Beside households’ food consumption patterns, this study considers food security in its wider dimension, embracing the idea developed by Maxwell and Devereux (2001) that personal perceptions and people’s feelings should also be considered in a household food security analysis (see chapter 2). Hence, in this section we will look at farmers’ perceptions of food security and analyse them under their contextual perspective.
From the results of the interviews done for this study it emerges that the majority of the households interviewed - around 58% - reported consuming three meals per day, including breakfast consisting of tea with sugar. Yet almost 29% of the households only consume two meals per day (breakfast and evening meal), and 17% consumes between two to three meals per day, depending on the time of the year or/and ability to find food by other means. Moreover, from the interviews it emerges that the ability to consume three meals per day is not necessarily connected to agricultural performance/harvest. In fact, of the families interviewed the great majority has to find another source of income other than agriculture to be able to buy the food they need (coping strategies will be further analysed in Chapter 7), confirming that beside food supply and distribution, the ability to purchase the food available is important (Sen, 1981). Moreover, the fact that 58% of the households consume three meals per day is not a guarantee of diversification, quantity of the food consumed or
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satisfaction. For example, J.R.S., a farmer that live with his wife and three children in the village of Msua (Coast region) claims that:
‘thank God most of the time we eat three times per day; however, my wife makes sure that we eat three times a day by sharing the food during the day, hence we feel a bit less hungry after the meal and we can continue with our activities, but we are almost never fully satisfied. Moreover, to be able to have two full meals in a day my wife is forced to buy maize flour all the time, while the kids would like to eat rice sometimes, but simply we cannot afford that’ (J.R.S., 2012).
Indeed, feeling food secure and consuming three meals per day are not necessarily connected. From the result of this study’s interviews it emerges that the majority of the households struggle to meet their dietary needs and feel food insecure. In particular, nearly 70% of the farming households describe themselves as ‘not having enough food’. Another 11% of the households describe themselves as having enough only in years of good harvest, while only 20% of the households claim that they have enough food to meet their dietary requirements.
However, interestingly, not all households that reported having enough food consume three meals per day, confirming the idea that perception and quantity of food consumed are not necessarily connected. Furthermore, within those households there are very few that rely exclusively on agriculture, confirming that the great majority of households that do rely on agriculture as a source of food or income are food insecure. In fact, of the 125 households interviewed only 11 households (9%) meet these conditions at the same time: being dependent on farming for a living, feeling that they have enough food and consuming three meals per day. Yet even in
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these households there is no guarantee of food diversification and food security on the long term
Moreover, the households that define themselves as having enough food do not necessarily belong to the wealthier category (group I of tables 3 and 4 of this chapter), indicating that perceptions of security also depends on the contexts in which the household live. In short, the wealth of a house may indicate the vulnerability to food insecurity of a certain household, but that does not necessarily correspond to the personal perception of security of the household. For instance, some households may feel that they have enough food for the household for certain reasons: a limited number of people in the household, help from other family members or from the government - in the form of food aid or support to the elders - high expenditure on food as part of total income, little knowledge of the importance of differentiation and problems related to malnourishment, and/or they may be advantaged by the good location of their farm and hence have a higher production per acre than other farmers. For example Mongomole, in Coast region, is closer to the river than other areas, hence the soil is more productive and there is the possibility to cultivate vegetables as irrigation is possible. The farmers of this area, by selling the vegetables they produce at the local market have more cash income available at their disposal.
