A comparative analysis of alternative food security indicators, using farm workers in the Northern Cape Province as a case study

Magister Artium (Development Studies) - MA(DVS)The concept of food insecurity is complex and difficult to measure. Food insecurity is measured at different levels – global, national, household and individual. In order to have appropriate assessments of food security status, it is important to use the correct measure. This study focused on explaining three major indicators of household food security in measuring the different dimensions of food security (availability, access, utilization and stability). The contribution of this study is to add to the literature and determine how appropriately different indicators measure food security. The study explored the relationship between the three alternative indicators of food security by comparing them, using data collected on farm workers in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa. From the results of the study, it was concluded that most of the surveyed farm workers in the Northern Cape Province are food insecure. This conclusion was arrived at because of two indicators. The Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) reported 42.8% of farm workers as severely food insecure; 42.8% as moderately food insecure; and 13.9% as mildly food insecure. The Coping Strategies Index (CSI) reported 56.2% of farm workers as food insecure. The Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS) reported a higher dietary diversity in farm workers (71.8%)

Evidence against a simple two-component model for the far-infrared emission from galaxies

Two of the first Infrared Astronomy Satellite (IRAS) results were that galaxies have a wide range of values for the ratio of 60 micron to 100 micron flux density (0.2 less than or equal to S sub 60/S sub 100 less than or equal to 1.0) and that this ratio is correlated with L sub fir, L sub b, L sub fir being the total far-infrared luminosity and L sub b being the luminosity at visible wavelengths (de Jong et al. 1984; Soifer et al. 1984). From these results arose the following simple model for the far-infrared emission from galaxies (de Jong et al. 1984), which has remained the standard model ever since. In this model, the far-infrared emission comes from two dust components: warm dust (T approx. equals 50 K) intermingled with, and heated by, young massive OB stars in molecular clouds and HII regions, and colder dust (T approx. equals 20 K) associated with the diffuse atomic hydrogen in the interstellar medium and heated by the general interstellar radiation field. As the number of young stars in a galaxy increases, S sub 60/S sub 100 increases, because there is a greater proportion of warm dust, and so does L sub fir/L sub b, because most of the radiation from the young stars is absorbed by the dust, leading to a swifter increase in far-infrared emission than in visible light. Although this model explains the basic IRAS results, it is inelegant. It uses two free parameters to fit two data (the 60 and 100 micron flux densities)-and there are now several observations that contradict it. Despite these major problems with the two-component model, it is not clear what should be put in its place. When considering possible models for the far-infrared emission from galaxies, the observational evidence for our own galaxy must be considered. Researchers suspect that the study by Boulanger and Perault (1988) of the far-infrared properties of the local interstellar medium may be particularly relevant. They showed that molecular clouds are leaky - that most of the light from OB stars in molecular clouds does not heat the dust in the clouds, but instead leaks out. The consequence of this is that that while most of the far-infrared emission from the solar neighborhood is from dust associated with diffuse HI, this dust is mostly heated by young stars

Livestock and Livelihoods in Africa: Maximising Animal Welfare and Human Wellbeing

Livestock perform several vital roles in rural livelihoods in Africa, providing food (meat, milk, eggs), draught power and transport, as well as income from sales of animals and animal products. However, the implications for animal welfare are not always considered. Theory suggests that animal welfare follows an ‘n-curve’ in relation to productivity. It tends to be low in smallholder farming and pastoral systems (due to inadequate feed, water and veterinary care), to rise with semi-commercial livestock production (increasing the use-value of animals requires investment), and to fall again with full commercialisation (exploitation for profit maximisation overrides welfare considerations). This paper argues that livestock keepers invest in animal welfare to the extent that this increases their productivity, but they might also derive non-use value from treating their animals well. If the economic returns plus non-use value are not sufficient, regulations to protect livestock must be introduced and compliance must be enforced, to ensure that an adequate investment in animal welfare is achieved and to achieve a better balance between human and animal welfare

Social Protection for Agricultural Growth in Africa

Various explanations have been advanced for the persistent under‑performance of agriculture in many African countries, where smallholder farming is still the dominant livelihood activity and the main source of employment, food and income. Some of the oldest arguments remain the most compelling. African farmers face harsh agro‑ecologies and erratic weather, characterised by low soil fertility, recurrent droughts and/or floods, and increasingly unpredictable weather patterns associated with climate change. Vulnerability to shocks is compounded by infrastructure deficits (roads and transport networks, telecommunications, potable water and irrigation) that keep poor communities poor and vulnerable, as testified by the phenomenon observed during livelihood crises of steep food price gradients from isolated rural villages to densely settled urban centres. African farmers have also been inadequately protected against the forces of globalisation and adverse international terms of trade – for instance, Western farmers and markets are heavily protected in ways that African farmers and markets are not.DfI

The vision 2020 Umurenge programme: a pathway to sustainable livelihoods for rural Rwandans?

A conference paper presentation in IPAR's Annual research conference 201

Incorporating Seasonality into Agricultural Project Design and Learning

Seasonality can be extremely damaging to the lives and livelihoods of rural people, but this is rarely recognised and factored into the design and implementation of agricultural projects. During the annual hungry season, farmers face empty granaries, high food prices and waterborne diseases, which compel them to adopt ‘coping strategies’ that perpetuate poverty ratchets. Seasonal employment programmes can smooth income and consumption but could overburden women, since seasonal workloads are highly gendered. Incorporating a seasonal perspective into agricultural programming requires building a seasonality assessment into the baseline survey and design phase of agricultural projects, reducing seasonal food insecurity by stabilising rather than maximising crop production, and enhancing seasonality awareness among agricultural advisers and project staff, in each local context. Incorporating seasonality into M&E processes has implications for the timing and frequency of data collection, and requires a deeper understanding of the complexity of livelihood processes between and within rural households

'Hot Topics' in Social Protection

Social protection has become an inherent element of the development response and is one of the success stories of development policy in the early twenty-first century. It is widely considered to expand and remain an important part of the development agenda in the years ahead. This is reflected in the Agenda 2030 and recently adopted Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), highlighting social protection’s role in the eradication of poverty, improvement of gender equality and reduction of within and between country inequalities

Broadening Social Protection Thinking

This article argues that the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) has made substantial contributions to the global social protection discourse, initially through its work on vulnerability, accountability and participatory approaches, and more recently through the work of the Centre for Social Protection (CSP) on social protection as a mechanism for achieving both economic development and social justice. These contributions are discussed at the ‘ideas’ level, where IDS/CSP has contributed three influential conceptual frameworks – ‘transformative’, ‘adaptive’ and ‘inclusive’ social protection – as well as at the ‘instruments’ level, where the CSP has been active in debates and policy processes from programme design through to impact evaluation