Changing Dietary Practices: The New Food Insecurity among The Pastoralists in Mabwegere Village Kilosa District
Date
2020-06-15
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
The Mwalimu Nyerere Memorial Academy
Abstract
While global and national efforts are increasingly aiming at ending all forms of malnutrition
by 2030, food insecurity levels are increasingly high among the pastoralist communities in
the sub-Saharan Africa. This scenario is attributed to by the existing efforts and strategies,
which are predominantly preoccupied with the narrative that, people are food secured
when everyone has access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food to maintain a healthy and
active life at all the time. This perspective overlooks the presence of heterogeneous
communities with different cultural beliefs about health, livelihoods, and sustainability
of food supply. This article argues that, food security does not only concern with food
availability but also traditional dietary preferences. This study used a qualitative case
oriented design and data were collected through key informant interviews and focus
group discussions. Food production among the Maasai is increasingly inadequate, and
traditional dietary practices among the Maasai pastoralists is increasingly changing as
a result of agrarian transformation in the Kilosa District in Tanzania. This is where large
chunks of land are transformed for agricultural activities as a way of increasing food
availability in terms of the number of meals intake and the type of meals consumed.
Conventional dietary meals such as cereals and green leaves are increasingly consumed
with a decreasing number of meals consumed per day and the changing of the type of
meals consumed. Therefore, the analysis of food and nutrition security should understand
that, cultural food preferences are important because they are interconnected with beliefs
about health, livelihoods and sustainability of food supply. This study suggests that policies
that address food and nutrition insecurity need to take on board the close relationship
between food, nutrition security, and culture. It is important for communities to embrace
other alternatives for livelihood, including farming and government support in irrigation to
improve food access and availability.
Description
Keywords
Food insecurity, Pastoral Maasai, Changing dietary
Citation
APA