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Food Insecurity (food + insecurity)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Humanities and Social Sciences	59%
Medical Sciences	16%

Selected Abstracts

FOOD INSECURITY IN BUHAYA: THE CYCLE OF WOMEN'S MARGINALIZATION AND THE SPREAD OF POVERTY, HUNGER, AND DISEASE

ANNALS OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL PRACTICE, Issue 1 2009
Valerie Githinji
This chapter focuses on how the marginalization of Bahaya women increases poverty, thus exacerbating issues of hunger and related disease in a region characterized by a history of environmental degradation, agricultural change and decline, rural poverty and disease. In the past several decades, diminishing sizes of banana farms, an overall decline in cattle, decreasing soil fertility, and an increase in food crop pathogens have posed challenges to achieving adequate agricultural yields in Buhaya of northwestern Tanzania. This situation has resulted in an increase in poverty, food insecurity, nutrition insecurity, and related disease. Culturally, women are the primary agriculturalists and producers and providers of food in Buhaya. However, Bahaya cultural practices hinder women from achieving equal representation in society, thus blocking their access to self advancement and resources such as money, land, education, and agricultural inputs. These constraints marginalize and hinder women from fulfilling their social role as primary farmers and provisioners of food, nutrition, and care. As patriarchal practices and ecological challenges work to constrain women's roles, poverty, food scarcity, and disease increase, affecting and weakening the foundation of Bahaya society and culture. [source]

Poverty, Food Insecurity, HIV Vulnerability and the Impacts of AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa

IDS BULLETIN, Issue 5 2008
Stuart Gillespie
First page of article [source]

Food Insecurity: FAO Report

AFRICA RESEARCH BULLETIN: ECONOMIC, FINANCIAL AND TECHNICAL SERIES, Issue 4 2009
Article first published online: 4 JUN 200
No abstract is available for this article. [source]

From Poverty to Food Insecurity and Child Overweight: A Family Stress Approach

CHILD DEVELOPMENT PERSPECTIVES, Issue 2 2010
Karen McCurdy
Abstract, Food insecurity and child overweight represent major public health problems in the United States, especially for children living in poverty. Recent research has greatly expanded our knowledge regarding the antecedents of these health concerns, yet the causal mechanisms connecting poverty to food insecurity and to child overweight remain unclear. This article reviews the research through the perspective of family stress theory and proposes a developmental model to explain how poverty and its related economic stress affect specific parental resources and behaviors that, in turn, may account for food insecurity and overweight in young children. It proposes maternal depression and family food behaviors,such as the acquisition, provision, and distribution of food in the household,as key mediators linking poverty to food insecurity and child overweight. [source]

A Framework for Understanding the Association Between Food Insecurity and Children's Developmental Outcomes

CHILD DEVELOPMENT PERSPECTIVES, Issue 2 2008
Godwin S. Ashiabi
ABSTRACT,Food insecurity, defined as limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods or limited or uncertain ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways, is still a problem in the United States. It is associated with poor parenting practices, poor health, and socioemotional and cognitive/academic difficulties in children. This review synthesizes some of these findings and suggest links among these outcomes. In this endeavor, it describes the concept of food insecurity and propose a mediational framework to anchor our discussions. Finally, it examines the implications of the review for research and policy. [source]

Food Security, Overweight, and Agricultural Research,A View from 2003

JOURNAL OF FOOD SCIENCE, Issue 1 2004
E. KENNEDY
ABSTRACT: Some of the poorest countries of the world are facing an apparent paradox. Food insecurity, undernutrition, and overweight exist side by side within the same country. Indeed, food-insecure households often contain an overweight member. Data from 11 mega-countries (countries with a population of more than 100 million) will be presented to illustrate the magnitude of the problem. These 11 countries represent more than 60% of the world's population. Agriculture is still a dominant industry. The links between food insecurity, nutritional status, and agriculture will be presented. [source]

Working to eat: Vulnerability, food insecurity, and obesity among migrant and seasonal farmworker families

