Assessing The Contribution Of Food Assistance In Curbing Food Insecurity. A Case Of Mt Darwin, Zimbabwe

Author

Tserenga Hillary Tawanda

Title

Assessing The Contribution Of Food Assistance In Curbing Food Insecurity. A Case Of Mt Darwin, Zimbabwe

Abstract

Rural community household food insecurity in marginalized communities has become a chronic problem that perpetually needs great attention. The prolonged household food insecurity has been recognized as a threat to developing countries with Zimbabwe included. The study assessed the household food insecurity (availability) status in the study area and food assistance contribution in curbing food insecurity as the main objective. A cross sectional survey was employed to cover households that were randomly selected from the 4 wards in Mt Darwin district under Mashonaland Central province. A total of 80 households were selected with each ward. 4 wards of Mt Darwin in WFP-LSA 2022-2023 programme were considered, 2 from the upper part of Mt Darwin and the other 2 from the lower part or the valley taking 2 villages from each ward and targeting 10 households from each selected village for the interviews with 5 being food assistance beneficiaries and the other 5 non-beneficiaries .The results of the study was analysed using a binary logistic regression and descriptive statistics. The results of the study indicated that food assistance improves food security at household level. The results of a comparison between food assistance beneficiaries and non- beneficiaries illustrated that the log odds of being food secure was 0.835. These assertions are statistically significant at 1% level of significance. The conclusion of the study is that food assistance programs have a positive impact on improving food security status of households. In terms of tubers and other roots, the distribution was slightly even, with 54% of the households indicating they were having these in their diet, compared to just 46% who were not having roots and tubes in their diets, this illustrated that the community members survived on wild roots and fruits as a coping strategy. The other research findings were that 39 % of the people indicated that their preferred commodity was vegetable oil, the second most preferred commodity was cereal with 32 % and lastly, 29 % respondents indicated that their preferred product from the WFP commodities were pulses. The recommendations brought about were that the government with the assistance of development partners increase the coverage of the food assistance interventions to households particularly those vulnerable so that there is reduction in food insecurity in the country. The government can achieve this by lobbying more partners beyond the World Food Programme so that more assistance is availed to the most food insecure households.

Date

May 2023

Publisher

BUSE

Keywords

Households

Food availability

Vulnerability

Supervisor

N/A