ABSTRACT
This study examines patterns and trends in household food security in Bushbuckridge, Mpumalanga Province, South Africa, from 2010 to 2019. We use data from a household panel nested in the Agincourt Health and Socio-Demographic Surveillance System. Findings indicate that there have been improvements in household food security in this rural setting over the last decade. By polychoric principal component analysis, an aggregate food security index was constructed and we observed a small, yet important, proportion of households (7.8%) that remained chronically food insecure. An ordered probit model was used to estimate the determinants of food security. Findings reveal that the observed differences in household food security status are as a result of differences in socioeconomic status. We therefore recommend that focus must be placed on identifying economic opportunities and empowering the chronically food insecure households if universal household food security is to be attained in rural South Africa and beyond.
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to the respondents, field staff and management of SAMRC/Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit, School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa for their respective contributions towards the collection and production of the data used in this study. The SUCSES study was made possible with funding from the National Research Foundation, ACCESS, and the World Agroforestry Centre. The study was supported indirectly with funding or support for the operation of the Agincourt HDSS from the Wellcome Trust, UK (grant 085477/Z/08/Z), the South African Medical Research Council, and the South African Department of Science and Innovation through the South African Population Research Infrastructure Network (SAPRIN).
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).