Changes in household food security, nutrition and food waste along an agro-ecological gradient and the rural-urban continuum in mid-sized South African towns
- Authors: Chakona, Gamuchirai
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Food security -- South Africa , Women -- South Africa -- Nutritiona , Urban women -- South Africa -- Nutrition , Rural women -- South Africa -- Nutrition , Wild foods -- South Africa , Food supply -- South Africa , Malnutrition in children -- South Africa , Grants-in-aid -- South Africa , Household ecology -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/6484 , vital:21127
- Description: The lack of dietary diversity is a severe problem experienced by most poor households globally. Most poor communities are at high risk of inadequate intake of micronutrients resulting from diets dominated by starchy staples. The present study considered the diets, dietary diversities and food security of women of reproductive age between 15-49 years, households and communities along the rural-urban continuum in three mid-sized towns situated along an agro-ecological gradient in South Africa. A 48-hour dietary recall was performed across two seasons (twice in summer and once in winter) and focus group discussions were held to gather all information including food abundance, seasons of food scarcity as well as coping strategies which households employ during periods of food shocks. Households were further asked to quantify any type of food waste that they could have generated in the previous 48 hours. Nutritional status of children under the age of five in all three towns was also measured using height-for-age (HAZ) and mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) as indicators of stunting and wasting respectively. The household surveys were conducted with 554 women randomly selected in rural, peri-urban and urban locations of Richards Bay, Dundee and Harrismith. For nutritional status, the sample consisted of 216 children who were randomly selected from the sampled households in rural, peri-urban and urban locations of the study sites. Household Dietary Diversity Scores (HDDS) and Women’s Dietary Diversity Scores (WDDS) were calculated from the food items consumed by each household and each woman over a two-day period, respectively. Household food access was also measured for each household using Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS). The mean WDDS and HDDS for the wettest site of Richards Bay (3.8±0.29 and 8.44±1.72, respectively) was significantly higher than at Dundee (3.4±0.30 and 7.76±1.63, respectively) and Harrismith (3.5±0.27 and 7.83±1.59, respectively) which were not different from one another. The mean HFIAS for Dundee (9.39±7.13) was significantly higher than that in Richards Bay (5.57±6.98) and Harrismith (6.43±6.59) which were not significantly different from one another. Dietary diversity scores were also significantly higher in urban locations than in peri-urban and rural ones whilst HFIAS was significantly lower in the urban locations than peri-urban and rural locations. There was lower dependence on food purchasing in Richards Bay compared to Dundee and Harrismith where the majority of the population was purchasing most of their food. The majority of Richards Bay households were involved in subsistence agriculture and also produced a surplus for sale, as well as collecting wild foods, which improved food security, unlike Dundee and Harrismith. Food insecurity was higher in rural and peri-urban areas compared to urban areas. In all towns, food was always available throughout the year but was beyond the reach of many households. In urban areas food was readily available and only limited by access, whereas rural populations have limited access to affordable food and face higher prices. The peri-urban populations were more food insecure because of high levels of poverty, unemployment and lack of access/entitlements to land. Periurban dwellers are therefore more sensitive to changes in incomes and food prices because they lack safety nets to absorb income or price shocks as they purchase more, rather than growing their own food. Household dietary diversity was significantly negatively correlated with household food access, that is households with low HDDS had higher HFIAS scores. Due to high levels of food insecurity, a greater percentage of children under the age of five years were stunted (35 %) and wasted (18 %). There were no significant differences in stunting along the agro-ecological gradient, along the rural-urban continuum and sex of child. However, significant differences were observed in child wasting along the agro-ecological gradient with Harrismith having more wasted children than the other two towns, which were not significantly different from each other. Significant differences were also observed between MUAC and sex of child where male children had higher MUAC than females. Wasting was significantly negatively associated with HDDS, with children from households with low HDDS tending to have large MUAC thus showing an inverse association among HDDS and obesity. However, further studies are needed to confirm this finding. In general food insecurity was closely associated with low wealth, food expenditure, large household size and limited access to land. The study did not find any significant role in the use of wild foods and social grants in improving food security for those households who were consuming wild foods and those receiving social grants. Although a greater percentage of households were food insecure, significant amounts of unprepared food (495±179 g per household) were wasted in Richards Bay alone in 48 hours mainly because the food had passed the best before date or had visibly gone bad. The amount of food waste was closely significantly negatively associated with household size. In general, the prevalence of food insecurity and wasting followed the agro-ecological gradient, with households in Richards Bay where the area.