But the greatest differences in how people perceive their poverty and their food insecurity are found according to the community where such households are located. For instance, in the village of Kwala (Coast region), where social differentiation is higher and the contact with the ‘outside world’ is facilitated by the presence of an American NGO and the presence of electricity and tv in some shops on the main road of the village, people tend to be more critical, have higher ambitions and look at
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themselves with a more negative attitude. On the other hand, people living in more isolated areas, such as a community I interviewed between Mperamumbi and Msua (Coast region, at about 10km from the village of Kwala on a dirt road), composed of 11 scattered very poor farming households that live out of agriculture and charcoal production, tend to see their situation through different lenses, and to be more fatalist and resigned about their condition. For example, S.M., around 40 years old (he is not sure about his age), welcomed me in his thatched hut where he lives with his wife and two young children, who both showed swollen stomachs. Compared to other households interviewed, my first impression was that this was one of the poorest. S.M. and his wife farm 1 ½ acre planted with millet, maize and rice, primarily for their own consumption. When asked if food was enough for his family, he replied: ‘sometimes food is enough, other time it is not enough, but what can we do, it is not a problem, we go to bed hungry and we think about that tomorrow’ (S.M., 2012). He said that they only eat twice a day. I also asked him why sometimes the food was not enough and if the lack of rain was a problem and he replied: ‘Rain is not a problem, it depends on God; if God gives us rain it rains otherwise there is no rain. The major problems are insects, birds and pastoralists’ (ibid.). A farmer that lives nearby, S. H., (a 32 year old woman with 4 children) has similar answers; she said that food is enough during harvesting time, but then ‘it finishes and we do not have enough’ (S.H., 2012). When asked why her farm cannot produce and what are the problems that she faces every day, she thought at it as if she has never thought of it before, and after few minutes she said: ‘We don’t have problems, this is how life works. Maybe... buying seeds is difficult’ (ibid., 2012). When asked about future plans, the farmers interviewed in this area had to think a lot before answering.
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Hence, this demonstrates that the way farmers perceive their condition is related to the conditions of the households around them. Although farmers in Kwala were in some respects wealthier compared to the community of farmers in Mperamumbi, they tended to define themselves in much more negative terms than farmers in Mperamumbi. For example, in smaller and more remote communities (such as Mperamumbi), most households only consume two meals per day. Nevertheless, this is perceived to be normal, as it is a condition shared by all nearby households. Therefore, they feel most insecure when they cannot provide two meals per day for the household. On the other hand, in larger communities, such as in Kwala and Dutumi (Coast) and Kigare (Kilimanjaro), farmers may feel insecure if they are not able to provide a certain amount or a certain crop to the family, based on food preferences and on a frequency of three meals per day, comparing their condition to the conditions of wealthier households of the area. Differentiation is however not as defined as we may think, and is not the only determinant of a different perception of ‘security’ between farmers. In fact, as mentioned previously, in the seven villages surveyed there are only a few wealthy farmers able to make a living out of agriculture alone (only 11 households out of 125). Most of them are also extension officers, so despite agriculture remaining their main activity, they can also count on a state salary, and others do not live there on a regular basis (they usually have other houses in bigger towns nearby).
While differentiation could lead to clashes within society amongst members of different social status, in the villages surveyed this does not happen. Poorer farmers tend to compare their conditions to the condition of wealthier households, but from the interviews it emerged that wealthier farmers are usually seen with respect and admiration, as they are usually able to employ other farmers in their farms and they
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let or borrow some agricultural inputs such as tractors and water pumps to the rest of the farmers. For instance, in the village of Kwala (Coast region), E.M. is not only the wealthiest amongst all farmers but amongst the wealthiest people in the village (wealthier than state officials, teachers and doctors). Graduated in UK, he comes from Kilimanjaro region, belongs from the Chagga tribe, but has lived in this village for more than 30 years. He owns his own tractor, motorbike and car - the only car in the village - and his house is the only house in the village with glass windows (usually houses in this region only have bars in their windows). He also has his own milling machine and sells most of the rice he produces. He is highly admired by the community, and involved in local decisions in several ways. For instance, he is always invited to official meetings and ceremonies and he has been nominated to be part of the Secondary School decision board. He is a role model for the younger generations28, and farmers talk about him in a positive way, reporting how much he helps them (by hiring them to farm his land, or borrowing the tractor, or providing advice).
In this sense, differentiation is pushing poorer farmers in the village to make efforts towards improving their current situation of insecurity and their farming conditions. When asked about plans for the future, farming’ households in the larger villages show more hope for a better future and tend to have bigger plans, such as ‘get a loan to buy a water pump’, ‘have electricity in the house’, ‘be part of a farmers’ group and ask for a loan to buy a tractor’. On the other side, the answers from households in smaller and more isolated communities concerning their plans for the future reflect a scarce faith in a change of their current situation, showing resignation to
28 In a survey I conducted in Kwala Secondary School in 2012, on 55 students interviewed (aged
13-18 and all belong to farming families), few were the ones that want to pursue farming in the future (only 21), and within them 9 mentioned the name of E.M. as their inspiration.
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plan to continue farming as they currently do or burn charcoal to get more income. These attitudes will be better discussed in Chapter 8, when analysing farmers’ responses and coping strategies against food insecurity. In the next section we will look at why the condition of food insecurity persists in many households interviewed.