Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
House ownership
Owner-households were more likely to practise UA than those who were
staying in rented accommodation, which corroborates what Mudimu et al
(2005) found. The odds ratio for this variable is 0.22, meaning that owner-
households were approximately 22 per cent more likely to participate in UA
compared with those in rented accommodations.
Household size
Larger households were more likely to participate in UA than small
households. The Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee makes the
same observation (ZIMVAC, 2003).
Educational level of household head
Households where the head had up to primary level education were
approximately eight times more likely to practise UA than those whose heads
had educational levels beyond primary level.
Objective 2: Assessment of food security
Overall, based on the benchmark of having 70 per cent of the recommended
2100 kcal/aeu per day (where 'aeu' is adult equivalence unit) for Zimbabwe,
92 households, or 25 per cent of the sample, were considered to be food
secure. The percentage of household energy requirements for food-insecure
households increased with expenditure, from 66.9 per cent for the lowest
expenditure quartile to 80.9 per cent for the highest. A rather surprising result
is that the mean adequacy for female-headed households was higher than for
their male counterparts. This was the case both for households that were food
secure (107.3 per cent of caloric requirements met compared with 106.9 per
cent) and for those that were food insecure (79.1 per cent compared with 73.8
per cent).
A summary of the relationships between food security and the practice of
UA is given in Table 4.5. Among those that practised UA, about twice as
many households (26.3 per cent) were food secure compared with 13.5 per
cent among those not practising UA. Conversely, households defined as food
secure and practising UA met 76 per cent of their requirements as compared
to food-insecure households not practising UA, who met 65 per cent of their
energy requirements.
Households whose household head contributed to UA on a full-time basis
tended to meet more of their requirements (79 per cent of caloric requirements
vs 66 per cent for households whose heads do not contribute to labour).
Households represented with owners met more (79 per cent) of their
requirements, compared with 70 per cent where housing is provided by
employers (signifying less security of land tenure). Families coped with food
stress by regularly reducing the number of meals eaten per day, as well as by
rationing quantities of food eaten per meal.
Urban agriculture contributes significantly to urban food security in the
period during which grain produced by UA lasts in a household. A total of
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