Coping With Food and Income Insecurity: The Case of Swazi Households

190 p.Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1993.This study investigates two related issues of development, economic well-being and micro-level adjustments used by households to deal with food insecurity. Specifically the study (a) describes the food security situation of households in the Middleveld and Lowveld areas of Swaziland, (b) determines the strategies used by households to mitigate against food insecurity and how these vary by household characteristics and area of residence, and (c) describes the scope of nongovernmental programs designed to assist households to deal with food and income insecurity.Qualitative and quantitative data for this study were collected from a random sample of 260 households and personnel from nongovernmental agencies.Four measures of food and income security were used: (a) self-sufficiency in maize, (b) per capita income, (c) quality of diet, and (d) subjective food ranking.The results of this study suggest that area of residence rather than household characteristics is the more important determinant of the household's food security. Households in the Middleveld showed higher levels of food security than those from the Lowveld, and the effect of being in a rural development area was insignificant. Periurban households had higher levels of income and food security than rural households. The effect on food and income security of gender of household head, age composition of household, marital status of the principal woman of the household, ownership of durable goods, and number of cattle owned varied by the measure used.Income diversification, crop diversification, using available wild food, and reducing the number of meals consumed per day were the coping strategies most commonly adopted. The hypotheses that Lowveld households would have higher levels of income and food production diversification were not supported, but Lowveld households did use more consumption strategies than Middleveld households. The results of multiple regression showed that marital status, age composition of household, total household income, amount of land farmed, number of resident adult females, gender of household head, age of respondent, ownership of durable goods, and household size were associated with the extent of use of the different coping strategies. There was evidence that the immediate environment is no longer a significant food source whereas remittances are increasingly playing an important role in securing food consumption during drought-induced food shortages.The study concludes with research questions generated by the findings of the study.U of I OnlyRestricted to the U of I community idenfinitely during batch ingest of legacy ETD