Predictors of Household Food Sufficiency in Singida Municipality, Tanzania

Abstract

Incidences of food shortage and poverty are highly reported on Africa specifically sub-Saharan part, despite having a large number of the population engaging in agriculture residing in the rural area. Different scholars have managed to associate food security which involves food availability, food access, food utilization and stability at the household level with various factors. The study takes a similar root in pinning down factors related to the food shortage in Singida. Taking into account socio-economic characteristics of household in analysis, it is indicated that food shortage in Singida area is more pronounced during farming season, that is November to March and it is associated with gender, marital status, education level, occupation and place of residence of the household head. Meanwhile, age of head of household, total manpower in the household, amount of maize harvested, the use of fertilizer, farm size and household expenditure on food had no significant effect in determining food shortage at the household level. Since education has shown a significant positive effect of not having food shortage, and community in Singida depends much on rain-fed agriculture system, the problem of food shortage may be tackled through extension services toward creating awareness on improved agriculture practice for more farm yield given the small piece of land available, and improvement in storage mechanism.