EVALUATION OF FOOD SYSTEM AND NUTRITIONAL STATUS OF HOUSEHOLDS IN AHIAZU MBAISE

 

Table 4.4: Relationship between Socio-economic and Nutritional status of the Respondents58

 

 

Promoting the people basic needs and well-being or making the world free from hunger, malnutrition and poverty is the greatest challenge especially for the less developed countries. The difficulty of food system has been the first priority in achieving the most fundamental human right in all developing countries. Although there was less undernourished people in some of the developing countries, the current global food crisis emerging from soaring prices of staples and depletion of food stocks effects on access to food by poor people in many developing countries. Poor food buyers in urban areas and net food buyers and non-food producers in rural areas who spend a large share of their incomes on food are the most adversely affected by the rising food prices. The FAO identified over 37 developing countries in urgent food needs in May2008.(Klotz et al., 2008). It is undeniable fact that all countries have to respond to promote food system, in line with the definition of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO): “Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food which meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life”. In this connection, food security has three dimensions: (1) availability and stability of safe and nutritionally adequate food both at the national and household level; (2) the need to ensure that each household has physical, social and economic access to sufficient food on a sustainable basis; and (3) efficient utilization of food to derive sufficient nutrition during a given period from its food supply. The reaction to this issue especially in the developing countries is to give a higher priority for the development of the agriculture sector in enhancing higher food production, securing sufficient food supplies domestically, and minimizing on the dependence of food import. In 2001-03, there were still 854 million undernourished people worldwide: 820 million in the developing countries, 25 million in the transition countries and 9 million in the industrialized countries (FAO 2006). In terms of the regions, the prevalence of undernourished people were 162 million in Asia and Pacific, 212 million in India, 150 million in China, 52 million in Latin America/Caribbean, 38 million in Near East & North America, 206 million in Sub Saharan Africa, 25 million in Transition Countries and 9 million in Industrialized Countries (FAO 2016).

 

The developing country food situation is currently redefined by the new driving forces such as climate change, income growth, globalization and urbanization, etc. (Joachimand Braun 2007). Not only the quantity and quality of food but also consumption pattern is changed to consume less cereal and more meats, fishes and fruits. Analyzing the recent trends and challenges in food availability covering food production, consumption, consumption pattern, rising food prices and self-sufficiency at the country level is essential in order to provide information to response appropriate actions for attaining food security. As the issues of food security also relate with nutrition security, the nutritional status and health related environment of food insecure people must be considered in mobilizing resources for promoting the livelihoods of those people.

On average, about 70% to 80% of Africans live in rural areas and many face seasonal food shortages, Khor (2008). In addition, most of Africa’s food insecure households are also the poorest (Brummet et al., 2011; Bukusuba et al., 2007).Most rural households facing food system crises which have different strategies to cope with food insecurity. However, some strategies seem to be inadequate to meet household’s food needs. According to Maxwell et al. (2008) some of the strategies adopted are just norms as they do not contribute to improving food system among the population, for example, eating of less preferred foods. Shariff and Khor (2008) have pointed out that several food coping strategies are associated with food system crises, and they are mostly acceptable to vulnerable households in different cultures for example skipping meals.

Similarly poor nutrition due to chronic energy deficiency (food insecurity) and an inadequate quality of habitual diets (nutrition security) occur in poor households, Studies have shown that global or national food sufficiency/availability defined by Dietary Energy Supply (DES) (FAO, 2005) does not necessarily translate into improvements in household food security. Many studies in the Nigeria on food and nutrition have investigated the factors, which are associated with possible determinants of nutrition/malnutrition (Aguillon et al., 2012; Mendoza, 2014; Balatibat, 2018; Haddad and Bouis, 2010; Garcia, 2010; De Guzman et al., 2014; Bautista, 2015; Eusebio et al., 2018). These studies also reported on a diverse set of indicators that are thought to capture important aspects of nutrition. Only few studies have been conducted research on the food system situation in some major part of the country and even fewer studies that have been examined the food system problem in households have not been assessed on the relationship of food system and nutritional status at household level considering High incidence of poverty and a great variation in agro-ecological and cultural setting as well as socio-economic conditions potentially affect household’s food and nutrition security. Yet, in poor communities and fragile environmental conditions, considerable variation is observed on food consumption and nutrition status of the population. Individual malnutrition may exist in food secure households while a well-nourished individual may be observed in a food insecure household. The relationships between factors that underlie these differences have not been properly elucidated.

Given the rural and agricultural resource base of Nigeria poverty, any attempt to delineate food and nutrition problem areas is a difficult task. Specifically, to elucidate what works, under what conditions and by what mechanisms food security leads to nutrition security, we must first understand how people themselves respond to conditions within a local context. 

The main objective is to evaluate food production, food supply and nutritional status of households in Ahiazu Mbaise.

The specific objectives are:

In recent time, there effort on food system methods of the households which have been developed in various strategies or measures to cope up with food system crises of households in most rural community just like Ahiazu Mbaise. However, it is not clear on research made so far whether household food system strategies and coping mechanisms will also lead to better nutritional status of household. It is on this question that a study on the food system and nutritional status of households in Ahiazu Mbaise villages was initiated.

The present study is designed to contribute to the understanding of household dynamic that have implications of food system and nutritional status of households. The study seeks to bridge informational gaps concerning how households respond to changes in fluctuations in food supply and income (Garcia,2014). This study try to figure out on what households need to do to ensure access to sufficient foods, and economic coping mechanisms that buffer them from periodic stress. This research work will be of benefits to some household members, and also decrease the burden on other members expanding existing knowledge on how households achieve stable food system and nutritional status within them.