Food and Nutrition Security: Household Food Plots/Gardens

1
Food and Nutrition Security Household Food
Plots/Gardens

• Tim Hart
• Centre for Poverty, Employment and Growth
• Rural Development and Agrarian Reform Workshop
• Parliament, Cape Town
• 26 May 2010

2
Elements of food and nutrition security

• National food security is not equal to individual
  or household food security- depends on levels of
  food production functioning of food markets
  distribution systems household access income
  and own production fortification
  supplementation knowledge of nutrition and
  affordability of a nutritional basket of food.
• Falling food production in SA South Africa is
  nationally food secure in terms of staple cereal
  production but is a net-importer of many other
  foods (especially processed foods).
• NAMC Food Cost Reviews of the last two years
  indicate that the country could become a net food
  importer in all foods partly due to climate
  change, soil degradation and expanded biofuel
  feedstock cultivation.
• Income is main means of accessing food and thus
  the main determinant of household food security.
• Food plots/gardens contribute to household food
  availability, access and nutrition largely a
  supplementary coping strategy
• Household food security is not simply a rural
  question large proportion of hungry people live
  in urban areas CT, Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni

3
Food Insecurity -Hunger
Where are the Hungry? Proportion per district

• While the experience of hunger has decreased in
  recent years, 12 of South African children and
  10 of adults still feel the desperation of
  hunger (GHS 2007)
• Major improvement from 20 and 25 (
  respectively, in 2002), largely explained by the
  expansion of social grants but declining since
  2008 GHS Food Crisis IFC?
• At the national level, one out of two households
  (52) experienced hunger (NFCS 2005)
• Another 33 of households are at risk of hunger,
  which means that food inflation and the loss of
  income might push them into hunger

4
Household food and nutrition security (1)

• Among the poorest half of households (i.e.
  monthly household income is less than R2000),
  rural households spend about 15 less on food per
  capita than urban households.
• This might be explained by own food production
  but there is no reliable evidence available to
  show this.
• Rural households pay 10-20 more for a basket of
  basic foodstuffs than urban ones (NAMC).
• There is also the larger problem of
  under-nutrition in South Africa
• South Africa is one of the top 20 countries with
  the highest burden of undernutrition
• Under-nutrition results from a lack of access to
  nutritious diet (with sufficient energy,
  nutritional quality and safety)
• At the national level, stunting (inadequate
  growth in height) affects 1 out of 5 children and
  1 in 10 children are underweight the most
  severe measures of under-nutrition
• On average South African consumes less than 4 of
  9 food groups
• Food insecure households typically have lower
  dietary diversity, and this explains low
  nutrition intake
• Nationally 45 of children had an inadequate zinc
  status (NFCS, 2005)
• One out of four women nationally had poor vitamin
  A status
• About a third of women and children iron deficient

5
Household food and nutrition security (2)

• Ensuring food security for all South Africans is
  centred around ensuring access to sufficient
  nutritious food which involves
• Eradicating hunger
• Reducing under-nutrition, particularly in the
  most vulnerable populations children and women,
  PLWHA, the poor and very poor
• Ensuring availability and affordability of
  nutritious food
• Options for improving food and nutrition security
• Increasing employment
• Increasing the rollout of Social Grants and other
  forms of social protection
• Improving household food plot/garden production

6
Extent of Subsistence Farming

• Approximately 2.5 million households (4 million
  people) produce extra food for own consumption
  primarily in the former homelands
• Excluding farm-workers, 22 of all black
  households are involved in some kind of
  agricultural activity, mostly for own consumption
• Women make up 61 of all those involved in
  farming but exceed men by 65 in the case of
  subsistence farming
• Share of those who produce for an extra source
  of food has increased at the expense of those
  who produced for a main source of food
• No available evidence about whether subsistence
  activities are practised in household food plots
  or fields
• In Vhembe, Umkhanyakude, Alfred Nzo and OR Tambo
  between 57 and 72 of households practise some
  form of agriculture. In another 8 districts the
  share is between 43 and 56.

Share of black households per district
municipality who are involved in agriculture (LFS
2007)
7
Impact of Subsistence Farming

• Comparison of figures suggests that
• Household subsistence production is only
  moderately successful
• Absence of household production might worsen
  experience of hunger
• Significant transition in and out of subsistence
  production risk, need, one of multiple
  livelihood strategies, ability, etc.
• Potential for misallocation of support to food
  production activities as little is known about
  the drivers and barriers to household food
  production

8
Home Gardens and Nutrition (1)

• International evidence indicates that for
  improved nutritional status home gardens more
  successful than other types of agricultural
  interventions as easier to adopt under existing
  conditions poverty, environment, etc
• Purpose is household consumption and therefore
  improves supply and dietary diversity
• Two distinct nutritional benefits
• Produced food is for own consumption - mainly
  vegetables, thereby increasing micronutrient
  intake
• Permits expenditure of limited income on other
  more nutritious foods
• Without household production food security of the
  ultra-poor would be significantly reduced

