Food insecurity and coping strategies of Phezukomkhono Mlimi farming households in the Nkomazi Local Municipality, South Africa

Although South Africa is food secure at the national level, food insecurity is still experienced at the household and individual levels. In 2005, the Mpumalanga Provincial Government introduced the Phezukomkhono Mlimi (PKM) programme to help alleviate household food insecurity. However, the recent food security status of the beneficiaries has not been investigated. Therefore, this study evaluated food accessibility, coping strategies and factors correlated with food insecurity amongst beneficiaries of the PKM programme. The data were collected using a structured questionnaire from 355 PKM farming households. Descriptive statistics and multivariate analysis were used to analyse the data. The findings of this study suggested that the study area had a high level (72.68%) of household food insecurity and the mean Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) score was 4.20. The study was also able to demonstrate that the coping strategies commonly adopted by food-insecure households included dietary changes and increasing short-term food availability such as buying less expensive food (79.44%), consumption of unconventional food (68.73%) like edible insects such as mopane worms and locusts, eating uncultivated or wild vegetables and fruits (96.90%), and harvesting immature food crops (96.62%). Marital status, the level of education, household size and engagement of households in off-farm or non-farm income-generating activities were significantly correlated with household food insecurity in the study area. It can thus be concluded that the programme has not helped to improve food accessibility among the participants of the programme. However, the current food security status in the study is not at the level where its impact could have lasting negative effects on households and society at large given that very few households adopted severe or irreversible strategies to counter the effects of food insecurity. In view of this, policy interventions to improve access to education, family planning and off-farm income-generating activities are recommended. Key words: Food availability, Food inaccessibility, Food security, insufficient food