Food Security Through Disaster Planning in Tanzania: How Agriculture-Based Disaster Preparedness Can Improve Food Security in Tanzania

In Tanzania, half the population lives below the poverty line and suffers from food insecurity. Of the population, women and children primarily suffer from malnutrition due to food insecurity. For Tanzania, the problem is so severe that some women do not name their newborns for weeks or months due to their unlikely survival. This problem worsens for those who have a significant reliance on agriculture and live in the nation’s rural areas. These rural communities face more traumatic burdens when floods and droughts destroy crops, fields, and tools and ruin livelihoods. A solution has not been implemented thus far due to lack of funding, government priorities, and unavailable resources and education. However, the scope of this thesis identifies a solution to reduce food insecurity by establishing more available crops for food despite natural disasters. In creating a solution for this ongoing problem in Tanzania, this thesis aims to bridge the gap between food insecurity and disaster relief and provide a policy-based solution that supports the rural populations of Tanzania. The research derived from this thesis would suggest that there are multiple potential factors and solutions to food insecurity, if Tanzania establishes policy-based solutions to prepare their crops for floods and droughts, they can mitigate the damages caused by these disasters, resulting in more available crops for food which will yield positive results towards food security for generations to come