The Effect of Food Insecurity on Household Welfare: Case Study of Katine Sub County Soroti District

Abstract

The study mainly focused at examining the effect of food insecurity on household welfare in Katine sub county Soroti district. The time scope covered periods between 2009 and 2018. This time range helped to capture periods of massive food insecurity in katine Sub County. The study used primary data, which was collected using questionnaires, and analyzed using Microsoft Excel and SPSS where the frequencies of the categories were determined and presented in tables and figures as appropriate. The research focused on three objectives to find out the effect of food insecurity on household welfare that include; income, education and health. Findings revealed that 83.1% agreed that Katine sub-county was facing food insecurity and 16.9% disagreed. Findings on the effect of food insecurity on income of households in Katine sub-county included; increase in the cost of living due to high food prices (55.4%), reduction in saving due to increased expenditure on food (52.3%), sale of household tangible assets such as land, animals to raise money for buying food (53.8%), borrowing from informal sources and money lenders (49.3%), reduction in farm labor which may prevent individuals from doing farm work (36.9%) Findings further revealed the effect of food insecurity on education of households, which included; decline in school performance (64.6%), increase in school absenteeism (67.2 %), increase in the number of school dropout (63%), class repetition (57%), withdraw of children from school to work in or off the farm for wages to buy food (70.8%). The study recommended the government of Uganda to consider creating rural labour intensive opportunities, increasing minimum wages to reduce poverty in Katine, subsidizing agricultural machines; pesticides and planting materials. Further, the study recommended setting up a national food supplementary programme to provide breakfast and lunch either at no cost or reduced price in schools.