by Atikah Nurhayati and A.H. Purnomo
Original Research
Food is a basic human need. Many communities, including the fishing and aquaculture communities, are still facing difficulty in fulfilling food sufficiency. Fishing and aquaculture households attempt coping mechanisms independently, but they are constrained by a variety of factors and thus the government should come with a help to overcome constraints. This research aims to identify problems of food security in fishing and aquaculture communities, analyze determining factors, identify attempts undertaken by fishermen and aquaculture operators, and identify relevant government roles. This research used a case study approach in Pangandaran District, with data collected through surveys. Respondents were selected purposively: 10 fishermen, 10 aquaculture operators, 10 fish processors, 10 fish traders, and two West Java Provincial Marine Fisheries Service officials. Research was conducted in April – October 2019. Household food security of fishermen/aquaculture operators was measured using a Multiple Linear Regression. Based on this research was detected that 60% of households were categorized as secured, 15% less secured, 15% vulnerable, and 10% unsecured. Households of fishermen/aquaculture operators responded to these conditions with a variety of coping mechanisms: allocating parts of fish production for household consumption, selling some others to buy various kinds of food, and processing some others to get added value. These coping mechanisms were constrained by a number of factors, among which and the most important ones were knowledge and skills, capital, facilities and infrastructure, and market access. Government policy, therefore, should be focused on handling these constraining factors.
Journal of Food Security. 2019, 7(6), 206-211. DOI: 10.12691/jfs-7-6-3
Pub. Date: December 29, 2019
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by George G. Wagah and Mathenge Mwehe
Original Research
Although significant progress has been made in recent decades to reduce food insecurity in developing countries, a larger percentage of the peri urban population still experiences food insecurity. The peri urban poor, as a particularly marginalized group, and who constitute the majority of the urban population are unfortunately the most vulnerable and disproportionately affected by food insecurity. Many studies, especially those focused on reducing poverty, do not explicitly acknowledge the significant role social capital could play in ameliorating food insecurity especially in the peri urban settlements. This paper explores the determinants of food insecurity and then attempts to demonstrate the contribution made by social capital to the improvement of food security of peri-urban dwellers. Using systematic random sampling, 40 households in Nyalenda, a peri urban informal settlement in Kisumu City were surveyed using a household questionnaire. Data was analyzed by descriptive statistics and a Multinomial Logistic regression model to identify the determinants of food insecurity. The results show that household food security is significantly influenced by livestock and household assets, land size, dependency ratio, and access to market, gender, education level, and labor availability. On the other hand, social capital membership to groups influenced positively the food security status of households. This suggests that intervention promoting food security of peri urban household need to expand their focus not just on livelihood improvement, but also in building the capacity of household’s social capital to help improve food security. We recommend that policy intervention promoting food security of peri urban household to expand their focus to include building of capacity of household’s social capital networks. Additionally, a systematic effort is needed to harness social capital in improving food security intervention in peri urban areas where majority of poor urban dwellers are located.
Journal of Food Security. 2019, 7(6), 196-205. DOI: 10.12691/jfs-7-6-2
Pub. Date: December 02, 2019
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by Farzaneh Khalifeh, Maryam Sadat Riasatian, Maryam Ekramzadeh, Naser Honar and Mohammad Jalali
Original Research
Celiac disease (CD) is a chronic immune-mediated enteropathy caused by dietary gluten. The present study aimed to investigate FI in children and adolescents suffering from CD. In this cross-sectional study, a total of 62 known cases of CD (both males and females) were interviewed for assessing FI through a food insecurity questionnaire. Anthropometric indices were also measured. The data are reported as Mean ± standard deviation [SD]. Sixty-two patients, 36 females (58.1%) and 26 (41.9%) males, were surveyed. The age of the participants was 11.04 ±3.8 years. The mean of weight (kg) and height (cm) was 34.69± 17.96 and 139.06 ± 0.22, respectively. The mean FI score was 3.4 ± 2.25 which means insecurity without starvation (mild FI). The results showed that 30.6% of patients were food secure, 35.5% were insecure without starvation, 24.2% insecure with mild starvation, and 9.7% insecure with intense starvation (severe insecurity). The overall prevalence of FI was 69.4% among children. Proposed strategies are needed to improve compliance with gluten-free diet. Also producing especial cheaper products with food labeling and better education about the diet would decrease the risk of FI in this population.
Journal of Food Security. 2019, 7(6), 192-195. DOI: 10.12691/jfs-7-6-1
Pub. Date: November 25, 2019
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