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL MEDICINE, Issue 4 2010
Kristen Borre PhD
Abstract Background Food insecurity and obesity have potential health consequences for migrant and seasonal farm workers (MSFW). Methods Thirty-six Latino MSFW working in eastern North Carolina whose children attended Migrant Head Start completed interviews, focus groups and home visits. Content analysis, nutrient analysis, and non-parametric statistical analysis produced results. Results MSFW (63.8%) families were food insecure; of those, 34.7% experienced hunger. 32% of pre-school children were food insecure. Food secure families spent more money on food. Obesity was prevalent in adults and children but the relationship to food insecurity remains unclear. Strategies to reduce risk of foods insecurity were employed by MSFW, but employer and community assistance is needed to reduce their risk. Conclusions Food insecurity is rooted in the cultural lifestyle of farmwork, poverty, and dependency. MSFW obesity and food insecurity require further study to determine the relationship with migration and working conditions. Networking and social support are important for MSFW families to improve food security. Policies and community/workplace interventions could reduce risk of food insecurity and improve the health of workers. Am. J. Ind. Med. 53:443,462, 2010. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]

From Poverty to Food Insecurity and Child Overweight: A Family Stress Approach

A Framework for Understanding the Association Between Food Insecurity and Children's Developmental Outcomes

Participation and Impact of Poverty-oriented Public Works Projects in Rural Malawi

DEVELOPMENT POLICY REVIEW, Issue 2 2002
Ephraim W. Chirwa
This article reports on factors influencing participation in the poverty-oriented public works programme in rural Malawi and analyses the determinants of the revealed positive socio-economic impact among the participants. The programme targets poor households through self-selection by offering a wage below the official minimum for rural areas. The empirical results show that most participants are poor and with little education. Probability of particpation is higher for members of female-headed households and households with longer periods of food insecurity, excess supply of labour, few assets and reservation wages below the wage offered in the programme. Taking account of selectivity bias, the impact of the programme increases with the gender (female) of participants and the numbers per household participating. [source]

Food Security in Protracted Crises: Building More Effective Policy Frameworks

DISASTERS, Issue 2005
Margarita Flores
This paper considers the principal elements that underpin policy frameworks for supporting food security in protracted crisis contexts. It argues that maintaining the food entitlements of crisis-affected populations must extend beyond interventions to ensure immediate human survival. A ,policy gap' exists in that capacities for formulating policy responses to tackle the different dimensions of food insecurity in complex, fluid crisis situations tend to be weak. As a result, standardised, short-term intervention designs are created that fall short of meeting the priority needs of affected populations in the short and long term and only partially exploit the range of policy options available. The paper discusses key attributes of agency frameworks that could support more effective policy processes to address longer term as well as immediate food security needs. Additionally, it points to some main challenges likely to be encountered in developing such frameworks and, with the participation of beneficiaries, translating them into effective action. [source]

The Health Sector Gap in the Southern Africa Crisis in 2002/2003

DISASTERS, Issue 4 2004
Andre Griekspoor
The southern Africa crisis represents the first widespread emergency in a region with a mature HIV/AIDS epidemic. It provides a steep learning curve for the international humanitarian system in understanding and responding to the complex interactions between the epidemic and the causes and the effects of this crisis. It also provoked much debate about the severity and causes of this emergency, and the appropriateness of the response by the humanitarian community. The authors argue that the over-emphasis on food aid delivery occurred at the expense of other public health interventions, particularly preventative and curative health services. Health service needs were not sufficiently addressed despite the early recognition that ill-health related to HIV/AIDS was a major vulnerability factor. This neglect occurred because analytical frameworks were too narrowly focused on food security, and large-scale support to health service delivery was seen as a long-term developmental issue that could not easily be dealt with by short-term humanitarian action. Furthermore, there were insufficient countrywide data on acute malnutrition, mortality rates and performance of the public health system to make better-balanced evidence-based decisions. In this crisis, humanitarian organisations providing health services could not assume their traditional roles of short-term assistance in a limited geographical area until the governing authorities resume their responsibilities. However, relegating health service delivery as a long-term developmental issue is not acceptable. Improved multisectoral analytical frameworks that include a multidisciplinary team are needed to ensure all aspects of public health are dealt with in similar future emergencies. Humanitarian organisations must advocate for improved delivery and access to health services in this region. They can target limited geographical areas with high mortality and acute malnutrition rates to deliver their services. Finally, to address the underlying problem of the health sector gap, a long-term strategy to ensure improved and sustainable health sector performance can only be accomplished with truly adequate resources. This will require renewed efforts on part of governments, donors and the international community. Public health interventions, complementing those addressing food insecurity, were and are still needed to reduce the impact of the crisis, and to allow people to re-establish their livelihoods. These will increase the population's resilience to prevent or mitigate future disasters. [source]

