Local Perceptions Of Household’s Vulnerability To Food Insecurity In Bahi District, Tanzania

ABSTRACT

The study assessed household vulnerability to food insecurity as locally perceived in Bahi district. It was based on the four randomly selected villages namely Mpamantwa, Ibihwa, Mnkola and Bahi Sokoni. Primary data were collected by interviewing 100 farming households, village elders, village leaders and Ward Agricultural Extension Workers. The study addressed the local perceptions of food security and vulnerability to food insecurity; characteristics of households vulnerable to food insecurity and; the strategies employed by households during food shortages. It was locally perceived that a household which took less than 12 months to exhaust millet stock was food insecure and the household vulnerable to food insecurity was the one most likely to remain or become food insecure which was characterized by: owning a relative small piece of land; earning too small income to enable it buy household food; have no alternative source(s) of income other than sale of farm crops; have no livestock; headed by elderly; and does not have millet stocks. Sixty three percent of sampled households were food insecure while 80% were vulnerable to food insecurity. The ANOVA and t-test revealed that the number of food sources, household size, household’s income, marital status of household head, ownership of livestock and size of land were significantly related to household food security. The study concludes that the presence of more vulnerable than food insecure households was an indication that even some of food secure households were at risk of becoming food insecure. The study recommended, among others, that strategies to address food insecurity should focus on both food insecure and vulnerable households.