Magister Artium - MA / This study is situated in the context of multidisciplinary discourse on the pervasive problem of food insecurity in the southern African context. More specifically, it is situated in the context of the Centre of Excellence in Food Security, located at the University of the Western Cape and its project on “Food Ethics and Values” (with Prof Ernst Conradie as principal investigator). It will contribute to discourse on food security from the perspective of the discipline of religious studies and more specifically African Traditional Religion (ATR) and the indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) associated with that. The consumption of food naturally plays a significant role in African Traditional Religion – as is evident from various taboos on food consumption, rituals with prescriptions on food, calendar-based festivities, but also from daily life in rural villages. In reflecting on food in such rural villages, the focus is often on the consumption of meat (chicken, goats, cattle, but also rodents and other wildlife) and of grains like maize. However, vegetables traditionally also formed part of a family’s daily diet. In pre-colonial times, such vegetables were not necessarily cultivated since some indigenous vegetables were harvested based on indigenous knowledge available amongst village elders and traditional healers. The Chionekano-ward includes some 42 villages with an estimated population of around 1020 persons. Through a process of snowball sampling, semi-structured interviews were conducted with village elders and traditional healers who have knowledge of such indigenous vegetables. Where appropriate interviews were followed up with focus groups discussions in particular villages.

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This thesis aimed to explore gaps in existing knowledge and identify new avenues to illuminate the connections between agriculture, nutrition and environmental health. Three separate, but complimentary, studies were designed to achieve this. The findings were then used to develop a model multisector intervention approach to improve food security, nutrition, the household environment and health outcomes in low and middle-income countries (LMIC), using Nepal as a case study. This research adopted a mixed-methods sequential explanatory approach. Initially, peer reviewed journal articles were reviewed to identify the type, extent and effectiveness of household interventions to improve food security, health and the household environment in LMIC. The barriers and facilitators to the development and delivery of multisector interventions in LMIC were assessed based on the qualitative synthesis of academic journal articles and existing grey literature. Additionally, a workshop-based qualitative case study was completed to understand Nepalese stakeholders' perceptions on development and implementation of a multisector intervention. It is clear that very little trans-disciplinary research has been done with the majority of studies still being discipline specific. It also appears that certain LMIC seem to focus on domain specific interventions. Those interventions that incorporated multiple domains such as; home gardening with nutrition education; nutrition intervention with water, sanitation and hygiene; appear to be more successful in terms of providing multiple benefits. Qualitative synthesis highlighted common barriers including co-ordination issues, access to the resources, inadequate technical capacity and limited shared understanding of multidisciplinary working among sectorial stakeholders. While facilitators included collaborative networking opportunities such as discipline discourse, webinars and funding to ensure sustainability of interventions. In addition, the Nepalese case study identified gaps in terms of knowledge generation and sharing between and within sectors. Finally, findings were synthesised to develop an evidence-based model approach multisector intervention to address multifaceted public health issues in LMIC.

Magister Philosophiae (Land and Agrarian Studies) - MPhil(LAS) / This thesis presents findings from ethnographic research conducted over a period of 17 months in the Blouberg and Molemole local municipalities of Capricorn District in Limpopo province with the aim of exploring mobility patterns of Zimbabwean migrants into, within and out of the South African farm labour market, and understanding how these movements are linked to access to food and other livelihood opportunities. Limpopo serves both as a transit province for Zimbabweans who wish to proceed further south to other provinces of South Africa and a destination for irregular migrants who live and work on white-owned commercial farms. Although constrained mobility, which results from their illegality and remoteness of farms from public services, limit their access to sources of food, irregular Zimbabwean migrants in Blouberg-Molemole area perceive that moving into South African farm labour has improved their food security and livelihood statuses. The South Africa farm labour market provides opportunities to earn income, and enables them to make long term investments in their families back home above immediate individual food security needs. Horizontal and vertical social networks established among Zimbabwean migrants in the Blouberg-Molemole area do not only serve the purpose of facilitating information sharing, but are also forms of social capital on which individual members depend on for their food security and livelihood needs.

In agrarian societies, HIV/AIDS extends far beyond the realm of healthcare into agricultural production and food security as well. Namibia is a developing country with a large portion of its population involved in agriculture; the average HIV/AIDS infection rate of 21.3% in the country leaves a large portion of agricultural workers living with or affected by HIV/AIDS. The purpose of this study was to further evaluate the impact of HIV/AIDS on national and community level food security in northern Namibia by ascertaining the perceptions and experiences of local farmers living with HIV/AIDS. In addition, this research aims to define the specific training needs for this population, and to identify possible barriers to access. Four focus groups and four key informant interviews were conducted in northern Namibia, and participants were asked a variety of questions relating to People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in agriculture. Qualitative analysis drew out prevailing themes and ideas from the data. This study found that there is a greater need for HIV/AIDS specific education and programs targeted to HIV/AIDS infected agrarian workers. Additionally this study found there were barriers to education present in the current system, and identified needs for joint programming initiatives between the ministries of health and agriculture.

