Download or read book The State of Food Insecurity in Msunduzi Municipality South Africa written by Caesar, Mary and published by Southern African Migration Programme. This book was released on 2016-10-17 with total page 41 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is plenty of food in Msunduzi, in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province, but the urban poor regularly go hungry. This study of Msunduzi’s food security situation formed part of AFSUN’s baseline survey of eleven Southern African cities. The survey results show that the urban poor in Msunduzi are significantly worse off than their counterparts in Cape Town and Johannesburg. A third of the households reported that they sometimes or often have no food to eat of any kind. Household size did not make a great deal of difference to levels of insecurity but female-headed households are more food insecure than male-headed households. Msunduzi is a classic case study of a city whose food supply system is dominated by modern supermarket supply chains. The informal food economy is relatively small, urban agriculture is not especially significant in the city and informal rural-urban food transfers are lower than in many other cities surveyed. In this respect, Msunduzi offers the other cities a picture of their own future. Supermarket expansion is occurring at an extremely rapid rate throughout southern Africa, tying urban spaces and populations into global, regional and national supply chains. While supermarkets offer greater variety and fresher produce than many other outlets, they clearly do not meet the needs of the poor.

Download or read book The Food Insecurities of Zimbabwean Migrants in Urban South Africa written by Crush, Jonathan and published by Southern African Migration Programme. This book was released on 2016-10-17 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report examines the food security status of Zimbabwean migrant households in the poorer areas of two major South African cities, Johannesburg and Cape Town. The vast majority were food insecure in terms of the amount of food to which they had access and the quality and diversity of their diet. What seems clear is that Zimbabwean migrants are significantly more food insecure than other low-income households. The primary reason for this appears to lie in pressures that include remittances of cash and goods back to family in Zimbabwe. The small literature on the impact of migrant remittances on food security tends to look only at the recipients and how their situation is improved. It does not look at the impact of remitting on those who send remittances. Most Zimbabwean migrants in South Africa feel a strong obligation to remit, but to do so they must make choices because of their limited and unpredictable income. Food is one of the first things to be sacrificed. Quantities decline, cheaper foods are preferred, and dietary quality and diversity inevitably suffer. This study found that while migrants were dissatisfied with the shrinking job market in South Africa, most felt that they would be unlikely to find work in Zimbabwe and that a return would worsen their household’s food security situation. In other words, while food insecurity in Zimbabwe is a major driver of migration to South Africa, food insecurity in South Africa is unlikely to encourage many to return.

Download or read book The State of Food Insecurity in Maputo Mozambique written by Raimundo, Ines and published by Southern African Migration Programme. This book was released on 2016-10-17 with total page 41 pages. 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.

Download or read book The State of Food Insecurity in Lusaka Zambia written by Mulenga, Chileshe and published by Southern African Migration Programme. This book was released on 2016-10-17 with total page 49 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Lusaka urban food security survey done by AFSUN as part of its baseline survey of 11 Southern African cities found that up to 93% of the households in the informal settlements, which house three-quarters of the Zambian capital’s population, were food insecure. A paltry 8% were food secure. Worse still, most of the households in the informal urban settlements of Lusaka did not only have poor access to food, they also consumed foods from a very narrow range of food groups. Their diets were dominated by cereals and therefore likely to be deficient in essential vitamins, minerals and proteins. The AFSUN survey shows clearly that urban households obtain their food mainly through the market and therefore stable macro-economic conditions are essential to their food security. Since urban household food security is positively associated with levels of income, promotion of decent employment is critical. Among the urgent measures AFSUN recommends to address Lusaka’s food insecurity are the promotion by government of decent employment, including labour-intensive public works programmes that would stimulate formal employment, and supplementary feeding programmes in clinics and schools.

Download or read book The State of Food Insecurity in Blantyre City Malawi written by Mvula, Peter and published by Southern African Migration Programme. This book was released on 2016-10-17 with total page 33 pages. 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.

