Assessment of food and nutritional security status among farming households

Abstract:

Economic angle: a farming household that grows its own food might be assumed food secure almost by definition, yet this research's data from around Maseru suggest that growing food and having reliable year-round access to an adequate diet are considerably less correlated than that assumption implies. A cross-sectional research assessed food and nutritional security status among 240 farming households using the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale alongside income, farm size, and seasonal recall data. Only 28.6% of surveyed farming households were classified as fully food secure, while 12.4% fell into the severely food insecure category despite all households engaging in some form of agricultural production. Food security status correlated more strongly with farm income diversification and market access than with farm size itself, with several small-farm households achieving food security through non-farm income and market purchase power while some larger-farm households remained food insecure due to limited market access or heavy dependence on a single, price-volatile cash crop. Seasonal analysis showed food security status shifting dramatically across the year, with only 22% of households remaining food secure during the pre-harvest lean season against 58% during the immediate post-harvest period, an almost threefold seasonal swing. These findings challenge the assumption that farming automatically confers food security and point toward income diversification, market access, and seasonal buffering strategies, rather than farm size or agricultural production alone, as the more decisive factors determining year-round household food and nutritional security in this farming population.