Abstract:
The study assessed household vulnerability to food insecurity as locally perceived in
Bahi district. It was based on the four randomly selected villages namely
Mpamantwa, Ibihwa, Mnkola and Bahi Sokoni. Primary data were collected by
interviewing 100 farming households, village elders, village leaders and Ward
Agricultural Extension Workers. The study addressed the local perceptions of food
security and vulnerability to food insecurity; characteristics of households vulnerable
to food insecurity and; the strategies employed by households during food shortages.
It was locally perceived that a household which took less than 12 months to exhaust
millet stock was food insecure and the household vulnerable to food insecurity was
the one most likely to remain or become food insecure which was characterized by:
owning a relative small piece of land; earning too small income to enable it buy
household food; have no alternative source(s) of income other than sale of farm
crops; have no livestock; headed by elderly; and does not have millet stocks. Sixty
three percent of sampled households were food insecure while 80% were vulnerable
to food insecurity. The ANOVA and t-test revealed that the number of food sources,
household size, household’s income, marital status of household head, ownership of
livestock and size of land were significantly related to household food security. The
study concludes that the presence of more vulnerable than food insecure households
was an indication that even some of food secure households were at risk of becoming
food insecure. The study recommended, among others, that strategies to address food
insecurity should focus on both food insecure and vulnerable households.
