Food Insecurity And Coping Strategies Of Farm Households In Kahama District, Tanzania

ABSTRACT

The objective of this study was threefold to determine food security status based on Dietary Energy Consumed (DEC) per Adult Equivalent (AE) per day, to identify the farm households‟ food insecurity coping strategies and to examine factors influencing food production and supply. 150 farm households in Msalala and Isagehe division responded to a survey that was conducted between November and December 2012, but 137 households were selected for the analysis after removing the HIES data which were not properly filled. Focus Group Discussion (FDG) were conducted in all surveyed villages whereby descriptions of food security situation, factors associated with crop production and supply and coping strategies were discussed. Both data from 24 hrs recall and Household Income Expenditure Survey (HIES) indicate that the averages of DEC per AE and per capital per day were below the cut off point of 2200 kcal and 2100 kcal respectively, implying that food insecurity existed among farming households in the area. The binary regression analysis result indicates that five predictors were highly significant in influencing food security/insecurity at P ≤ 0.05 levels. Multiple regression analysis showed that, ten independent variables included in the model, six were significant at P = 0.000 and the ten independent variables accounted for R squire 54.3% (R2 = 50%) of variation in food production and supply. Food insecurity coping strategies adopted by the households were used to avert the impact of food insecurity on a temporal basis. The study concludes that food insecurity existed in the study area among farming households, and recommends that farming households be supported in terms of both short term and long term strategies to improve food production and supply.