Download or read book The State of Food Insecurity in Gaborone Botswana written by Acquah, Benjamin and published by Southern African Migration Programme. This book was released on 2016-10-17 with total page 38 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The results of AFSUN’s study of the food security situation of the poor in Gaborone show that not everyone is benefitting from Botswana’s strong and growing economy and that many of the urban poor experience extremely high levels of food insecurity. The study, which formed part of AFSUN’s baseline survey of 11 Southern African cities, collected data on a broad range of issues that affect household food insecurity and found that four out of five households in the surveyed areas in Gaborone reported severe or moderate food insecurity. Only 18% were either food secure or mildly food insecure. Income level is a particularly important determinant of food insecurity as most households access food from the marketplace rather than grow their own. The impacts of chronic food insecurity on Gaborone’s population are likely to be considerable unless this problem is urgently addressed. The problem is in some sense invisible because there appears to be no shortage of food in the shops and on the streets of this booming city. The challenge is not one of food supply but food accessibility and food quality. Given that Botswana is one of the most rapidly urbanizing and most urbanized countries in Africa, its example has wider importance for the general study of urban food security on the continent.

Download or read book Food Insecurity in Informal Settlements in Lilongwe Malawi written by Chilanga, Emmanuel and published by Southern African Migration Programme. This book was released on 2017-09-26 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although there is widespread food availability in urban areas across the Global South, it is not correlated with universal access to adequate amounts of nutritious foods. This report is based on a household survey conducted in 2015 in six low-income informal areas in Malawi’s capital city, where three-quarters of the population live in informal settlements. Understanding the dimensions of household food insecurity in these neighbourhoods is critical to sustainable and inclusive growth in Lilongwe. The survey findings provide a complementary perspective to the 2008 AFSUN survey conducted in Blantyre, which suggested a level of food security in urban Malawi that was probably more typical of peri-urban areas where many people farm. Given that informal settlements house most of Malawi’s urban residents, the Lilongwe research presents a serious public policy challenge for the country’s leaders. Poverty is a profound problem in Malawi’s rapidly expanding cities. Of particular concern is the poor quality of diets among residents of informal settlements. Precarity of income, reflected in the survey findings of frequent purchasing of staple foods and the need for food sellers to extend credit, appears to be a key driver of food insecurity in these communities. Economically inclusive growth, with better prospects for stable employment and protection for informal-sector workers, appears to be the surest route to improved urban food security in Malawi.

Download or read book The State of Poverty and Food Insecurity in Maseru Lesotho written by Crush, Jonathan and published by Southern African Migration Programme. This book was released on 2016-11-25 with total page 79 pages. 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.

Download or read book Food Security in Africa s Secondary Cities No written by Ndeyapo Nickanor and published by African Books Collective. This book was released on 2019-03-21 with total page 66 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the first research report to examine the nature and drivers of food insecurity in the northern Namibian towns of Oshakati, Ongwediva, and Ondangwa. As well as forming part of a new body of research on secondary urbanization and food security in Africa, the report makes systematic comparisons between the food security situation in this urban corridor and the much larger capital city of Windhoek. A major characteristic of urbanization in Namibia is the perpetuation of rural-urban linkages through informal rural-to-urban food remittances. This survey found that 55% of households in the three towns receive food from relatives in rural areas. Urban households also farm in nearby rural areas and incorporate that agricultural produce into their diets. The survey showed that over 90% of households in the three towns patronize supermarkets, which is a figure far higher than for any other food source. Overall, food security is better in Namibias northern towns than in Windhoek, where levels of food insecurity are particularly high. However, just because the food insecurity situation is less critical in the north, the majority of households in the urban corridor are not food secure. Like Windhoek, these towns also have considerable income and food security inequality, with households in the informal settlements at greatest risk of chronic food insecurity.

Download or read book Food Security in Africa s Secondary cities written by Riley, Liam and published by Southern African Migration Programme. This book was released on 2018-04-30 with total page 70 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report marks the first stage of AFSUN’s goal of expanding knowledge about urban food systems and experiences of household food insecurity in secondary African cities. It contributes to an understanding of poverty and sustainability in Mzuzu, Malawi, through the lens of household food security. The focus on food as an urban issue not only speaks to the development challenges presented by urbanization, but it also brings a fresh perspective to debates about food security in Malawi. The urban setting highlights the changing food system in Malawi where people in rural and urban areas are increasingly reliant on cash income to buy food. The report’s key findings include that the most vulnerable households are those without a formal wage income, households headed by older people, especially older women, and households that are not able to produce food in the rural areas. The research also shows that the food system is dynamic and diverse, with households accessing food from a variety of formal and informal food sources and relying on rural-urban linkages for urban survival. Urban and rural agriculture are important features of the food system, but there is little evidence that these are the “self-help” responses to poverty that advocates for urban agriculture in Africa sometimes imply.

