The Contribution Of Women To Household Food And Nutrition Security In Chamwino District, Dodoma, Tanzania

ABSTRACT

Despite economic growth and improvements in living standards, food and nutrition security are still major socio-economic problems in Tanzania. In Tanzania, food and nutrition security are achieved through agricultural production where women are main participants. However, their contribution is underestimated due to social barriers and gender biases. This study was conducted to assess the contribution of women to household food and nutrition security in Chamwino District, Dodoma region. Cross sectional research design was used. Primary data was collected using a semi-structured questionnaire. Multistage sampling technique was used to select the study area and simple random sampling was used to select the respondents. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, food consumption score (FCS-N) and linear regression. The major findings were the women‘s awareness of food security was limited to only one dimension of food security being food availability. Nevertheless, the women understood household nutrition security as the consumption of enough food regardless of the food nutrient adequacy. The food consumption score for the households surveyed was 16.1 indicating poor diet consumption. The FCS-N showed that most household‘s consumption patterns and dietary diversity relied on single food groups such as staples, pulses and fruits, which does not constitute a balanced diet. Results further show that age, education, income, household size and economic activities significantly influenced women‘s contribution to household food and nutrition security. Therefore, the study recommends on the importance of improving food supply chains in the study area so as to enhance nutritious food accessibility. The women‘s awareness of the concepts should be advanced through conducting trainings. Other household members should be educated on the importance of food and nutrition security so as to consider consumption of balanced diet. The women should also be trained on modern techniques to improve performance of their food roles thus prevention of nutrient loss.