Patterns and trends in household food security in rural Mpumalanga Province, South Africa

ABSTRACTThis study examines patterns and trends in household food security in Bushbuckridge, Mpumalanga Province, South Africa, from 2010 to 2019. We use data from a household panel nested in the Agincourt Health and Socio-Demographic Surveillance System. Findings indicate that there have been improvements in household food security in this rural setting over the last decade. By polychoric principal component analysis, an aggregate food security index was constructed and we observed a small, yet important, proportion of households (7.8%) that remained chronically food insecure. An ordered probit model was used to estimate the determinants of food security. Findings reveal that the observed differences in household food security status are as a result of differences in socioeconomic status. We therefore recommend that focus must be placed on identifying economic opportunities and empowering the chronically food insecure households if universal household food security is to be attained in rural South Africa and beyond.KEYWORDS: Food availabilitydietary diversityfood accessfood securityrural households AcknowledgementsThe authors are grateful to the respondents, field staff and management of SAMRC/Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit, School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa for their respective contributions towards the collection and production of the data used in this study. The SUCSES study was made possible with funding from the National Research Foundation, ACCESS, and the World Agroforestry Centre. The study was supported indirectly with funding or support for the operation of the Agincourt HDSS from the Wellcome Trust, UK (grant 085477/Z/08/Z), the South African Medical Research Council, and the South African Department of Science and Innovation through the South African Population Research Infrastructure Network (SAPRIN).Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Additional informationFundingThis research was conducted as part of the Sustainability in Communal Socio-Ecological Systems (SUCSES) which was made possible through funding from the National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa and the Applied Centre for Climate and Earth Systems Science (ACCESS). Indirect support was provided by the Wellcome Trust (grant 085477/Z/08/Z) through its support of the Agincourt Health and Demographic Surveillance System (HDSS). The study also benefited from research, administrative, and computing support provided by the University of Colorado Population Center (Project 2P2CHD066613-06), funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.