South Africa ranks high among the developing countries with income inequality and household food insecurity is a major concern in the country. The overall objective of the study was to investigate access and practices, which lead to increasing household access to nutritious food by households. The students registered for the one-year course identified households in the Dysselsdorp settlement in the Western Cape, South Africa which they worked closely with in food gardening. Descriptive research methods were used to assess food access and identify the socio-economic and demographic variables for this study. Qualitative and quantitative methods were used to gather data, following the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences of the University of South Africa’s ethical protocol and guidelines. Data were collected in the middle and at the end of the coursework (mid-term and end-term). A semi-structured baseline questionnaire was used to interview households and to conduct focus group discussions with the students. The baseline questionnaire consisted of five sections, namely the socio-demographic information, food utilization, food availability, food accessibility and the living standards measurement scores. A stratified random sampling strategy was used to select 30 students to participate in the focus group discussions. The students identified three or four households, which they worked closely with and those households were purposively selected for the baseline interviews. vi Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences programme (IBM SPSS 24). Descriptive statistics (mean, frequencies and standard deviation) were used to compare the data. The 24-hour recall and 7 days food frequency recall was used to assess the household food consumption patterns. Qualitative data were recorded, transcribed, then themes and connections were used to explain the data and correlated with the objectives of the study. The socio-demographic data showed that most of the respondents were above 50 years old and they had an average number of 5.2 members. Thirty-one percent (31%) of the household heads had reached grade 8 to 12 in school, while 69% were those who had not gone to school and completed up to grade 7. Majority of the households relied on social grants as a source of income. The amount of money spent on food by the households in a month was between 0-R500 (63%) and 37% spent above R500 on food. Women participated more in food-related activities than men and the gardening activities were shared by the members of the households. The HDDS is a qualitative method for food consumption, which reflects household access to a variety of foods. The HDDS consists of food groups that the household has consumed over the past 24-hours and it is calculated based on the 12 food groups from the food consumed which are summed up; the mean score is used to determine diet diversity (Swindale & Bilinsky, 2006). The findings in this study is that the average HDDS increased from 5.6 to 6.4, which is above the recommended cut-off point for dietary quality (Steyn et al., 2006). Both the 24-hour recall and 7 days food frequency reported a high consumption of carbohydrates and meat, and less consumption of other food groups such as milk, vii eggs, fruits and vegetables were noted. The households relied on a variety of coping strategies such as asking for food from family or neighbours, depending on charity/grants, finding other sources of food and collecting wild food. All the households grew their own fruits, vegetables and crops. However, livestock production was practiced by 10% of the participating households. The households used preservation methods such as keeping food in a dry place (26), sun drying (38), canning (6), freezing (53) and refrigeration (11) to keep and store vegetables. The Living Standard Measurement (LSM) is a tool which focuses on household access to services and facilities (Faber et al., 2017). Household characteristics range from level 1 up to level 10, and a score from 1 to 4 are considered to be poor and lack access to services, while scores above 5 have improved access to resources and services. The LSM results of the households indicates that they have improved access to services as all the households scored above five. All the households, had access to land with water, electricity and toilet facilities in the yard. The major constraints experienced by the households were insufficient water, theft, pests, plant diseases and livestock which destroyed the crops. It is recommended that the government provide programmes aimed at developing communities, promoting healthy eating and food production. Workshops on nutrition education should be continuous and focus on basic sanitation, food hygiene. Income generation small-scale businesses, crop production, and livestock rearing will assist in alleviating hunger and unemployment. These initiatives could be extended to other areas of the country as a way to improve food security. / Life and Consumer Sciences / M.C.S.

Thesis (Ph.D. Agricultural (Agricultural Economics)) -- University of Limpopo, 2022 / Regardless of the various measures implemented by the South African government to curb food insecurity, majority of rural households are still experiencing food insecurity at the household level. This could be because of the high unemployment rate that the rural households are experiencing, especially in the Limpopo Province. Despite rural household members exerting frantic efforts to acquire education, most of them still find it difficult to secure jobs, which results in them depending on social grants for a living. Still, social grant money alone is not enough to meet their entire families’ needs, including food acquisition. The aim of the study was to analyse food security looking at four dimensions, namely, food availability, access, utilisation, and stability among rural households of Capricorn and Mopani Districts in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. Only two district municipalities in the Limpopo Province, namely, Mopani and Capricorn Districts, were chosen as areas of study. The two district municipalities were chosen because, previous studies and reviews reported that these municipalities are the most affected districts by food insecurity shocks in the Limpopo Province. The study used a cross-sectional survey, where a Multistage sampling procedure was employed. The villages were selected based on probability proportionate to size. The study considered a total of 346 rural households, comprising 173 rural households in each district municipality. A structured questionnaire was used as an instrument to collect data from rural households in the study area. In addition, the collected data was captured using Excel 16. Thereafter, the data was exported to SPSS Version 27 for analysis. Furthermore, to profile the socio-economic characteristics of households, assess food consumption patterns and identify the strategies employed to enhance household food security, descriptive statistics was used. To determine the food security status of rural households in the study areas, the four dimensions of food security were analysed separately. For instance, food availability was analysed using descriptive statistics whereas food accessibility was analysed using Household Food Insecurity Access Scale [HFIAS]. The HFIAS was also used to identify the food security status while Household Dietary Diversity Score [HDDS] was used to measure food utilisation. To