Download or read book The Supermarket Revolution and Food Security in Namibia written by Ndeyapo Nickanor and published by African Books Collective. This book was released on 2017-12-17 with total page 97 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The surprisingly high rate of supermarket patronage in low-income areas of Windhoek, Namibias capital and largest city, is at odds with conventional wisdom that supermarkets in African cities are primarily patronized by middle and high-income residents and therefore target their neighbourhoods. What is happening in Namibia and other Southern African countries that make supermarkets so much more accessible to the urban poor? What are they buying at supermarkets and how frequently do they shop there? Further, what is the impact of supermarket expansion on informal food vendors? This report, which presents the findings from the South African Supermarkets in Growing African Cities project research in 2016-2017 in Windhoek, looks at the evidence and tries to answer these questions and others. The research and policy debate on the relationship between the supermarket revo- lution and food security is also discussed. Here, the issues include whether supermarket supply chains and procurement practices miti- gate rural food insecurity through providing new market opportunities for smallholder farmers; the impact of supermarkets on the food security and consumption patterns of residents of African cities; and the relationship between supermarket expansion and governance of the food system, particularly at the local level.

Download or read book Mapping the Invisible written by Battersby, Jane and published by Southern African Migration Programme. This book was released on 2017-02-03 with total page 46 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report argues that it is essential to understand the dynamics of the informal food retail sector because of its vital role in ensuring greater access to food by the urban poor. Existing policy frameworks to address food security and to govern the informal sector tend to neglect informal retail in the food system. As a result, the sector is poorly understood. The report therefore attempts to identify the characteristics of the sector that impact on its ability to address the food needs of the neighbourhoods in which the businesses are located. Although the research is focused on Cape Town, the findings are of broader relevance.

Download or read book The Return of Food written by Tawodzera, Godfrey and published by Southern African Migration Programme. This book was released on 2016-06-14 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The nadir of Zimbabwe's political and economic crisis in 2008 coincided with the implementation of a baseline household food security survey in Harare by AFSUN. This survey found that households in low income urban areas in Zimbabwe's capital were far worse off in terms of all the food insecurity and poverty indicators than households in the other 10 Southern African cities surveyed by AFSUN. The central question addressed in this report is whether food security in Zimbabwe's urban centres has improved. AFSUN conducted a follow-up survey in 2012 that allows for direct longitudinal comparisons of continuity and change. The status of household food security in low-income neighbourhoods in Harare was improved in 2012 relative to 2008, and yet persistently high rates of severe food insecurity demonstrate that the daily need to access adequate food continued to be a major challenge. 'The key lesson for policymakers is that even in the context of overall economic improvement, food insecurity remains endemic among the poorest segments of the urban population. Households are already accustomed to drawing on resources outside of the formal economy and improvements in employment income have not reversed that trend. These alternative livelihood strategies should therefore be considered as a normal part of urban life and supported with state resources that can improve access to food for the most marginalized groups.

Download or read book Hunger and Poverty in South Africa written by Jacqueline Hanoman and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-09-01 with total page 149 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hunger and Poverty in South Africa: The Hidden Faces of Food Insecurity explores food insecurity as an issue of socioeconomic, political, cultural and environmental inequity and inequality. Based on extensive original research in Free State Province, South Africa, the book explores how people living in poverty make meaning of their food circumstances within the socio-cultural, political and economic contexts of post-apartheid South Africa, how they view the government’s food security policies and programs and their perceived agency to affect change. The personal narratives contained in the book show that food insecurity is shaped by many issues, among which are structural poverty, racism, attempts or non-attempts at reconciliation during and after apartheid, public health issues such as HIV/AIDS, and environmental circumstances. At a time when most discourse around food insecurity focuses on how to provide more food to people facing hunger, this book's multidimensional approach is a valuable contribution to the contemporary dialogue on poverty, food security/insecurity, sustainability and democratic agency both within South Africa and around the world. This book will be of interest to researchers in the areas of food security, multidimensional poverty, democratic agency and sustainable development, both in South Africa and internationally.

