The impact of smallholder commercialisation of organic crops on food consumption patterns, dietary diversity and consumption elasticities

The impact of smallholder commercialisation on food consumption patterns in a rural community of South Africa was investigated. The dietary diversity, nutrient intakes and consumption patterns of certified, partially certified and non-members of an organic farmers’ organisation were compared. Engagement in certified commercial organic farming promoted comparatively greater dietary diversity and improved nutrient intakes. While smallholder agriculture commercialisation has the potential to improve food consumption patterns and food quality through increased income and labour opportunities, caution should be exercised before claiming that such commercialisation can alleviate food insecurity and solve hunger in rural South Africa.agriculture, growth, smallholder, consumption, nutrition, Food Security and Poverty,

The Impact of Small Holder Commercialisation of Organic Crops on Food Consumption Patterns in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

The impact of smallholder commercialisation on food consumption patterns in a rural community of South Africa was investigated. The consumption patterns, dietary diversity and nutrient intakes of certified and partially certified members of an organic farmers' organisation were compared to data from a random sample of non-member households. Two consecutive survey rounds (n = 200) conducted in November 2004 and March 2005 enabled comparison of dietary diversity, nutrient adequacy (in terms of per household adult female equivalents for energy, iron, and vitamin A) and expenditure elasticities between seasons. Households with members engaged in certified comm ercial organic farming enjoyed greater dietary diversity, improved nutrient intakes com pared to households with members in conversion to organic production and households not engaged in commercial organic farming. Farm and non-farm income strongly and positively influenced nutritional adequacy for households of partially certified and certified members of the organisation. Marked differences in expenditure elasticities were found between the three groups. The results suggested that commercialisation of small holder agriculture has potential to improve food consumption patterns and food quality directly through income generated and indirectly through increased labour opportunities that result in wages and inkind food transfers. While commerciali sation of small holder agriculture shows potential for improving nutrition, caution should be exercised before claiming that such commercialisation can alleviate food insecurity and solve hunger in South Africa.food consumption, nutrition, farm households, small holder, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, D1, Q12,

Attendance to care and treatment clinics (CTCs) and perceived effectiveness of Anti-retroviral Therapy (ART) for people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHAs) in Newala district, Tanzania- a case of Luchinga

Maximum adherence to ART has been recommended for PLHAs for improving treatment outcome This is through regular attendance to CTC for follow up and refill and completion of prescribed doses as per schedule This study examined attendance rate to CTC and factors influencing attendance rate by PLHAs living in Luchinga ward enrolled to CTC at the district hospital as well as perception of stakeholders on the effectiveness of the treatment This was a cross-sectional descriptive study carried out in the ward between June to July 2009 About 30 of PLHAs 41 treatment supporters and 6 key informants were involved in the study Results from this study shows that attendance rate to CTC was poor by a significant portion of PLHAs About one-third of the interviewed PLHAs admitted to have attended less than 95 of the appointment and about 37 of treatment supporters indicated similar trend with regard to their patients Main factors for poor attendance to CTC included long distance patient felt better after taking few doses of ARV fear of stigma and patient feeling tired It was also noted that some patients fail to complete prescribed doses of ARV while at home Main reason indicated by respondents for this trend was side effects of drugs patient felt better and patient feel tired With regard to effectiveness of treatment although majority of respondents indicated ART to have improved health of PLHAs however a noticeable proportion of the respondents nearly one-third indicated the treatment hasn t improved health of PLHAs Reasons for lack of improvement as perceived by respondents were mainly poor nutrition due to poverty non-adherence to drugs and heavy workloads by PLHAs Based on these findings policy implications for improving the situation have been indicate

Cereal Banks or Seed Banks? An Experience from Makoja Arid Village, Dodoma, Tanzania

