African Journal of Agricultural
Research (2015): 4783-4794
Food insecurity continues to be a major contributing factor to nutrition insecurity in developing
countries. A nine item Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) was administered twice to 307
households among three agro-ecological zones in rural communities of Kilosa District-Tanzania to
measure food security. Households were surveyed once during the rainy season (February–May) and
once immediately post harvest (September–October) in the year 2011. The mean HFIAS score was the
highest during the rainy season (8.15±6.06) and ranged from 0 to 26. During the harvest season, the
mean HFIAS was 6.76±5.88 and ranged from 0 to 24. Using the categorical measure of food insecurity,
the proportion of food secure households was higher during harvest season (31.3%) than was the case
19.9% during the rainy season. Similarly, 31.6% of the surveyed households were classified as being
most food insecure during the rainy season as opposed to 26.1% during the harvest season (P=0.01).
Food insecurity persisted among 39.2% of the surveyed households during the rainy season and period
after harvest. The households in which at least one member offered casual labour such as the
clearance of the farm fields, had 2.1 higher odds (95% CI: 1.05 to 4.29) of being food insecure. A
substantial proportion of the surveyed households were food insecure across agricultural seasons and
in various agro-ecological zones.