Tanzania - Food security

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White Cover Report No.9284-TA TANZANIA FOOD SECURITY December 28, 1990 Southern Africa Department Agriculture Operations Division  t CONTENTS Introduction 2 I Food Security and Malnutrition in Tanzania 4 The Pattern of Malnutrition in Tanzania 5 The Pattern of PEN in Different Population groups 6 Children Under Five 6 School Children and Adults 10 Maternal Malnutrition 10 Malnutrition in Adult Males 13 Patterns in Regard to Family Size 14 Socio-Economic Patterns 14 Seasonal Patterns 16 Geographic Patterns 16 Regional Patterns 16 Patterns According to Agricultural Production/ Consumption Systems 20 Summary of Major Points 24 II Determinants of Malnutrition 25 Conceptual Approach Used 25 The Immediate Determinants 26 Inadequate Food Intake 26 Diseases 27 The Underlying Determinants 30 Household Food Security 30 Improved Child Care 36 Breastfeeding 36 General Economic Factors 37 Women's Workload 41 Inadequate Services 41 The Basic Determinants 43 We4ther, Climate and Production 43 National Food Adequacy 44 National Infrastructure and storage 44 Urban Income and Household Food Security 45 The Macroeconomic Environment 47  1I' The Role of Markets in Household Food Security 48 Introduction and Background to Food Market Pol.icies 48 The Evolution of Food Market Policy 50 Short-term Responses 50 Longer-term Responses 51 Analytical Framevork for Evaluating Household-Market Links 54 Seasonality 58 Household Participation in Food Markets 60 Spatial Distribution of Markets 62 Storage 63 Transport 64 Credit 64 Sources of Risk 64 Food Price Behavior in Open Market: 65 The Evolution of Consumer Market Prices 65 Food Price Instability and Seasonality 68 Spatial Price Relationships in Food Markets 71 IV Conclusions and Recommendations 74 Conclusions 74 Recommendations 76 Bibliography 77  PREFACE This paper focuses on two important aspects of food insecurity in Tanzania: 1) nucrition stacus and 2) the role of food markets as determinants of houisehold food insecurity. It is based on two consultant reports commissioned by the World Bank for preparation of this paper. These are: (a) Yambi, Olivia, Festo P. Kavishe and Wilbald Lorri, Malnutrition and Household Food Security in Tanzania, June, 1990 and (t) Gordon, Henry, Markeein8 Liberalization. Household ParticiRation in Markets and Food Security in Tanzania, July, 1990. In addition, a number of other reports and studies were consulted. These are included in the Bibliography. ii Concurrent with the drafting of this paper, FAO, at the request of the Government of Tanzania, has been preparing a study of food insecurity in Tanzania intended to lead to development of an overall food security strategy. The present paper is intended to compliment FAO's work by concentrating on links between nutrition status, household food security and the operation of food markets. While some overlap between the information contained in this paper and FAO's way occur, the attempt has been made to minimize replication to the extent possible. For example, the discussion in this paper of national-level food balance sheets, of food security early warning systems, of farmer productivity and farming systems generally has been minimized because the FAO paper should deal extensively with these areas.  -2- INTRODUCTIQN 1. Tanzania is not a food deficit country, although it concains food deficit regions. In most years total food production Ls more than adequace to satisfy the aggregate food requirements of its 24 million people (based on the FAO/WHO standard per capita requirement of 0.6 kg of grain equivalent per day). In 1983/84, for example, the year of the most recent food emergency. the country's production was estimated to be 780,000 MT above the level required to provide an adequate diet for its population. In 1984/85 production was 1.73 million MT above the required food level. (Bryson, 1986). Yet there is evidence in Tanzania of widespread household food insecuritv and malnutrition. More than half of all Tanzanian children appear to be chronically malnourished. In some areas the figure may go as high as 80 percent. Thus, in a coountry with satisfactory levels of gross food production, evidence widespread, chronic malnutrition and/or undernutritiou, especially among infants and children under five years, supports the hypothesis that serious household food security problems exis; not necessarily associated with overall levels of aggregate food production. 2. This paper analyzes the food and nutrition situation in Tanzania with emphasis on household food insecurity. It focuses on what is known about the extent and causes of malnutrition, the role of food availability in malnutrition and the role of the agricultural markets in relation to household food availability. The emphasis is on rural rather than urban households because the number of people affected is larger in rural areas and because somewhat better studies and analyses exist for the rural areas. 3. The paper also discusses the planning and strategic implications for development programs created by serious household food insecurity. On the basis of its fi.idings and the resultant discussions on household food availability, food security, and mal- or under-nutrition, the paper offers policy suggestions and proposes areas for further research. It is intended as a compliment to the food security analysis concurrently being undertaken by FAO at the request of the Govarnment of Tanzania. 