x3996e06

SESSION 4

FACTORS AFFECTING HOUSEHOLD FOOD
SECURITY AND NUTRITIONAL STATUS

Objective

By the end of this session, the field workers will be able to:

understand the local food system and the different factors that contribute to household food security;
understand the interactions between household food security, health and care in determining the nutritional well-being of household members.

FIGURE 4.1
Food groups

OVERVIEW

Having sufficient good-quality food available for household consumption depends on several factors. Household production is one way to ensure that there is food within the home at all times, but producing enough of a variety of foods in the home garden and in the fields requires access to adequate resources, including land, water, seeds, tools, knowledge, skills and labour. Roads and transport to markets are necessary for buying and selling food and other essentials. Household members also need access to other commercial and government services, and off-farm employment during periods of low agricultural labour demand.

In rural areas with limited income-earning opportunities, the ability to produce most foods in the home garden and on the farm, without depending on market purchases, means a better guarantee of household food security. Household food security depends on a regular and sustainable supply of food throughout the year. In many rural areas, however, households often face food shortages because crop production is seasonal and at times inadequate. This session reviews the factors that contribute to food security at the household level, and their impact on dietary intake and nutritional status. The causal model constructed during Session 2 is used to explore the contribution that other factors, such as adequate child care, health and sanitation, make in determining nutritional outcomes.

At the end of this session, the participants will analyse further the problems and constraints that exist in the food system, starting with food production and ending with dietary intake and utilization of the food ingested. Drawing upon their knowledge of and experience with local communities, group members will explore the opportunities that exist for enabling households to address some of the identified constraints.

ACTIVITIES

Discussion. After presenting the objectives of this session, the trainer reviews the causal model of malnutrition that the field workers constructed, and then asks the field workers to think about all the factors that contribute to adequate, year-round access to food at household level. Before starting small group discussions, the trainer introduces the concept of the local food system in plenary, requesting the participants to list all the stages in the food system, from production to consumption. The small group discussion that follows should focus on the following questions:

What factors determine food security at the household level?
What are the stages in the food system?
What problems and constraints do local communities or individual households experience at each stage?
What factors influence nutritional status and food choice in the local communities?
What can individuals or the community do to address some of the identified problems and constraints?
What are the positive nutritional and home garden practices and opportunities that can help people make improvements?
How can a field worker help a community consider such opportunities?

Small group work. The participants divide into groups and each group considers the above issues. The trainer gives a copy of Table 4.1 "Problems in the local food system and opportunities for improvement" to each group, leaving Column 2, "Problems in the food system", blank, and asks the groups to list all the problems and constraints present in the local communities they work with. This should be followed by a discussion of the possible causes of these problems, as well as the opportunities for addressing them and making improvements.

Presentation of results. Each group presents the outcome of its discussions in plenary. The whole group subsequently draws up a final list of problems and constraints, as well as the opportunities that exist in the local food system for improving household food security. A flip chart or any other media available to the participants may be used during the presentation.

Summary of group presentations. The trainer summarizes the main findings and conclusions of the discussion. These will serve as background information for Sessions 7 and 8.

Summary of session. On the basis of what the field workers have learned, the trainer concludes the session by summarizing the interrelationships of the various factors affecting household food security and nutritional outcomes. The trainer also discusses the roles that knowledge, education, and women's and men's different roles and responsibilities, and their access to and use of resources, play in overall nutritional improvement.

MATERIALS REQUIRED

flip chart
causal model of malnutrition
Table 4.1, "Problems in the local food system and opportunities for improvement"
pens and markers

TABLE 4.1
Problems in the local food system and opportunities for improvement

Stages in the food system	Problems in the food system	Causes	Opportunities
Natural resources	Shortage of land Unsure tenure Land of low fertility Shortage of water Long distance from home
Clearing the land	Too few adults in the household Lack of hand tools
Crop production	Limited crops diversity Cash crops instead of food crops Lack of seeds and planting materials Poor quality of seeds and planting materials Seeds are eaten Exotic crops predominate over indigenous ones Inadequate awareness of crops that give better nutritional and other benefits Wrong cultural practices Wrong spacing, poor seed distribution Pest and weed infestation Limited inputs Extension worker does not visit households often Women do not receive extension advice
Harvesting	Pest damage Food losses
Storing food	Lack of proper storage vessels Not enough food is stored Lack of knowledge about proper storage
Food distribution and marketing	Markets far from production area Poor road and transport systems Food sold at harvest Inadequate home storage
Buying	Lack of money Fresh food difficult to obtain Foods are expensive
Food processing and preparation	Lack of proper processing/milling equipment Lack of fuelwood Lack of mother's time for food preparation Lack of proper storage vessels Lack of knowledge in preparation of the right kinds of food Lack of knowledge of proper food preparation Low prestige attached to vegetables Vegetables cooked too long
Sharing within the family	Children without adequate food share Too many family members to feed Taboos on certain foods for some family members Lack of information on needs of different age groups
Eating	Loss of appetite because of illness Food too bulky for small children Mother stops breastfeeding at 12 months Children receive only 2 meals a day
Health and sanitation	Poor food hygiene Lack of clean water Water well far away Children are frequently sick Mother does not attend monthly growth monitoring and promotion sessions

Source: Adapted from FAO, 1999. Field programme management: food, nutrition and development. Rome.