The U.S. is the world's largest economy, accounting for about 20% of world Gross Domestic Product (GDP). With a high income and a mature welfare system, households in the U.S. should have enough food and healthy diets, especially for children. However, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported that 9.8% of households with children were considered food insecure in 2010. The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) is the second largest federally assisted food program and aims to provide nutritious, well-balanced lunches for school-age children. This thesis examined the association between NSLP participation and children's food security, using the third School Nutrition Dietary Assessment study (SNDA-III). An 18-item household module was used to measure the food security status of children. An ordered probit model was estimated using a two-stage instrumental variable approach in order to address the endogeneity of program participation. We found that students with enough time to eat lunch were 12% more likely to participate in NSLP. Student participation in NSLP was also influenced by the receipt of free/reduced priced meals, being elementary or middle school age, residing in rural area, parents' having a lower education level and living in a single parent household with one employed parent or in two-parent household with both parents employed. The second stage of the model indicates that receipt of free/reduce price meals, household structure and employment, school level, race, and education have significant effects on food security status. Moreover, we found that children from marginally food-secure households have characteristics similar to those from food insecure households rather than highly food-secure households. After controlling for the endogeneity of program participation, we could not find evidence to support program participation having a significant effect on children's food security. To confirm our findings we used adult and child food security modules as alternative food security measures. A bivariate probit model was estimated as an alternative model, but there was still no significant association between NSLP and food security status. A possible reason that NSLP has no effect on food security was that participating children did not intake significantly more calories from school lunch.

The decline in cultivation and consumption of small millets crops seen across India in recent decades is a concern for many. These highly nutritious coarse grains hold significant cultural value as traditional foods for tribal farming populations and remain important contributors to regional agro-biodiversity. Born of out this concern, small millets have garnered recent attention as underutilized crops with potential to contribute to regional food and nutritional security through market development. By localizing small millets within the broader context of agricultural change, this work investigates links between cultivation, distribution and consumption – or the market chain – of small millet varieties in northern coastal Andhra Pradesh, India. Employing an interdisciplinary methodology drawing from anthropological and agribusiness approaches, this study conducts an in-depth, qualitative market chain analysis for finger millet and little millet varieties to produce a multi-sited ethnographic work on informal agricultural marketing in the case study area. In incorporating the political economic, historical and cultural dimensions of millets and other crops, this research teases out the complex relationships between food security, livelihoods, agricultural marketing and development interventions. This research aims to demonstrate how a holistic study of an agricultural commodity, which includes on-farm cultivation and consumption, can get at how smallholder farmers participate in local markets, in everyday practice, and how they engage with change. In connecting a traditional market chain analysis with detailed ethnographic study on the ground, we can see how farmers engage with markets embedded in particular historical and sociocultural contexts. Further, this work provides insights into the challenges of small millets-based livelihoods, going beyond the market to explore the many social institutions in which market participation is embedded. In doing so, I argue that nuanced approach to millets-based livelihoods, commercial crops and broader agrarian transition is necessary.

In light of reports of protests and riots in response to rising food prices and food insecurity, this study asks whether the provision of food aid has an effect on the incidence of political unrest in recipient countries. It uses annual data on the quantities of American wheat aid delivered to 143 countries between 1972 and 2006. To overcome the potential for bias due to endogeneity, variations in U.S. agricultural production and recipient countries’ probability of receiving aid are used to predict the annual quantity of food aid provided to each country. Results from the instrumented regressions suggest that the provision of food aid does not have any impact on the incidence of political unrest.

Rooftop gardens are an important tool within sustainable urban agriculture (UA) that can contribute towards food security. This paper explores the barriers, benefits and incentives of rooftop gardens which have documented environmental and social benefits, including use as a tool towards combating climate change and for creating community within cities. Significant barriers exist, with opportunities for mitigating such barriers and creating incentives for participation in rooftop UA including grant programs specifically designed to guide businesses through implementation of gardens on commercial buildings, rooftop restaurants for increasing tourism potential, change in policy for support of UA, awards for businesses who are leaders in using roof space for food production, innovations in design, and education and training. Rooftop UA has potential for growth in Vancouver, if impetus comes from various sectors, including government, non-profit organizations and the City of Vancouver, with specific emphasis on making rooftop UA exciting for business and profitable.

This study is based on ethnographic research that was conducted in the villages of Santa María de Rivas and San Gerardo de Rivas in the coffee farming region of Pérez Zeledón, Costa Rica. While these two villages are in close proximity to each other, the economy of San Gerardo is based more on tourism than the economy of Santa María, although both towns still engage in agricultural activities. Within each village, I conducted 15 preliminary interviews, followed by ten follow-up interviews with the main food preparers of the households. From in depth discussions, I found that food consumption patterns of people in both towns were being affected by seasonal variations in incomes due to the cyclical nature of employment in both tourism and agriculture. A number of households from these villages were experiencing periods of food worries throughout the year that were linked to the seasonality of tourism as well as agriculture, and in particular coffee production. Seasonal availability of particular food items also shaped consumption patterns; however, perceptions of food insecurity in this context appear to be primarily related to problems of access.