Investigation of strategies employed in rural households to improve food security in Raymond Mhlaba Local Municipality : a case of Zihlahleni Location in Middledrift, Eastern Cape Province

Eastern Cape is one of the provinces experiencing a rapid increase in food prices while household income is increasing at a slower rate. Against this background, the main objective of this study was to investigate strategies used by rural households to improve food security in Raymond Mhlaba Local Municipality formally known as Nkonkobe in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. Data were collected from 100 households using a questionnaire as the main instrument by using simple random sampling. Data were analyzed by employing simple descriptive statistics to describe household food security. Results revealed that most (50.3percent) households that were interviewed were male headed and unemployment was high (73.6percent). Moreover, the average age of the interviewed household heads was 59 years. Most (68percent) of the households owned home gardens and had access to arable land which was not being cultivated. Most (87percent) households indicated that lack of capital was the main cause of food security and depended on government grants. Most (100percent) of the interviewed household heads depend mostly on food purchases rather than their own production. The recommendation is that the government should continue fostering its agenda of improving agriculture as a strategy in rural households for curbing food insecurity