Coping Strategies Developed as a Result of Social Structure and Conflict: Kosovo in the 1990s

DISASTERS, Issue 2 2000
Kate Ogden
The end of 1989 brought with it political and economic decisions which resulted in Kosovo being stripped of its autonomy and the Albanian population being expelled from their jobs. These facts combined with ethnic tensions created a decade of conflict and oppression affecting hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians. Thousands of Kosovars moved overseas to seek work to support families at home, altering the way of life of the population of Kosovo irredeemably. The loss of income had serious repercussions on food security throughout the 1990s; possibilities of purchasing food were diminished, control on goods in 1998 reduced availability of foodstuffs, conflict affected accessibility to markets and shops and consequently food intake and nutritional status was compromised. The most vulnerable were those who had no family members overseas. Mass displacement of population due to ethnic cleansing during the war of spring 1999, further jeopardised food security status. Destruction at this time rendered large parts of Kosovo useless and resulted in a shift in the determinant of vulnerability in the post-war period: destruction of houses, land, livestock and agricultural products as well as loss of family members, became a far more pertinent indicator of food insecurity. The strong and clear links between conflict, socio-economic issues and food security are highlighted and discussed in this paper. [source]

Factors Related to Frequency of Fruits and Vegetables Served to Children and Consumed by Mothers in Low-Income Households

FAMILY & CONSUMER SCIENCES RESEARCH JOURNAL, Issue 1 2004
Brenda Jean Birmingham
A survey of low-income mothers of children enrolled in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) was conducted to identify barriers and other factors influencing the frequency of fruits and vegetables served to children and consumed by the mother. Barriers related to adults not liking a wide variety of fruits or vegetables and adults' lack of interest in trying new fruits or vegetables significantly related to mothers serving and consuming fruits and vegetables less frequently. Cost and convenience barriers related more negatively to mothers' own intakes than to what they served to children. Fruit and vegetable intakes were lower among mothers reporting indicators of household food insecurity. Recommendations for WIC nutrition education are discussed. [source]

Dynamics of food-assisted development strategies in Bangladesh

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL WELFARE, Issue 1 2002
C. A. F. Dowlah
This paper examines the dynamics of food-assisted development strategies in Bangladesh focusing on the ultra-poor women and children. The magnitude of poverty and malnutrition has been examined to determine how chronic food insecurity and malnutrition deter the ultra-poor from taking active part in the mainstream development programmes in Bangladesh. Forces and factors that led to policy and programme shifts over the years, including the imperatives of national development experience, World Food Summit 1996 and the Enabling Development Approach of World Food Program, have been scrutinised in order to suggest strategies for directing food assistance more intensely towards community and human resource development, instead of physical or infrastructure development, as done in the past benefiting more the non-poor than the poor. [source]

