There have been many attempts to define the concept of food security. The FAO (2008) definition which says food
security is "a situation that exists when all people, at all
times, have physical, social, and economic access to suffi cient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life" is widely
used. Four key dimensions of food security have also been
identified namely: food availability, food accessibility, food system stability and food utilization (FAO 2008).
Prior to the 1970s, food security mainly related to national food production and international trade (Devereux and Maxwell 2001; Maxwell and Smith, undated), but the concept has since
been expanded to include households' and individuals' access
to food. Generally, looking at food security from a wider (natio-
nal/regional) viewpoint has the effect of masking or concealing the shortages or deprivation at household level. This is because commercial agriculture, which uses irrigation infrastructure, inputs such as fertilisers, pesticides, labour and appropriate farming knowledge, can lead to high yields and contribute to food security at national level. Several reports have indicated that South Africa is food secure at national level (e.g. Koch 2011; Altman et al. 2009) but there is variation on the reported status of household food security. Studies on household food security in South Africa use a range of indicators and measure- ment tools. Consequently, reported levels of food insecurity vary widely across studies. Household food insecurity levels ranging from 35 to 73 % have been reported (Hendriks 2005). Jacobs (2009) estimated that roughly 85 % of the population cannot afford to purchase a balanced diet providing sufficient energy. High levels of chronic malnutrition among infants and
young children are further evidence that food insecurity is a significant problem at household level.
Food security goes beyond food availability and accessibility, it also includes whether the diet is balanced that is,
whether all the essential nutrients are available in their
correct proportions (FAO 2008). We argue that if a house- hold has enough maize to provide adequate phutu throughout the year but struggles to get relish most of the time, such a household cannot be regarded as food secure since the absence of relish means that the maize meal will not be palatable and therefore may not be eaten in sufficient quan- tities to give an adequate diet. Furthermore, foods from the wild such as indigenous vegetables, fruits, mushrooms and bush meat which contribute to the rural household food basket are usually not included in national foods baskets (Legwaila et al. 2011; Bharucha and Pretty 2010). Without a better understanding of these dimensions of food insecurity at household level, it is difficult to estimate total food insecurity and understand the causes of vulnerability to food insecurity among rural households.
Problem statement
There is a growing recognition that the present problems with food insecurity and poor nutrition need an integrated approach, which acknowledges the complex and integrated nature of rural poverty (Chambers 1990) so as to achieve synergies through the integration of various disciplines in mitigating the problem (see McLachlan and Garrett 2008).
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