The role of women’s income generating activities in household food security in the urban poor : the case of Temeke district in Dar es salaam region
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Date
2000
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Publisher
Sokoine University of Agriculture
Abstract
The study reported here describes the contribution of women’s income generating activities in household food security with respect to nutritional status of children in the urban poor. The study was conducted in Temeke District, Dar es Salaam Region, Tanzania. The general objective was to investigate the contribution of women’s income generating activities in household food security. Specifically the study identified and characterized income generating activities undertaken by women, examined the level of income generated through women’s income generating activities, assessed the contribution of women and men to household expenditure on food and other items and assessed the nutritional status of children below five years of age in participating households. A cross sectional single visit survey was conducted on a randomly selected sample of 80 households. A total of 80 women were interviewed using a pre-tested structured questionnaire. Nutritional status of children below five years of age was assessed by anthropometric methods. Weight- for-age was used as an indicator of nutritional status. Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) Programme. The findings show that, income generating activities carried out by women are small-scale activities that provide services. Among those identified in this study include food vending “mama ntilie”, vegetable cultivation, sale of charcoal and local brew. Others included sewing, handicraft, hair plaiting, vegetable and fruit stalls, sale of refreshments (soft drinks, juices and beer) and video show. These activities were hampered by poor infrastructure, low use of capital, lack of business education and lack of group
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mobilization. Women earned an average of 34 237.98 Tshs per month. Details on the expenditure pattern revealed that food had a higher priority for women than men. Women spent 37 percent and 33 percent of their earnings on food and non-food items respectively compared to 30 percent and 38.6 percent of men’s earnings on food and non-food items respectively. Assessment of nutritional status of children indicated that 52.5 percent of children had normal weight for age while 47.6 percent were underweight compared to the national average of 28 percent. Assessment of factors associated with nutritional status of the children revealed that women’s time in IGAs was negatively related to the children’s weight-for-age, an indicator for nutritional status but the association was not significant at 5% level. Furthermore, the results indicate that women’s income spent on food was significant and negatively related to nutritional status of children (P = 0.05) mainly due to the fact that these households solely depended on income earned from income generating activities for a living. As
a result they used a small proportion of their income as an economic measure to ensure supplies throughout the year. Other factors that also contributed to poor nutritional status of children in the sampled households include lack of nutritional knowledge on the part of women and poor environmental sanitation in the area.
The study recommends the following:
(1) Training of women in marketing and managerial skills and providing them necessary resources to increase their productivity.
(2) Reduction of women’s workload in different activities related to food security so
as to allow them more time in IGAs.
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(3) Improve nutritional knowledge of women in order to make them understand the best use of their income.
Description
MSc. Dissertation in Agricultural Education and Extension
Keywords
Women’s Income, Household Food Security, Temeke District, Dar Es Salaam Region