Abstract
Households in the informal settlement areas of the Cape Town Metropole face different challenges in terms of poverty and food security. Challenges are determined by the social and economic circumstances these households subside in. Many initiatives by the Western Cape Department of Agriculture was initiated to aid households in these areas. Some of the initiatives include the implementation of urban household and community food gardens assisted by the Department’s extension division. A thorough analysis of these indicators is imperative to initiate development planning. The results showed that 26.1% of household heads completed school, while 33.8% did not reach secondary school (grade 7). The average household size is 4.29 persons in the study area. The average age of household head was 48 and 50.64 years for non-farmer groups and urban farming households respectively. The average monthly income per household was R3543.22. The main source of income generated throughout the year derived from formal salaries or wages (46.4%), while child support grants and pension funds also contributed towards income. Expenditure factors accounts for 20.4% of the variance of factors affecting food security. The expenditure component is comprised by the share of food expenditure on income, the total value of food consumed and the household diet diversity score. The socio-economic indicators component forms the second largest component group (15.15%), while the components with a lesser effect include a food security component, an urban farming component and a geographical and market component. Keywords: Urban Agriculture, household gardens, community gardens, food security, household size, age, gender, education level, migrant workers, household income
Highlights
With countries recognising the level of food insecurity, platforms were established to progress towards an international state of adequate food availability, access, utilisation and stability
While keeping with zero-order correlations, the results suggest the following coherent components as identified in common themes (Table 9): 1. Expenditure factors o Share of food expenditure on income; o Total value of food consumed; and o Household Diet Diversity Score
The factor analysis showed the expenditure component accounts for 20.35% of variance and it is characterised by factors relating to expenditure on food
Summary
With countries recognising the level of food insecurity, platforms were established to progress towards an international state of adequate food availability, access, utilisation and stability. Development programmes aiming to alleviate food insecurity and reduce poverty need methods to identify and target those households most affected. It is challenging to develop a perfect method of measurement due to the multi-dimensional nature of food security. Policy-making and development programmes are dependent on standardised indicators in order to improve the accuracy on measurement and evaluation of food security. The multiple factors that influence the access to food are not well understood, with this being more evident at household level. Certain validation criteria must be met in order to monitor the impact of policy implications on food security. Within this framework, the factors or indicators affecting food security will be analysed in this article
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