Hunger: The Silent Epidemic Among Asylum Seekers and Resettled Refugees

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, Issue 1 2008
Linda Piwowarczyk
Refugees and asylum seekers face challenges after arriving in a host country. They carry the trauma that they may have experienced in their countries of origin, during fight, and in countries of asylum. Other stressors impact on their adjustment after arriving in the United States including basic needs such as food, clothing, and shelter. This is a retrospective review of data collected as part of a needs assessment by a program, which serves survivors of torture and refugee trauma. Asylum seekers (n=65) and refugees were compared (n=30). Asylum seekers were more apt to be from Africa (p<.001), need family reunification (p=.027), speak more languages (p<.001), suffer from political persecution (p<.001), move from place to place due to not having a permanent place to live (p=.031), and be unable to contribute to the rent (p<.001). Unadjusted, asylum seekers were also more likely than refugees to have gone to bed hungry in the previous two weeks (p<.001) or since arriving in the United States (p<.001). Refugees were more likely to be eating more food now than before feeing, and asylum seekers the opposite (p<.001). Being an asylum seeker made one 3.7 times more likely to suffer from food insecurity than being a refugee, and 5.3 times more likely to not have work authorization. Among asylum seekers, adjusting for gender, age, education, lack of permanent housing, English fluency, and self-reported health status, not having work authorization made one 5.6 times more likely to suffer from hunger. Independently, being a torture survivor made one 10.4 times more likely to suffer from hunger. Asylum seekers must wait 150 days before applying for asylum in the United States. For humanitarian reasons, mandatory-waiting periods for work authorization for asylum seekers should be eliminated. Les réfugiés et les demandeurs d'asile se heurtent à différentes diffcultés à leur arrivée dans le pays d'accueil. Ils sont porteurs des traumatismes qu'ils peuvent avoir vécus dans leur pays d'origine, durant leur déplacement ou dans des pays d'asile. D'autres facteurs de stress compliquent encore leur acclimatation sur le territoire des Etats-Unis, parmi lesquels la satisfaction de besoins fondamentaux tels que le gîte, le couvert et l'habillement. La présente étude constitue un examen rétrospectif des données recueillies dans le cadre d'une évaluation des besoins, pour un programme destinéà aider des personnes ayant subi la torture et des réfugiés victimes de traumatismes. Elle établit ainsi une comparaison entre les demandeurs d'asile et les réfugiés. Les demandeurs d'asile sont le plus souvent originaires d'Afrique, en attente de regroupement familial, s'expriment dans plus d'une seule langue, se disent victimes de persécutions politiques, semblent avoir du mal à fixer leur résidence en un point précis et ne pas être en mesure de contribuer au paiement d'un loyer. S'ils n'ont pas encore accompli leur adaptation, ils sont en outre plus susceptibles que les réfugiés de s'être couché le ventre vide au cours des deux semaines précédentes ou depuis leur arrivée aux Etats-Unis. Pour leur part, les réfugiés sont plus susceptibles de manger davantage qu'avant leur départ, au contraire des demandeurs d'asile. Le fait d'être demandeur d'asile signife être 3,7 fois plus exposé qu'un réfugié au risque d'insécurité alimentaire, et 5,3 fois plus à celui de ne pas obtenir une autorisation de travail. Parmi les demandeurs d'asile qui rencontrent des diffcultés d'adaptation liées au sexe, à l'âge, au niveau d'éducation, à l'absence de logement durable, à l'incapacité de communiquer facilement en anglais et à un état de santé défaillant, la non-obtention d'une autorisation de travail fait courir un risque de souffrir de la faim 5,6 fois supérieur. Indépendamment de ce qui précède, une personne ayant subi des actes de torture est 10,4 fois plus susceptible de souffrir de la faim. Aux Etats-Unis, les demandeurs d'asile doivent attendre 150 jours avant de pouvoir déposer une demande d'asile. Pour des raisons humanitaires, les périodes d'attente obligatoire de permis de travail devraient être supprimées pour les demandeurs d'asile. Los refugiados y solicitantes de asilo tienen que hacer frente a toda una serie de retos cuando llegan a un país de acogida. Traen consigo el trauma que han experimentado en sus países de origen, en su huída y en los países de asilo. Otros factores de estrés repercuten en su adaptación tras la llegada en los Estados Unidos, a saber, en necesidades tan elementales como los alimentos, la ropa y el albergue. Este recuento retrospectivo de los datos acopiados forma parte de una evaluación de necesidades de un programa que sirve a los sobrevivientes a torturas y a refugiados traumatizados. En este estudio se compararon solicitantes de asilo (n= 65) con refugiados (n= 30). Los solicitantes de asilo provenían mayormente de África (p<.001), venían por razones de reunifcación familiar (p=.027), fueron objeto de persecución (p<.001), se desplazaron de un lugar a otro sin tener un lugar permanente de residencia (p=.031), y no podían pagar un alquiler (p<.001). Los solicitantes de asilo inadaptados eran mayormente refugiados que habían pasado hambre durante los últimos quince días (p<.001) o desde que llegaron a los Estados Unidos (p<.001). Se observó que los refugiados comían más alimentos que antes de huir, mientras que el fenómeno inverso se produjo con los solicitantes de asilo (p<.001). El solicitante de asilo tenía 3,7 veces más probabilidades de sufrir de inseguridad alimenticia que el refugiado, y tenía 5,3 veces más probabilidades de no contar con un permiso de trabajo. Los solicitantes de asilo, clasifcados por sexo, edad, educación, falta de vivienda permanente, conocimientos de inglés y situación sanitaria autosufciente, que no contaban con autorización de trabajo eran 5,6 veces más propensos a sufrir de la hambruna. Independientemente, el ser un sobreviviente a la tortura hacía que se fuera 10,4 veces más propenso a sufrir de la hambruna. Los solicitantes de asilo tienen que aguardar por lo menos 150 días antes de solicitar el asilo en los Estados Unidos. Por razones humanitarias, convendría suprimir estos periodos de espera obligatorios para que los solicitantes de asilo obtengan permisos de trabajo. [source]

