Exploring the impact of the 2008 global food crisis on food security among vulnerable households in rural South Africa.

Raphael J Nawrotzki,Kristin Robson,Petra Norlund,Lori M Hunter,Margaret J Gutilla,Wayne Twine

doi:10.1007/s12571-014-0336-6

Abstract

Recurring food crises endanger the livelihoods of millions of households in developing countries around the globe. Owing to the importance of this issue, we explore recent changes in food security between the years 2004 and 2010 in a rural district in Northeastern South Africa. Our study window spans the time of the 2008 global food crises and allows the investigation of its impacts on rural South African populations. Grounded in the sustainable livelihood framework, we examine differences in food security trajectories among vulnerable sub populations. A unique panel data set of 8,147 households, provided by the Agincourt Health and Demographic Surveillance System (Agincourt HDSS), allows us to employ a longitudinal multilevel modeling approach to estimate adjusted growth curves for the differential change in food security across time. We observe an overall improvement in food security that leveled off after 2008, most likely resulting from the global food crisis. In addition, we discover significant differences in food security trajectories for various sub populations. For example, female-headed households and those living in areas with better access to natural resources differentially improved their food security situation, compared to male-headed households and those households with lower levels of natural resource access. However, former Mozambican refugees witnessed a decline in food security. Therefore, poverty alleviation programs for the Agincourt region should work to improve the food security of vulnerable households, such as former Mozambican refugees.

Highlights

Maintaining health and quality of life depends on access to nutritious and diverse food
We observed an overall improvement in food security in Agincourt across the study period
Random slope models to answer our first research question: Has food security among households in rural South Africa changed between 2004 and 2010? Overall, the observed trend reflects the global changes in food security remarkably well, with an increase in food security until the onset of the global food security crisis during 2008 and leveling off thereafter (FAO, WFP, and IFAD 2012)

Summary

Introduction

Maintaining health and quality of life depends on access to nutritious and diverse food. The number of undernourished individuals declined from an estimated 980 million in 1990 to 1992, to approximately 850 million in 2010 to 2012 (FAO, WFP, and IFAD 2012). Most of this progress, occurred before the 2008 food crisis, after which the advances in reducing hunger leveled off (FAO, WFP, and IFAD 2012). Despite the technological capacity to produce sufficient amounts of food for the global population, structural and political barriers inhibit delivery (Sen 1983). New global challenges, such as climate change, can potentially slow or reverse progress toward a world without hunger (Wheeler and von Braun 2013)

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Results

Conclusion