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- Date Issued: 2017
Urbanisation, foraging and household food security in urban South Africa
- Authors: Garekae, Hesekia
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Food sovereignty -- South Africa , Food security -- South Africa , Urban density -- South Africa , Urban agriculture -- Law and legislation -- South Africa , Sustainable urban development -- South Africa , Urban ecology (Sociology) -- South Africa , Nutrition surveys -- South Africa -- Potchefstroom , Nutrition surveys -- South Africa -- Thabazimbi , Wild plants, Edible -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/167054 , vital:41433
- Description: Over the past several decades, the world’s population has been rapidly urbanising, which has resulted in a marked shift of global population from rural to urban areas. About half of the global population now reside in urban areas and is projected to increase to two-thirds by the year 2050. However, the majority of the future urban population growth is projected to be largely concentrated in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Despite the economic prospects normally synonymous with urbanisation, the current speed and scale of urban transformation comes with formidable challenges to contemporary urban society in these two continents. Urbanisation may presents social, economic, health and environmental challenges in urban areas, not least being a shift of the locus of food insecurity from rural to urban areas, leading to poor dietary diversity among many urban dwellers. Similarly, urbanisation alters key ecosystem services and drives habitat alteration and fragmentation, biodiversity loss, proliferation of non-native species and changes on species diversity and richness. The aforementioned changes can result in a deterioration of living conditions and decline on the quality of life for the urban dwellers. However, on the other hand, urban green infrastructure is posed as vital tool in promoting liveable cities and enhancing livelihood resilience. Against this backdrop, this study portrays wild plants, a component of urban green infrastructure, as a key resource in promoting food security and dietary diversity, thereby promoting livelihood resilience and reduced vulnerability, especially of the urban poor. Framed under the ‘right to the city’ approach, this study examined urban foraging practices and their potential contribution to dietary diversity and how they are shaped by and respond to urbanisation in two medium-sized South African towns. The study was conducted in the towns of Potchefstroom and Thabazimbi, South Africa. An explanatory sequential mixed method design was employed for data collection. Multi-stage sampling was employed in selecting the study participants. Firstly, the study towns were stratified into four socio-economic zones: informal, reconstruction and development programme, township and affluent. These zones resemble high density (informal, reconstruction and development programme), medium density (township) and low density (affluent) areas. Then, a total of 374 households were randomly sampled across the socio-economic zones for the main survey (Chapter 3 and 5). A subset of this sample, i.e. 72 participants was considered for dietary recalls, alongside with a random sample of 65 non-foragers (Chapter 4). An inventory of plant species available in a given foraging space was conducted from a total of 136 plots spread across different urban spaces (Chapter 2). Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a total of 81 participants (sub population of the main survey) for elucidating data on urban dynamics (Chapter 6). Lastly, complementary in-depth interviews with 46 participants were conducted. The findings showed that different urban spaces were constituted by diverse vegetation, with 262 distinct plant species encountered across the spaces. The majority (60.7%) were indigenous to South Africa. Species composition and diversity varied with space type, being significantly high in protected areas as compared to the other space types. About half (53%) of the identified plant species had at least one documented use, with medicine, food and firewood being modal, in order of frequency. Species composition and diversity differed between forageable and non-forageable species, being significantly high for forageable species. Urban foraging was widespread, about 68% of the respondents reported foraging. Foraging provided food, fuel energy, medicine, and cultural affirmation, among others. Despite the high prevalence rate of foraging, the study did not find any meaningful contribution of wild foods to overall diets. Nonetheless, wild foods demonstrated a substantial contribution in diversifying diets within particular food groups consumed such as vegetables, thus emerging essential in mitigating monotonous urban diets, particularly of the urban poor. Besides, the prevalence of foraging differed significantly between and within towns, being high for Thabazimbi (54.7%) and residents in the outskirts of town (86.2%) than Potchefstroom (45.3%) and residents in the inner part of town (33.3%). Participation in foraging was primarily a function of childhood (91.8%) exposure and experience with foraging, positive perceptions (79%) towards practice, resident in the outskirts of town (86.2%) and low household income (49.2%). The findings indicated that foraging was driven by multifaceted motivations, with culture (91.8%), health (88.7%), livelihoods needs (75.0%) and leisure (73.8%) being the most common. Vacant spaces (54.7%), riparian areas (30%), and domestic gardens (17.9%) were the most preferred foraging spaces, albeit with differences within towns. Similarly, the mean frequency of access varied with foraging spaces, being slightly high for vacant spaces than riparian areas and domestic gardens. The majority of the respondents were unaware of both formal and informal regulations managing urban landscapes, with those acknowledging some awareness falling short of articulating on the specificities of the regulations. Besides, the findings showed that foraging practice was threatened by urban transformation. Foragers perceived that the practice has changed over time, in terms of spaces, participants and regulations. There was a decreasing trend on the number and size of foraging spaces as well as shifting demographic trends of foragers. Moreover, urban transformation brought about a new set of regulations used for managing certain spaces within the urban landscape. However, some regulations prohibited or restricted access and rights to certain spaces for foraging. Hence, this prompted foragers to devise adaptation strategies to cope with the said changing dynamics. Exploring new foraging sites within and outside forager’s neighbourhoods and negotiating access entry were the most frequently mentioned adaptation strategies. This study contributes to the emerging body of knowledge on urban foraging, which has being seldom understood in the Global South.
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- Date Issued: 2020