Livelihood diversification and implications on dryland resources of central Tanzania

AFRICAN JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY, Issue 2009
Emma T. Liwenga
Abstract The concern over sustainable livelihoods in African drylands is an issue that has received considerable attention from researchers and policy makers alike. Over the past two decades African rural areas have undergone rapid changes, whereby, rural income diversification has become the most salient feature. With a particular focus on dryland ecosystems, among the major challenges facing communities in these areas is recurrent drought leading to conditions of food insecurity. This paper draws on experience on coping mechanisms for food insecurity from an agro-pastoral community in Mvumi, located in the semiarid areas of central Tanzania. An understanding of livelihoods of people in this area has involved examining how communities have managed to adjust their livelihood in the midst of challenges resulting not only from drought but also from various forces such as socio,economic, political and ecological factors. It has been found out that, despite profound food crisis in this area, people are not always desperate and that there are possibilities for realizing some hidden potentials of dryland resources for livelihood diversification. The issue of sustainable natural resource management in such areas is, however, questionable because of some adverse environmental effects associated with some of the coping mechanisms. [source]

Food Security, Overweight, and Agricultural Research,A View from 2003

Agricultural innovation and food security in Sub-Saharan Africa: Tracing connections and missing links

JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, Issue 3 2010
Julius T. Mugwagwa
Abstract Grounded in research carried out by researchers investigating different aspects of technological and institutional innovation in agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), this special issue seeks to make a contribution to empirical evidence and literature on agricultural innovation globally. The contributors explore the relationship between technology, policy and public engagement approaches and wider concepts of technology development and governance, and collectively argue for a broadened perspective on innovation towards generating new ways of thinking that can ultimately improve upon existing practices in the quest for sustainable solutions to food insecurity. Overall, this is not a negative story. Instead of the now common despair about the abilities of Africa to meet it is own food-security requirements, this issue presents articles which demonstrate how much is already in place, with reflections and suggestions on how such resources can be made to work together for the greater socio-economic good of the continent Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

An analysis of food security and poverty in Central Asia,case study from Kazakhstan,

JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, Issue 4 2008
Valerie Rhoe
Abstract During the transition from planned to market-oriented economies, Central Asian countries experienced major socio-economic shocks that increased food insecurity, malnutrition and poverty. In the last 15 years, these countries underwent economic reforms in order to transform their economies, and in response to growing food insecurity and poverty levels, they adopted food self-sufficiency policies. For designing and implementing policy reforms, a good understanding of the magnitude of food insecurity and poverty and their determinants are required. Using the Kazakhstan Living Standard and Measurement Survey, this paper identifies a food poverty line and a total poverty line for Kazakhstan. Then poverty measures from both lines are compared and determinates of poverty are analysed. The results show that the total poverty line captures more of the poor population. Although there are some variations amongst the determinants of poverty under the two poverty lines, the strength of the common determinants is generally weaker when non-food expenditures are included in deriving the poverty line. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Undernutrition among children in South and South-East Asia

JOURNAL OF PAEDIATRICS AND CHILD HEALTH, Issue 9 2010
Sant-Rayn Pasricha
Abstract Undernutrition remains a major public health problem among children living in Asia. Although the burden is maximal among poorer, rural and Indigenous communities, the problem affects the majority in many Asian countries, especially in South Asia. In order to prevent the pervasive consequences of undernutrition, strategies that address this burden are required. Successful implementation of strategies may be limited by the complex aetiology of undernutrition, including the political setting. Rising food insecurity because of climate change, land use for biofuel production and the recent global financial crisis threaten to exacerbate childhood malnutrition. In this review, we describe the burden of undernutrition among Asian children and discuss contributing factors and potential solutions. [source]

Land degradation control and its global environmental benefits

LAND DEGRADATION AND DEVELOPMENT, Issue 2 2005
G. Gisladottir
Abstract Acknowledged by world leaders as a global problem, land degradation has been taken seriously in three ways: its extent and the proportion of the global population affected; international environmental policy responses; and its inter-relation with other global environmental issues such as biodiversity. Messages about land degradation have, however, suffered from abuses, which have rendered appropriate policy responses ineffective. For control to be effective, the paper argues that the synergies between land degradation and the two other main global environmental change components (biodiversity and climate change) should be more fully exploited. A focus on the interlinkages, of which there are six possible permutations, is fully supported by empirical findings that suggest that land degradation control would not only technically be better served by addressing aspects of biodiversity and climate change but also that international financing mechanisms and the major donors would find this more acceptable. The DPSIR (Driving Force, Pressure, State, Impacts, Response) conceptual framework model is used to illustrate how land degradation control could be more effective, tackling not only the drivers of change but also major developmental issues such as poverty and food insecurity. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Mothers' citizenship status and household food insecurity among low-income children of immigrants

NEW DIRECTIONS FOR CHILD & ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENT, Issue 121 2008
Ariel Kalil
Recent data have shown that children of immigrant noncitizens experience more persistent and higher levels of food insecurity than the children of citizens following welfare reform. However, little is known about the range of factors that might explain different rates of food insecurity in the different populations. In this study, the authors used national data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study,Kindergarten cohort to assess this question, using multivariate probit regression analyses in a low-income sample. They found that households of children (foreign and U.S.-born) with noncitizen mothers are at substantially greater risk of food insecurity than their counterparts with citizen mothers and that demographic characteristics such as being Latina, levels of maternal education, and large household size explain about half of the difference in rates. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source]

Working to eat: Vulnerability, food insecurity, and obesity among migrant and seasonal farmworker families

ANTHROPOLOGICAL APPROACHES TO THE GLOBAL FOOD CRISIS: UNDERSTANDING AND ADDRESSING THE "SILENT TSUNAMI"

ANNALS OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL PRACTICE, Issue 1 2009
David Himmelgreen
The food riots and demonstrations that occurred in more than 50 countries in 2008 signaled the oncoming global economic recession. Skyrocketing food and fuel prices spurred on violence in poorer countries where there is no social safety net and in places impacted by food insecurity and malnutrition. Today, while the prices for some food staples have retracted a little, the deepening economic recession poses a threat in wealthier nations including the United States and members of the European Union. For example, the shuttering fall in the U.S. stock market in October 2008 resulted in the loss of billions of dollars not only to individual investors but also to states and local municipalities. In this environment, there is a potentially grave threat to the social safety net in the United States including food assistance programs. The World Food Program (WFP) has cited the increase in world food prices as the biggest challenge in its 45-year history, calling the impact a "silent tsunami" that threatened to plunge millions into hunger. In this volume, practicing and applied anthropologists examine the current global food crisis in a variety of settings including Belize, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Ethiopia, Lesotho, Mozambique, Tanzania, and the United States. Further, they use a variety of theoretical orientations and methodological approaches to understand the chronic nature of food insecurity and the ways in which global food policies and economic restructuring have resulted in increasing food inequities across the globe. Throughout this volume, the authors make suggestions for combating the global food crisis through the application of anthropological principles and practices. [source]