TECHNICAL NOTES

Priority messages

1
Household food security, care and health are essential elements for ensuring good nutrition of all household members

2
Nutritional balance can be achieved through ensuring a variety of food and biological diversity

Household food security, care and health are essential elements for ensuring good nutrition of all household members

Household food security is defined in Session 1 as "access by all people at all times to the food needed for a healthy life". Households can obtain food supplies either from their own food production or from food purchases, but more often it is through a combination of both. Some factors that help assure that communities have enough of a variety of foods at the household level are access to sufficient water, fertile land, seeds, planting materials, agricultural implements, extension advice, credit, good storage and a sufficient number of family members who are healthy and strong enough to work on the farm and undertake off-farm employment.

Many rural communities, however, do not have year-round access to adequate amounts of either fresh or processed staple foods, and their access to fresh vegetables and fruits tends to be seasonal. Frequently, households sell too much food either because they need cash, or facilities for storing and preserving foods for longer periods are poorly developed or non-existent.

Households can use several strategies for ensuring continuous access to a variety of nutritious foods. These include the year-round production of a variety of home garden foods (given that some water is available) and the preservation, processing and adequate storage of foods. Households can thus insure themselves against seasonal shortfalls, but it requires planning ahead and thinking about what is the most effective use of available resources so as to prevent hungry periods. Appropriate technology options are available to extend garden production and enable households to process and store perishable staples, legumes, vegetables and fruits, in order to extend their availability and enhance their marketing potential.

Care. Household food security is a precondition for adequate dietary intake, but it does not always translate into good nutritional status. The provision of adequate care especially for small children and other nutritionally vulnerable household members is crucial to achieving good nutritional status. Care includes such things as having knowledge of the differing food and nutritional needs of household members. Such knowledge helps the caretaker, usually the mother, make the right decisions on what foods and how much to prepare and serve during meal times to the children and adults. Apart from having nutritional knowledge and skills, the caretaker must also have adequate time for child care, food preparation and child feeding.

In many African cultures, women are the main household food producers and caregivers. They also have many other responsibilities, such as fetching water and fuelwood, and storing, processing and marketing food. During peak seasons of agricultural activity, the danger is particularly high that children's needs for care, proper food and frequent feeding will not be met adequately. Despite the many constraints, there are many options to enable households to better care for their vulnerable members. These include the use of available technology that relieves demands on women's time, such as providing better access to water. Other options are more people-centred and require the community or individuals to change established traditions or behavioural patterns. This means that all community members, adults and young people, should become better educated as to the advantages of good nutrition and health, as well as the many possibilities that exist for community and individual action, such as establishing day care centres or encouraging the active participation of fathers in child care.

Health. In addition to household food security and care, people have to be healthy to get the full nutritional benefits from food, otherwise some of the nutrients will be wasted. This means the nutrients are either passed through the digestive system unabsorbed, as in the case of someone suffering from diarrhoea, or consumed by parasites such as worms. This is why households must work to prevent communicable diseases and parasitic infections by practising good environmental and personal hygiene, by drinking safe water and keeping food safe and clean. If household members become sick, they should visit the health centre or seek advice from the village health worker. If not treated, infections that lead to poor utilization of available food and nutrients in the body can result in malnutrition.

Nutritional balance can be achieved through ensuring a variety of food and biological diversity

Variety of food and biological diversity. Planting small amounts of a wide variety of vegetables is a sound environmental strategy, as it conserves biological diversity and contributes to food security and nutrition. Women farmers are particularly interested in maintaining crop diversity, since they are often the ones who use these genetic resources to develop new varieties according to their families' changing needs and preferences. Growing a diversity of crops reduces the risk of a total crop failure as a result of disease. It also helps households vary their diets, prepare a broader range of dishes and enhance the nutritional quality of their meals.

During the rainy season, households have access to several traditional leafy vegetables that grow as either uncultivated or semi-cultivated vegetables on the farm, but these varieties may not be readily available during the dry season. Their inclusion, therefore, in the home garden cropping pattern, particularly during the dry season, supplements the dry-season vegetable supply and safeguards against crop failure, since traditional crops are well adapted to the local environment. To ensure the availability of seeds from such vegetables during the dry season, farmers must take care to collect their seeds at the end of the rains, store them properly and plant them in the home garden under irrigation. See also Information Sheet 12 on issues pertaining to the promotion of indigenous food plants.