Assessing the access to nutritious food by households participating in the household food security short learning programme

Abstract

South Africa ranks high among the developing countries with income inequality and household food insecurity is a major concern in the country. The overall objective of the study was to investigate access and practices, which lead to increasing household access to nutritious food by households. The students registered for the one-year course identified households in the Dysselsdorp settlement in the Western Cape, South Africa which they worked closely with in food gardening. Descriptive research methods were used to assess food access and identify the socio-economic and demographic variables for this study. Qualitative and quantitative methods were used to gather data, following the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences of the University of South Africa’s ethical protocol and guidelines. Data were collected in the middle and at the end of the coursework (mid-term and end-term). A semi-structured baseline questionnaire was used to interview households and to conduct focus group discussions with the students. The baseline questionnaire consisted of five sections, namely the socio-demographic information, food utilization, food availability, food accessibility and the living standards measurement scores. A stratified random sampling strategy was used to select 30 students to participate in the focus group discussions. The students identified three or four households, which they worked closely with and those households were purposively selected for the baseline interviews. vi Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences programme (IBM SPSS 24). Descriptive statistics (mean, frequencies and standard deviation) were used to compare the data. The 24-hour recall and 7 days food frequency recall was used to assess the household food consumption patterns. Qualitative data were recorded, transcribed, then themes and connections were used to explain the data and correlated with the objectives of the study. The socio-demographic data showed that most of the respondents were above 50 years old and they had an average number of 5.2 members. Thirty-one percent (31%) of the household heads had reached grade 8 to 12 in school, while 69% were those who had not gone to school and completed up to grade 7. Majority of the households relied on social grants as a source of income. The amount of money spent on food by the households in a month was between 0-R500 (63%) and 37% spent above R500 on food. Women participated more in food-related activities than men and the gardening activities were shared by the members of the households. The HDDS is a qualitative method for food consumption, which reflects household access to a variety of foods. The HDDS consists of food groups that the household has consumed over the past 24-hours and it is calculated based on the 12 food groups from the food consumed which are summed up; the mean score is used to determine diet diversity (Swindale & Bilinsky, 2006). The findings in this study is that the average HDDS increased from 5.6 to 6.4, which is above the recommended cut-off point for dietary quality (Steyn et al., 2006). Both the 24-hour recall and 7 days food frequency reported a high consumption of carbohydrates and meat, and less consumption of other food groups such as milk, vii eggs, fruits and vegetables were noted. The households relied on a variety of coping strategies such as asking for food from family or neighbours, depending on charity/grants, finding other sources of food and collecting wild food. All the households grew their own fruits, vegetables and crops. However, livestock production was practiced by 10% of the participating households. The households used preservation methods such as keeping food in a dry place (26), sun drying (38), canning (6), freezing (53) and refrigeration (11) to keep and store vegetables. The Living Standard Measurement (LSM) is a tool which focuses on household access to services and facilities (Faber et al., 2017). Household characteristics range from level 1 up to level 10, and a score from 1 to 4 are considered to be poor and lack access to services, while scores above 5 have improved access to resources and services. The LSM results of the households indicates that they have improved access to services as all the households scored above five. All the households, had access to land with water, electricity and toilet facilities in the yard. The major constraints experienced by the households were insufficient water, theft, pests, plant diseases and livestock which destroyed the crops. It is recommended that the government provide programmes aimed at developing communities, promoting healthy eating and food production. Workshops on nutrition education should be continuous and focus on basic sanitation, food hygiene. Income generation small-scale businesses, crop production, and livestock rearing will assist in alleviating hunger and unemployment. These initiatives could be extended to other areas of the country as a way to improve food security.