The state of urban food insecurity in Malawi’s four major cities

The world population is rapidly urbanising. As the majority of urban dwellers in Africa are net food buyers, they are vulnerable to income and food price shocks. At the current rate of urbanisation, food insecurity is likely to pose a significant future challenge. There is a paucity of available studies on urban food security in Africa and more so for Malawi where most food security analyses focus on rural contexts. This study set out to address this deficiency. The study compared the levels and severity of food insecurity in Malawi’s four major cities: Blantyre, Lilongwe, Mzuzu and Zomba and identified the groups most vulnerable to food insecurity. The data of 1728 urban households were drawn from Malawi’s fourth Integrated Household Survey (IHS 4) of 2016/17. Six available food security indicators (the Household Dietary Diversity Score, the Food Consumption Score, the Months of Adequate Household Food Provisioning, the reduced Coping Strategies Index, an asset index and food expenditure as a share of total household expenditure) were used to compare food insecurity in the four cities. A bivariate analysis of the proportions of food-insecure households was conducted to establish the severity of food insecurity. Correlation analysis was employed to identify the groups most vulnerable to food insecurity. The majority of food-insecure households were located in the Lilongwe and Zomba districts. The majority of households had acceptable levels of food consumption and dietary diversity. On average, households reported having adequate food availability for eight months of the vi year. December, January and February were reportedly the most difficult months in terms of food access. Forty-three percent of the sampled households were food insecure based on the reduced Coping Strategies Index. A third of the total sample population spent over 75 percent of their budget on food. On average, households owned seven (out of ten) classes of assets. Most households applied two of the five coping mechanisms during the survey period. The consumption of less preferred or cheaper foods was the most commonly used coping strategy. Poor households, households headed by uneducated people, households with a high number of dependents, households with fewer income sources and male-headed households were identified as the groups most likely to experience food insecurity in these cities. The study concluded that urban food insecurity was relatively low and less severe in the four Malawian cities compared to published statistics on rural areas despite rapid urban population growth. However, some households had difficulties in accessing enough food during certain months of the year, implying a seasonal dimension to food insecurity. Food insecure urban households in Malawi’s cities tend to adopt less severe food coping strategies that are less likely to compromise their long-term food consumption. Across Malawi’s major cities, households most vulnerable to food insecurity were typically large poor, male-headed households with an uneducated head and many dependents. Vulnerable households had limited sources of income and no access to credit. Based on these findings, the study accepted the hypothesis that the above identified groups were more vulnerable to food insecurity. Any intervention that seeks to increase the availability and accessibility of quality livelihood options for urban households in Malawi would likely improve food security and reduce vulnerability for specific categories of households. There is a need to design cost-effective, well-targeted social protection instruments to help the most vulnerable cope with income or price shocks and build assets. The government needs to intensify skills development programs for the self-employed as well as those seeking or already in wage employment that will improve the quality of labour, thereby improving their probability of securing a decent livelihood. Urban households could diversify their income portfolios through engaging in micro to small and medium enterprises to supplement the existing livelihood sources. Households need to increase their savings to cushion them in the event of income and price shocks. Where possible, urban households could adopt homestead food production, specifically focusing on the nutrient dense foods such as green-leafy vegetables.