Food security still a challenge

Pauline Dikuelo | Monday March 9, 2015 16:24

Francis Wanyoike, a consultant with international livestock research institute revealed this last week  in Gaborone 0during the conference on Policies for Competitive Smallholder livestock production that was attended by most of African countries.

“Following reports by Food and Agriculture Organisation 2008, about 30 percent of the people suffered chronic undernourishment, which resulted in the government initiating numerous programmes to combat malnutrition.

‘To date food security for all remains a government objective in their National Development Plan 10,” said Wanyoike.

The methodology of food security analysis confirms claim in numerous households that they had suffered lack of food. This justifies continued efforts to ensure realisation of food for all in Botswana.  The significant effect of livestock keeping on food security implies that promotion of these activities could foster alleviation of malnutrition especially among farmers.

However Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) conducted a Food security and Consumption patterns among Livestock keepers in Botswana analysis in 2013 after realising that not much is known about smallholders producers in Botswana because the past research and policy focused more on the beef.

According to the research, from the 560 livestock producers’ households where it was conducted, it emerged that about 91 percent of them are adequate in terms of food security status. The remaining nine percent has been shared by the poor with five percent and the borderline with four percent. “About 79 percent of them were males while the remaining 31 percent were females. Fifty-three percent of them practised crop farming while 79 percent kept livestock only. 

“Even though nine percent of these farmers are doing this for business, 26 percent of them are formally employed somewhere while 29 percent are retired.”  Wanyoike further urged the government and the people of Botswana to save money by encouraging consumption of own produced foods among farmers.

The objective of this analysis was to characterise food security situation including also food consumption patterns in agricultural households in Botswana as well as investigate the effect of various factors on nutrition in agricultural households.