Low income farm households’ access to markets and household food security: The case of two economically distinct areas in rural Tanzania

Abstract

More than 70 percent of Tanzanians live in rural areas and close to 90 percent of thempractice agriculture. Kishapu and Mvomero Districts are highly food insecure,nutritionally vulnerable, lack nutritional interventions and differ in rain patterns, farmingpractices and economic activities. This study sets out to examine how market accessinfluences the food security status of low-income farm households in rural Tanzania.Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected in 2014: quantitative datacomprised structured questionnaires in two phases of household surveys (before and afterharvest) and monthly market price surveys. Qualitative data comprised key informantinterviews and focus group discussion. Coding, cleaning and analysis of quantitative datawas done in SPSS while qualitative data was transcribed, coded and organised intothemes. Mvomero exhibited significantly better household incomes, food security andmarket accessibility than Kishapu. Binomial regression was performed on householdfood security determining variables which were categorised into food secure and foodinsecure, variables in the models explained more than 60 percent of variations in thedependent variables. Results indicated statistical significance in the pre-harvest seasonsuch that households close to the market, owning bicycles, in higher income quartilesand with smaller household size were less likely to be food insecure than theircounterparts. Post-harvest regressions showed no statistical significance except for theprevalence category of household food insecurity where market access did not have anystatistical significance but ownership of a bicycle and having more off-farm incomemeant households were less likely to be food insecure. Addressing rural food securityissues should consider the differences within the contexts of rural areas. Policies tosupport the improvement and diversification of farm and off-farm incomes, andincreasing farm output have important implications for low-income farm households.Such initiatives could include improvements in transport infrastructure and access tocredit, both of which would support market access, augment farm production andimprove off-farm income. However, such policies and strategies would be more robustwith more tests.Key words: Market Access, Food Security, Rural Tanzania, Food Economies