TY - JOUR

T1 - Households and food security

T2 - Lessons from food secure households in East Africa

AU - Silvestri, Silvia

AU - Sabine, Douxchamps

AU - Patti, Kristjanson

AU - Wiebke, Förch

AU - Maren, Radeny

AU - Ianetta, Mutie

AU - Carlos, Quiros F.

AU - Mario, Herrero

AU - Anthony, Ndungu

AU - Nicolas, Ndiwa

AU - Joash, Mango

AU - Lieven, Claessens

AU - Rufino, Mariana Cristina

PY - 2015/12/4

Y1 - 2015/12/4

N2 - Background: What are the key factors that contribute to household-level food security? What lessons can we learn from food secure households? What agricultural options and management strategies are likely to benefit female-headed households in particular? This paper addresses these questions using a unique dataset of 600 households that allows us to explore a wide range of indicators capturing different aspects of performance and well-being for different types of households-female-headed, male-headed, food secure, food insecure-and assess livelihoods options and strategies and how they influence food security. The analysis is based on a detailed farm household survey carried out in three sites in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. Results: Our results suggest that food insecurity may not be more severe for female-headed households than male-headed households. We found that food secure farming households have a wider variety of crops on their farms and are more market oriented than are the food insecure. More domestic assets do not make female-headed households more food secure. For the other categories of assets (livestock, transport, and productive), we did not find evidence of a correlation with food security. Different livelihood portfolios are being pursued by male versus female-headed households, with female-headed households less likely to grow high-value crops and more likely to have a less diversified crop portfolio. Conclusions: These findings help identify local, national and regional policies and actions for enhancing food security of female-headed as well as male-headed households. These include interventions that improve households' access to information, e.g., though innovative communication and knowledge-sharing efforts and support aimed at enhancing women's and men's agricultural market opportunities.

AB - Background: What are the key factors that contribute to household-level food security? What lessons can we learn from food secure households? What agricultural options and management strategies are likely to benefit female-headed households in particular? This paper addresses these questions using a unique dataset of 600 households that allows us to explore a wide range of indicators capturing different aspects of performance and well-being for different types of households-female-headed, male-headed, food secure, food insecure-and assess livelihoods options and strategies and how they influence food security. The analysis is based on a detailed farm household survey carried out in three sites in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. Results: Our results suggest that food insecurity may not be more severe for female-headed households than male-headed households. We found that food secure farming households have a wider variety of crops on their farms and are more market oriented than are the food insecure. More domestic assets do not make female-headed households more food secure. For the other categories of assets (livestock, transport, and productive), we did not find evidence of a correlation with food security. Different livelihood portfolios are being pursued by male versus female-headed households, with female-headed households less likely to grow high-value crops and more likely to have a less diversified crop portfolio. Conclusions: These findings help identify local, national and regional policies and actions for enhancing food security of female-headed as well as male-headed households. These include interventions that improve households' access to information, e.g., though innovative communication and knowledge-sharing efforts and support aimed at enhancing women's and men's agricultural market opportunities.

KW - East Africa

KW - Female-headed households

KW - Food security

KW - Income diversification

KW - Livelihoods strategies

U2 - 10.1186/s40066-015-0042-4

DO - 10.1186/s40066-015-0042-4

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:85005950430

VL - 4

JO - Agriculture and Food Security

JF - Agriculture and Food Security

SN - 2048-7010

IS - 1

M1 - 23

ER -