Discussion

151

The jury concurred that there was compelling need to use the coping strategies that were understood by the community. The community jury proposed that wild fruit harvesting, dry planting, stream bank or riverbank cultivation, conservation agriculture, planting drought resistant small grains, traditional food storage and food processing techniques were some of the practices which need to be revived. Abur (2014) confirms that traditional coping strategies such as conservation farming and traditional vegetable seasoning assisted traditional communities in addressing food deficit. The citizens‟ jury recommended the revitalisation of these coping methods. Although participants acknowledged that these strategies had their own challenges, the weaknesses identified were over-weighed by the returns.

152

subsidies from various stakeholders that motivate households to participate in campaigns for the rehabilitation the degraded ecosystem.

Indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) are still important in the provision of household food. The knowledge enable household to cope with variations in weather patterns and design appropriate coping strategies. Bedeke (2012) noted that the Wareda people in Ethiopia, used indigenous knowledge systems such as cloud colours to determine the amount of rainfall. Another instance was that of the Wagogo communities in Tanzania who foretold persistent storm, thunder and drought during the onset of the rain season. These warning system or forecasts assisted people to put in place mechanisms to cope with food deficit. Thus, intervention programmes should identify the IKS existing in the study area and harness them. These are time-tested systems that assisted local people to address food shortages.

The discussions on the theme on enhancing household support systems showed that there were limited employment opportunities in Chipinge district. The disposal of assets including ploughs, for example, jeopardized production and income earnings. Without productive assets most households rely on food aid. Though food aid was a common coping option especially during droughts, its contribution was insignificant. In order to address the income challenge, intervention strategies should integrate non-farm and farm activities through livelihood diversification. Furthermore, coping options should not be exclusively limited to agricultural activities. However, these interventions should be adopted cognisant of the fact that spending more time on non-farming work at the expense of working on farms can worsen household food security status. This is the case if the wages earned do not commensurate with the forgone farm income. Also, creation of activities that promote household income such as money transfer projects for poor households plays a vital role in addressing household income challenges.

Access to credit has potential to create a favarable environment to participate in economic activities that increase household income. Stakeholders operating in Chipinge district should provide credit facilities to suitable household heads using a targeting principle that reflects on the real characteristics of food insecure households. Also participants raised the challenge of collateral security which prevented households from accessing credit. Collateral security challenges should be addressed if stakeholders need to solve household food insecurity in Chipinge district.

Sufficient consideration should be given to policy strategies that are directed towards delivery of better family planning methods. Community participation in the design of information meant to

153

impart adequate knowledge about family planning should be a prerequisite. It was also recommended that stakeholders should support formal education as a way of addressing household food insecurity. Furthermore, since households that accessed extension amenities had a greater likelihood of being food secure, strategies should deliver sufficiently proficient and equipped extension officers who inform farmers on improved agricultural technologies. Provision of adequate extension services has potential to increase adeptness in food production systems.

The capacity of families to draw on income sources outside farming is critical to the success of poverty alleviation interventions. There is need for strategies which are geared towards generating employment in Chipinge district. Access to income prospects outside the farming sector make a great difference in an area like Chipinge district, whose natural resources are under immense stress from unsustainable population growth rates. Increasing household income will address household food insecurity and malnutrition in Chipinge district.

The discussion on enhancing household support systems deliberated more on the strengthening of primary health care delivery system. The discussion centred on child nutrition, maternal interventions, and provision of funds to finance nutritional-based interventions.

Participants emphasised the necessity for more specific nutrition and health support, especially on the prioritization of nutritional interventions on the public well-being programmes. It was stated that these programmes ought to underscore on establishment of health care systems, focusing on capacity building for staff and financial investment. This assist in identifying, monitoring, and treating diseases associated with food deficit. Participants also indicated that community-level interventions to support structured coping mechanisms could also be embraced in parallel to government policy interventions

The need for investment in targeted basic social services and communal safety nets was also discussed. With heightened food deficit and poverty greater investment in health, education, water and sanitation is required. The targeted safety nets should assist the most deprived households to establish sustainable coping options. Furthermore, investment in social protection should co-exist with precise interventions on health, employment generation and nutrition.

Participants also discussed on the need to strengthen the food security monitoring systems in order to support policy-making process in the study area. Proposals were suggested that the present systems that deliver information on food deficit at the local level ought to be supported.

It was noted that focus on assessing the latent and real effects of food deficit can permit early response action and risk reduction.

154

During the discussion, it was noted that certain coping options associated with poor households were linked to certain social clusters. These coping patterns were traced to historic configurations of discrimination, restricted access to financial, credit, market data and information services. Poor households resorted to child labour to survive, or sacrifice fecund resources to purchase food. Political relationships also regulated who has access to employment and amenities. Thus, the jury emphasised that there was need to examine the coping strategies in order to identify the commonly adopted strategies when households failed to satisfy their food requirements. Thus, the discussions concluded that it was vital to differentiate those coping options that were not viable and coping options that resulted in positive outcomes.

The jury gave a determination on household coping security outcomes. It was agreed that in order to determine whether households were effective in pursuing their coping strategies, it is imperative to assess the outcome processes that capture need or welfare fulfilment. Education, constant availability of food, health, communal network involvement, habitat, education, physical security and ecological protection are coping outcomes that should be expected. The examination of outcomes should govern what necessities are presently not met, and also trade- offs between needs. The need to establish household-based coping monitoring methods that allow households to track their susceptibility to food deficit was also emphasised. This information assists in determining the food deficit threat and the effectiveness of preferred coping strategies.