Cereal Banks, though important, have failed to become sustainable. The banks have always been requiring close monitoring support or subsidies from an outside agency, but collapse when outside monitoring and subsidies end. Such trend has brought worries and made Cereal Banks labeled negative. Failing to become self-sustaining has called for an inventory to analyze the Cereal Bank benefits realized by the communities. In 2012, a cross section study was done involving 80 households in Makoja Village, Dodoma Region. Makoja Village communities are poor, living in arid land and are chronically food insecure. Surprisingly, significant proportion (89 %) of the respondents acknowledges the Community Cereal Bank as the source of seeds to next season. Poor Makoja Community views the Cereal Bank as the Seed Bank to ensure availability of seeds hence food availability. Cereal banks are essentially not failed attempts but rather require continuing support to ensure production and food security of engaged community. The international development community should explore various outputs realised as benefits by engaged communties before terming them unsuccessful. However, there is a need to increase a pace to promote Community Seed Production Systems to assure improved crop production and household  food security. Keywords: Cereal Bank, Seed Bank, Food Insecurit

Do food quality and food quantity talk the same? Lesson from household food security study in Embo, South Africa

OBJECTIVES :Relating food diversity, quality, and intake is one of the key aspects in understanding household food security. This paper aimed at marying food intake and quality, both being measurement for food security. METHODS : A household food consumption survey (n = 200) exploring food diversity, quality of foods, and their relation to food intake in Embo, a poor farming community in rural KwaZulu-Natal was carried out in November 2004 (period of insufficiency) and repeated in March 2005 (period of plenty). Household food intake strata were developed using matrices obtained from the Household Food Intake Index and nutritional adequacy ratios. Food quality was measured using food count and later using 5 food groups, namely, starches, vegetables and fruits,animal sourced foods, fats, and legumes. RESULTS: Single food count showed dietary diversity to be significantly different across households with different food intake during the period of plenty (P ≤ 0.000). During the period of plenty, vegetable and fruits contributed significantly different proportions of energy (P ≤ 0.000), protein (P ≤ 0.006), iron (P ≤ 0.020), and vitamin E (P ≤ 0.006) to household food intake strata. Intake of vitamin A was more elastic as its intake variation from legumes, fats, and animal sourced foods was (P ≤ 0.000), from starches (P ≤ 0.008) and from vegetable and fruits (P ≤ 0.064) during the second round. Starches are the most important food group to the community, whereas fats and animal sourced food groups are less important. CONCLUSIONS : The current study has been able to include food quality in food security studies. Seasonality accounts for variation in food quality. The South African food-based dietary guidelines are relevant to the Embo community.The South African National Research Foundation (project no. TTK2007052000011) and Ford Foundation, South Africa (Grant no. 1035-1796).http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/uacn20hb201

The Impact of Small Holder Commercialisation of Organic Crops on Food Consumption Patterns in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

The impact of smallholder commercialisation on food consumption patterns in a rural community of South Africa was investigated. The consumption patterns, dietary diversity and nutrient intakes of certified and partially certified members of an organic farmers' organisation were compared to data from a random sample of non-member households. Two consecutive survey rounds (n = 200) conducted in November 2004 and March 2005 enabled comparison of dietary diversity, nutrient adequacy (in terms of per household adult female equivalents for energy, iron, and vitamin A) and expenditure elasticities between seasons. Households with members engaged in certified comm ercial organic farming enjoyed greater dietary diversity, improved nutrient intakes com pared to households with members in conversion to organic production and households not engaged in commercial organic farming. Farm and non-farm income strongly and positively influenced nutritional adequacy for households of partially certified and certified members of the organisation. Marked differences in expenditure elasticities were found between the three groups. The results suggested that commercialisation of small holder agriculture has potential to improve food consumption patterns and food quality directly through income generated and indirectly through increased labour opportunities that result in wages and inkind food transfers. While commerciali sation of small holder agriculture shows potential for improving nutrition, caution should be exercised before claiming that such commercialisation can alleviate food insecurity and solve hunger in South Africa

The impact of smallholder commercialisation of organic crops on food consumption patterns, dietary diversity and consumption elasticities

The impact of smallholder commercialisation on food consumption patterns in a rural community of South Africa was investigated. The dietary diversity, nutrient intakes and consumption patterns of certified, partially certified and non-members of an organic farmers’ organisation were compared. Engagement in certified commercial organic farming promoted comparatively greater dietary diversity and improved nutrient intakes. While smallholder agriculture commercialisation has the potential to improve food consumption patterns and food quality through increased income and labour opportunities, caution should be exercised before claiming that such commercialisation can alleviate food insecurity and solve hunger in rural South Africa