9
Home Gardens and Nutrition (2)

• Production interventions should be coupled with
  nutritional education
• Ndunakazi Project followed integrated production
  and nutrition education approach intake of
  micronutrients improved
• Traditional leafy vegetables widely consumed - a
  good source of various nutrients and tend to grow
  well in semi-arid areas
• 1999 NFCS indicated that traditional leafy
  vegetables significantly contributed to calcium,
  iron and Vitamin A intakes of children under 9
• Small scale livestock production (poultry and
  pigs) can improve iron deficiency

10
Home Garden Technologies

• Wide range of small-scale and appropriate
  technologies available internationally and
  locally many consider local climate and
  environmental conditions
• Rain Water Harvesting rainwater tanks, in field
  furrows, ridges, planting pits, mulching, cover
  crops, micro irrigation, grey water use water
  management and erosion control
• Soil conservation intercropping, ash,
  composting, manuring, mulching, planting pits,
  crop rotation, fallows, conservation tillage
• Seed saving and plant propagation
• Agroecology/permaculture, keyhole and trench
  gardens, peace gardens, storey cropping etc
• Crop protection using solutions of soap, ash,
  chillies, garlic and also by means of border
  cropping
• Indigenous technologies often invoke elements
  of the above or further adaptations
• Often context specific, small scale and simple
  application - easy for households to scale out
  based on resources and demands
• Numerous pilot studies on appropriate and small
  scale technologies but little roll out beyond
  projects and limited impact assessment of
  technologies

11
Support Services

• Appropriate technologies often implemented and
  supported by CSOs but lack of integration - some
  pilot projects by public sector (e.g DWAF)
• Prevalence in public and private sector and some
  NGOs for transfer of conventional and spillover
  technologies often applied in a top down
  fashion with little regard for local
  socioecoonmic and environmental context
• Public sector focus on Community Gardens, Starter
  Packs - Provision of infrastructure and
  conventional inputs for groups appears to be main
  strategy
• Infrastructure provision (Boreholes) not
  scalable strategy due to initial, operating and
  maintenance costs theft also a problem
• Provided inputs are often not renewable (seed
  saving and storage a problem, access to
  conventional inputs expensive and suppliers
  scarce) after initial season households might
  return to original food security status
• Technologies often not applicable to home gardens
  where the circumstances are different to those at
  the project sites
• Scale and impact is unclear
• Limited ME and no impact assessments
  sustainability without continued support is
  questionable
• Farmers often obtain information from other
  households and new crops from visitors to their
  area

12
Support Needs

• Vary from area to area and amongst producers
• Regular supply of water for crops/livestock
• Soil conservation knowledge and strategies
• Horticultural and livestock skills
• Specific and regular support
• Renewable inputs
• Extension and Research personnel scarce
  Botshabelo 1 for 150 000 Northern Cape 20.
• Knowledge of local situation and farming
  practises are often overlooked
• Room for improvement in relations within and
  between public sector, private sector and civil
  society organisations
• Build on what people know rather than pursue the
  unfamiliar

13
Recommendations (1)

• Some evidence illustrating that homestead food
  production makes a significant contribution to
  food security and incomes.
• Some of the issues that need to be addressed
  include
• Systematic research to find out what is
  happening, where, the types of technologies,
  institutional arrangements, impact and lessons
  emerging. To develop and implement a widespread
  coherent programme.
• A wide range of CSOs are supporting homestead
  gardening. Develop a programme that can support
  and fund a wide range of structures, in order to
  operate at scale.
• This may require a new cadre of extensionists or
  allocation of resources by Provincial Departments
  of Agriculture to outsource this work - current
  staff are not geared to support and are not
  numerous enough to provide this support.
• The Departments of Agriculture should retain
  oversight, standardization of training and
  quality control

14
Recommendations (2)

• Develop the upscaling modalities for this. This
  is likely to include
• A community-based modus operandi - using CSOs to
  train and support community-level people
  (experienced growers and innovators) to advise
  others - such structures are already well
  established in the health sector. Emphasis on
  Female gardeners and enhancing local knowledge
  and innovations (IKS). Further skills support
  could be provided by ARC, Provincial Departments
  of Agriculture as well as CSOs
• Use the Community Work Programme or EPWP to fund
  stipends for these community-based workers
• Develop a standardized accredited training for
  such community-based workers (eg in vegetables,
  another in community-based animal health, another
  in fruit trees, another in small-stock
  production) which can help in career development
• Provide access to water - support for rainwater
  harvesting and use of grey water. This would be a
  good investment by government. Support to
  maintain soil fertility and avoid erosion is also
  required preferably using low external inputs
• Develop an upscaling or phased role out approach
  with an inception phase in a few urban centres
  and some rural areas (eg a total of 1 urban and 1
  rural area per province), or selecting the worst
  districts and metros or those where the homestead
  producers are concentrated. Develop a phasing up
  process building on the elements above.
• Develop a community of practice and mechanism for
  learning and sharing of experiences
• Establish a proper monitoring and evaluation
  system - including ex-post impact assessment for
  the programme which can feed in to the learning.

15

• Thank You