Household Food Security and Hunger in Rural and Urban Communities in the Free State Province, South Africa

Abstract

Household food security impacts heavily on quality of life. We determined factors associated with food insecurity in 886 households in rural and urban Free State Province, South Africa. Significantly more urban than rural households reported current food shortage (81% and 47%, respectively). Predictors of food security included vegetable production in rural areas and keeping food for future use in urban households. Microwave oven ownership was negatively associated with food insecurity in urban households and using a primus or paraffin stove positively associated with food insecurity in rural households. Interventions to improve food availability and access should be emphasized.

KEYWORDS:

• hunger
• food security
• food shortage

Additional information

Funding

We acknowledge the National Research Foundation for funding this study; the participants; the Department of Biostatistics for data analysis, the local fieldworkers and the research team. Dr. Daleen Struwig, medical writer, Faculty of Health Sciences, UFS, is acknowledged for technical and editorial preparation of the manuscript.