty and Food Insecurity in Maseru, Lesotho by : Crush, Jonathan

Download or read book The State of Poverty and Food Insecurity in Maseru, Lesotho written by Crush, Jonathan. This book was released on 2016-11-25. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report on food insecurity in urban Lesotho is the latest in a series on Southern African cities issued by AFSUN. Like the previous reports, it focuses on one city (Maseru) and on poor neighbourhoods and households in that city. More than 60% of poor households surveyed in Maseru were severely food insecure. While food price increases worsen food insecurity for poor households, it is poverty that weakens the resilience of society to absorb these increases. This report argues that Maseru residents face specific and interrelated challenges with respect to food and nutrition insecurity. These are poverty; limited local livelihood opportunities; and dependence on food imports. Among AFSUN’s recommendations are improved infrastructure as a fundamental pre-condition for meaningful development; the creation of livelihood opportunities within the food system; social safety nets designed in ways that promote economic growth and equity; and free movement of labour between Lesotho and South Africa, which would dramatically improve the incomes of many poor households. The Government of Lesotho and the Maseru Municipality and District can direct both aid and investment into an integrated food security strategy that prioritizes urban infrastructure, livelihoods, welfare and mobility. This takes political will, but the development and implementation of such a food security strategy is well within the reach of the country’s leaders.

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