Download or read book Environment Power and Justice written by Graeme Wynn and published by Ohio University Press. This book was released on 2022-07-26 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Spanning the colonial, postcolonial, and postapartheid eras, these historical and locally specific case studies analyze and engage vernacular, activist, and scholarly efforts to mitigate social-environmental inequity. This book highlights the ways poor and vulnerable people in South Africa, Lesotho, and Zimbabwe have mobilized against the structural and political forces that deny them a healthy and sustainable environment. Spanning the colonial, postcolonial, and postapartheid eras, these studies engage vernacular, activist, and scholarly efforts to mitigate social-environmental inequity. Some chapters track the genealogies of contemporary activism, while others introduce positions, actors, and thinkers not previously identified with environmental justice. Addressing health, economic opportunity, agricultural policy, and food security, the chapters in this book explore a range of issues and ways of thinking about harm to people and their ecologies. Because environmental justice is often understood as a contemporary phenomenon framed around North American examples, these fresh case studies will enrich both southern African history and global environmental studies. Environment, Power, and Justice expands conceptions of environmental justice and reveals discourses and dynamics that advance both scholarship and social change. Contributors: Christopher Conz Marc Epprecht Mary Galvin Sarah Ives Admire Mseba Muchaparara Musemwa Matthew A. Schnurr Cherryl Walker

Download or read book The State of Food Insecuritity in Johannesburg written by Rudolph, Michael and published by Southern African Migration Programme. This book was released on 2016-10-17 with total page 37 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Johannesburg is the economic hub of South Africa and the Southern African region. At the same time, it is a city of extremes which juxtaposes ostentatious wealth and conspicuous consumption with grinding poverty and food insecurity. Not enough is known about the prevalence and nature of food insecurity in the city, making it difficult to challenge and plan to reduce the urban food gap. This paper uses AFSUN data from three lower-income areas of the city (Alexandra, Orange Farm and the Inner City) to examine the characteristics and drivers of food insecurity in Johannesburg. Despite high overall levels of food insecurity, the three study areas exhibited important differences. While the proportion of food secure households was similar in each area, the proportion of severely food insecure households was highest in the informal settlement of Orange Farm and lowest in Alexandra. Household food insecurity is directly linked to household income as the vast majority of food consumed is purchased not grown. In general, the poorer the household, the greater the proportion of household income that is spent on food. Households rely significantly on supermarkets and the informal food economy as food sources. Less than ten percent are involved in any form of urban agriculture or receive food transfers directly from rural areas. This paper also shows that food insecurity correlates with poor health outcomes and concludes with a discussion of the policy implications of the AFSUN study.

Download or read book Gender and Food Insecurity in Southern African Cities written by Dodson, Belinda and published by Southern African Migration Programme. This book was released on 2016-10-17 with total page 50 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This gender analysis of the findings of AFSUN’s baseline survey of poor urban households in eleven cities in Southern Africa in 2008 and 2009 has implications for urban, national and regional policy interventions aimed at reducing urban food insecurity. By comparing female-centred and other households, light is shed both on the determinants of urban food insecurity – which relate fundamentally to income, employment and education – and on the manifest gender inequalities in access to the largely income-based entitlements to food in the city. These insights can be used to design and implement practical and strategic interventions that could simultaneously and synergistically address both gender inequality and food insecurity. Practically, and in the immediate term, interventions such as social grants and food aid, if targeted at the poorest households, will automatically capture a greater proportion of female-centred households. Enhancing food security for the urban poor requires education and training, job creation, and income generation strategies, ensuring equitable access to such opportunities for women and girls. Supporting and enabling women’s engagement in such activities and enterprises – including in food production and marketing – has the potential to strengthen food security at the same time as reducing gender inequality, in a form of virtuous cycle.