DEALING WITH THE GLOBAL FOOD CRISIS IN LOCAL SETTINGS: NONINTENSIVE AGRICULTURE IN LESOTHO, SOUTHERN AFRICA

ANNALS OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL PRACTICE, Issue 1 2009
Nancy Romero-Daza
This article seeks to contribute to efforts toward the identification and critical analysis of sustainable community-based initiatives that could help to ameliorate the impact of the global food crisis in developing countries. To do so, we present a discussion of a sustainable agriculture program in Lesotho, in sub-Saharan Africa. We contextualize the discussion in the framework of both the food crisis and the HIV/AIDS pandemic, both of which are taking a major toll in Lesotho. We then present a brief discussion of some of our anthropological contributions to the work of an NGO that is implementing sustainable agriculture initiatives in periurban areas of Lesotho where households are at high risk for food insecurity. [source]

ASKING THE RIGHT QUESTIONS: COMMUNITY-BASED STRATEGIES TO COMBAT HUNGER

ANNALS OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL PRACTICE, Issue 1 2009
Miriam S. Chaiken
Anthropologists have long recognized the value of community participation in development planning and project implementation, and this paper discusses a new strategy to engage communities to monitor conditions of food insecurity and vulnerability, and to develop strategies for mitigation against shocks. Community based early warning programs (CEWS) complement existing hunger early warning systems that rely on satellite and agroclimatic data by collecting and monitoring data in rural communities. These strategies build on existing community awareness of local conditions, provide support for locally identified mitigation activities, and foster community participation. Examples from programs in Mozambique illustrate the potential of the CEWS strategies for effecting sustainable change and combating chronic food insecurity and vulnerability. [source]

FOOD INSECURITY IN BUHAYA: THE CYCLE OF WOMEN'S MARGINALIZATION AND THE SPREAD OF POVERTY, HUNGER, AND DISEASE

ANTHROPOLOGICAL APPROACHES FOR UNDERSTANDING THE COMPLEXITIES OF THE GLOBAL FOOD CRISIS

ANNALS OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL PRACTICE, Issue 1 2009
Sunil K. Khanna
The current global food crisis can be, in part, described as an outcome of not only historical patterns of income inequalities and long-standing food trade policies biased in favor of wealthier nations but also in terms of significant reductions in food aid and other safety-net programs for people living in poor nations. Despite the serious nature of the problem of food insecurity, only a limited amount of reliable descriptive research, especially at the community level, has explored the causes and consequences of the current food crisis. Anthropology offers a unique set of methodological and theoretical approaches that can be useful for designing, implementing, and evaluating programs and policies aimed at alleviating poverty and reducing food insecurity. Anthropologically informed research can provide a dynamic understanding of food insecurity in terms of its causes and consequences and its local, regional, and global underpinnings. This information can be helpful in incorporating a community-level understanding of the "local" determinants of food insecurity for developing effective and sustainable food policy and intervention programs. [source]

Living Wage Considerations in the Right-to-Work State of South Carolina

ANTHROPOLOGY OF WORK REVIEW, Issue 1 2010
Ann Kingsolver
Abstract In a time of economic crisis, when unemployment and food insecurity have increased dramatically in South Carolina, is a living wage movement more or less likely? This article does not investigate this question ethnographically, but discusses the conditions for a living wage movement in this southern U.S. state, including the right-to-work legislation and logics that frame understandings and policies regarding employment and economic well-being in the state. Interpretive and political economic anthropological perspectives are employed in this analysis. [source]