measure food stability, a Likert Scale [LS] and descriptive statistics were used. Multiple Linear Regression Models [MRM] were used to determine the factors that influenced rural households’ food security status. On the other hand, the Multinomial Logistic Regression Model [MLRM] was used to examine the determinants of food security among rural households of Capricorn and Mopani district municipalities. The descriptive results established that most rural households from both Mopani District Municipality [MDM] and Capricorn District Municipality [CDM] consume different food groups. In this regard, a minority of rural households are classified as dietary diverse whereas a majority of rural households are still characterised as less dietary diverse due to the limited consumption of different food groups. This reveals that these households range from less food secure to moderate food secure, as illustrated by the food security results. Moreover, the descriptive results also indicated that a majority of rural households in MDM are classified as severely food insecure and that food stability was the component contributing to these households being severely food insecure. As for CDM rural households, the results showed that a majority of these rural households were moderately food insecure with food availability and food stability being the contributing component at CDM. The Multiple linear Regression Model [MRM] results in MDM revealed that the age of the household head, remittances, and access to credit positively influenced food security status. On the other hand, the Multinomial Logistic Regression Model [MLRM] results in MDM revealed that the age of household head, household income greater than R1000, household income between R1099 to R1999, household income between R4000 to R4999, income from salary and access to credit, negatively influence food insecurity status. The Multiple Linear Regression Model confirmed that the male headed households, age of household head, wages, employment status and household income negatively influence food security status in CDM. On the contrary, MLRM results revealed that gender of household head, income from wages, income from salary, old age pension grant, child support grant, household income above R1000 and access to credit for borrowing money positively influenced the food security status of rural households in CDM. In light of this, the study recommends that health practitioners should educate rural households about healthy eating habits and that having a variety of nutritious food type may increase food security. The Department of Agriculture should advise rural households to participate primarily in subsistence farming and that they should focus their agriculture on crops and livestock. This will enable them to enjoy diverse and balanced diets. In addition, the government should empower rural households to participate in development programmes. This may assist households to improve their livelihoods and may also lead to diverse sources of income, which may enhance food security. Furthermore, the government can further assist rural households by providing production inputs (such as seeds/seedlings, fertilizers, and water for irrigation), which may promote food availability, utilisation and accessibility. / NRF-DAAD

L’insicurezza alimentare colpisce soprattutto le famiglie rurali povere che vivono di agricoltura di sussistenza nei Paesi in via di Sviluppo. Nell’ottica di fornire un supporto alle comunità che si trovano in queste condizioni, L’Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore e la Fondazione Romeo ed Enrica Invernizzi hanno avviato nel 2012 il progetto “Produzione di cibo appropriato, sufficiente, sicuro e sostenibile”. Il progetto si propone di avviare Centri Pilota in collaborazione con le diocesi che promuovano uno una intensificazione delle produzioni agricole e una dieta sostenibile dal punto di vista etico-sociale, economico e ambientale. I Paesi in cui opera il progetto sono l’India (Meghalaya State) e la Repubblica Democratica del Congo – RDC (Lomami province). Con l’aiuto dei team locali sono state raccolte informazioni sulle abitudini produttive e alimentari della popolazione. Su questi dati è stata svolta una analisi circa l’impatto che il progetto ha avuto sulla sicurezza alimentare (disponibilità e accesso) delle famiglie coinvolte. Il numero di polli allevati (India) e l’Household Dietary Diversity Score (India and RDC) sono stati utilizzati come proxy per la disponibilità e l’accesso di cibo, rispettivamente. L’analisi statistica è stata effettuata usando differenti approcci dello Propensity Score Match (Logit + Nearest Neighbour and GenMatch) per valutare ATT (Effetto medio del trattamento sul gruppo “trattato”). Per quanto riguarda l’India sono stati analizzati i) il numero di polli allevati (food availability) e ii) l’HDDS (Household Dietary Diversity) per la food access. Il progetto ha avuto un impatto positivo ma non significativo sul numero di polli allevato, che però non si è tradotto in un miglioramento dell’HDDS delle famiglie di piccoli agricoltori coinvolti nel progetto. Per la RDC è stato analizzato solo l’impatto sulla food access (HDDS). In questo caso l’impatto del progetto sulla sicurezza alimentare dei piccoli agricoltori è stato positivo ma non significativo. I risultati mostrano che un miglioramento nella qualità della dieta (HDDS) implica, oltre ad un miglioramento delle produzioni (in qualità e in quantità), è necessario anche un miglioramento della educazione (anche nutrizionale) e dell’accesso al mercato. / Food Insecurity (FI) affects especially poor rural people that rely on Subsistence Agriculture in developing countries. With the purpose to help the community that living in that conditions, in 2012 the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore and the Fondazione Romeo ed Enrica Invernizzi have started the “Production of appropriate food: safe sufficient and sustainable” project. The project aims to open Pilot Center in agreement with local Diocese to promote the Agricultural production Intensification agriculture and Diets that are sustainable (ethical, economic and environmental). The project is active in India (Meghalaya State) and the Democratic Republic of Congo (Lomami Province). Helped by the local team, information was collected on production and diets habits. An analysis of the impact that the project had on food security (availability and access) of the families involved was carried out on these data. Number of Chicken (India) and Household Dietary Diversity Score - HDDS (India and DRC) as a proxy for food availability and access, were respectively utilised. Thus, we used different Propensity Score Match approach (Logit + Nearest Neighbour and GenMatch) to evaluate the ATT (average treatment effect on the treated group). Regarding India, the number of chickens bred (as food availability) and the HDDS (food access) were analyzed. While the number of chickens bred is positive but not significant, the HDDS values of smallholder farmers involved in the project did not improved. Moving to DRC, only the HDDS was analyzed. In this case, the project had a positive impact on beneficiary families, but it was not significant. The results point out that diet improving (HDDS) advances the production, both in quality and quantity, but is not a sufficient condition per se. Furthermore, it is also essential to enhance the educational path which focuses on nutritional issues and the access to food from market.