4. For purposes of this paper, the definition of "food security" encompasses both sufficiency of supply and the need for adequate access or "entitlement" to food by each individual Tanzanian. The World Bank definition is intended throughout: Food Securi&X is access by all people at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life. Its essential elements are the availability of food and the ability to acquire it. Food insecurity, in turn, is the lack of access to enough food. The achievement of food security entails: insuring production of adequate food supplies, maximizing stability in the flow of supplies and securing access to available supplies by those who need them. (World Bank, 1988)  -3- 5. The focus on "access" in parcicularly important in the Tanzanian context because the problems of food security are not primarily problems of national food production. As described in this paper the causes of food insecurity relate to: weaknesses in the marketing system, low agricultural productivity, inadequate distribution, poor infant weaning practices, health and sanitation, in other words a complex set of relationships which go beyond traditional food supply consideration (e.g., national food production aggregates, net changes in carryover stocks and net iniports) to look at issues influencing effective demand and adequacy of nutrition. As Maxwell has stated with reference to food insecurity in Sudan (Maxwell, l989):' A country and people are food secure when their food system operates efficiently in such a way as to remove fear that there will not be enough to eat. In particular, food security will be achieved when the poor and vulnerable, particularly women, children and those living in marginal areas, have secure access to the food they want. Food security will be achieved when equitable growth ensures these groups have sustainable livelihoods; in the meantime and in addition, however food security requires the efficient and equitable operation of the food system. 6. This paper is divided into four parts. The first looks in depth at what is presently known about the patterns of household-level, and individual food security and nutrition. The second part discusses what is known about the potential determinants of food and nutrition insecurity. The third examines the operation of one of the major influences on food security - the ru'al food marketing system in Tanzania and its influence on the status of food insecurity. The fourth part contains the conclusions, recommendations and implications for development planners. 2 Maxwell, Simon "Food Security in North Sudan", Discussion Paper No. 262, Institute for Development Studies, 1989.  -4. FOOD SECURITY AND MALWUTRITION IN TANZANIA 7. The Malor Nutritional Problems. There is considerable information describing the nutritional well-being of the populetion in different parts of Tanzania, based on spot surveys, growth monitoring data collection, or other types of research. Most of this information is not nationally represencative, and is focused on rural rather than urban areas and further concentrated on children under five years of age. Little longitudinal information is available, making it difficult to examine trends over time. The various pieces of informacion do, nevertheless. provide a reasonably comprehensive picture of the types and extent of malnutrition In Tanzania. 8. As in many other African countries, the information indicates thac the population of Tanzania suffers from four major endemic nutritional deficiencies. These are protein energy malnutrition (PEM), nutritional anemia, iodine deficiency disorders (IDD) and vitamin A deficiency. Other deficiencies which occur sporadically include pellagra, beriberi, scurvy and rachitis. The focus of .1iis paper is on PEN, and its linkage to problems of food availability ana food access. The other nutritional problems, although important from a public health point of view, ire dealt with only briefly. 9. The magnitude of malnutrition in Tanzania is serious. The national estimates for the four major nutritional deficiencies shown in Tables I and 2 illustrate this point. Although the estimates were made in 1987, there is no evidence to suggest that the situation has changed in the past three years. More than one-quarter of all Tanzanians show ev:dence of PEM. When disaggregated into age groups it is clear that these nutritional problems affect mainly children under five and women, particularly those pregnant or lactating. This is demonstrated in Table 2. It should be noted, however, that many people suffer from more than one condition, so that the total proportion of the population suffering from the four types of nutritional disorders cannot simply be added and compared to the total population. Table 1: NaItionl stiates of the Pooulatin Affected b- thc I-oxr Nutrltional Problms iLn anzaia (1987-190) Number Ln millions) .______._________________,_____________________________________________________________________- Population affected in nIllion (out of an estimted 22.3 milLion) . Type of Deflcenlcy S*yeve Moderate Total No. 2 No. X No. 1. Protein Energy Undernutrition 0.7 3.0 5.6 22.0 6.3 28.0 (WIA below 80X of NMCS) 2. Nutritional AaeL 1.6 7.0 5.6 22.0 7.2 32.0 (Sb below 10g1dl 3. Iodie Deficiency OLsorders 0.6 3.0 5.0 22.0 6.5 25.0 (goitre, cretintsm and cretinoLdLim) *. Vitamin A Deficiency 0.02 0.1 14 6.0 1.4 6.1 (XerophthalmLa and rctinoL lovel below 20 ug/dl) Source: Kavshe F.P. (1987): The ?ood and Nutrition Situation Ln Tanzania 1987. TTWC Report No. 1215  Table 2: The Prevalence f itial Problems in Ta,nzanlia Acc rIFlQ to HPooulaon Grouow I987-19~90) Type of Deficiency and percent affected PEU ANAgMCA IDD VIT.DEP. 1. Children underfive 52.0 45.0 13.0 30.0 years 2. Pregnant/Lactating 13.0 80.0 52.0 0.7 women 3. School children and 20.0 20.0 40.0 0.1 other adult