Profiling the determinants of food insecurity in households keeping livestock in the Limpopo province

Abstract

South African smallholder farmers help reduce rural poverty and famine. Smallholder farmers in remote places have several obstacles that limit their growth and food security contributions compared to commercial farmers. Land, funds, infrastructure, and markets are some of these obstacles. About 50 to 80% of rural South African households face food insecurity. Households keeping livestock were also included in the definition of smallholder farmers based on economic variables, thus, the study examined livestock-keeping households' food availability. The study analysed data from 600 families in Limpopo's Capricorn, Mopani, Sekhukhune, Vhembe, and Waterberg districts. To achieve each objective, House Dietary Diversity Score and Household Food Insecurity Access Scale scores were used to assess food insecurity. Food insecure households were characterized using a 2-step cluster analysis, Analysis of Variance, and t-tests. Multilinear regression determined household food insecurity factors. Food security indicators for the Province of Limpopo were calculated using data collected from a sample of 301 households (those who kept livestock and poultry). The results in this study shows that in Sekhukhune District, a greater proportion of households are food secure compared to other districts, whereas in Waterberg District, a greater proportion of households are food insecure. Only 29.3 % of residents in Fetakgomo, a municipality in the district of Sekhukhune, are food secure. Yet, in Mookgopong, a municipality in the Waterberg district, only 10.3% of households appear to be food secure. Moreover, it is demonstrated that 67.2% of households in Mookgopong are highly food insecure. A municipality in the Mopani district, Maruleng, also has a significant proportion of severely food insecure households (65%). The majority of livestock smallholders depend on animals for food and revenue. However, lack of land, funding, and infrastructure hampers livestock smallholder expansion in Limpopo province. Thus, the department of agriculture and other government and non-government organization initiatives must create and implement programs to provide smallholder farmers with facilities, advanced technology, land, and other livestock outputs.