Factors influencing food accessibility among rural households in Kitgum District, Northern Uganda

Abstract

The study Asseessd the factors that influence the accessibility of food among rural households in Labongo Akwang sub county Kitgum district with specific objectives of characterizing rural households, the factors that influence access and availability of food among rural households and ways on how to increase access and availability of food among rural households in Kitgum district. The research design involved the use of descriptive cross-section on survey. 80 households were selected from eight villages in Akwang Sub County, 10 households were purposively selected from each of the eight villages making a total of 80 households. The ten farmers were purposively selected from each village to avoid bias and ensure every village is represented in the study. Data was analyzed using SPSS v21. The major source of livelihood for the small scale farmers’ households in Labongo Akwang Sub County Kitgum district was agriculture. Food crops such as sorghum, millet, were the major crops cultivated, and potential crop loss was mitigated by planting drought resistant crop varieties. Many households had enough food provisioning during 2019 while in 2018 food provisioning was inadequate. The main source of household food was market and the households that were receiving food aid got sorghum as the major food commodity. The main household food security status was found to be poor, with slightly more than half of all households having acceptable household food security. The classification of household food insecurity status showed that the majority of households were food insecure. The main coping strategies employed by the households in the case of food shortages were reduction in size of meals, reduction in the number of meals per day and consumption of immature crop. Labongo Akwang Sub County Kitgum district is frequently afflicted by droughts causing poor crop production. It is for this reason that the GOU should create irrigation policies and implement these policies in the district to ensure sustainable crop production.