Coping strategies among the food–insecure household in Malawi, a case of female and male–headed household in south eastern of Malawi

Abstract

Food insecurity remains a serious concern in most developing countries. The fact that so many households are considered to be food insecure makes pertinent the question as to how these households survive. As food is vital for survival, there is always a minimum amount of food that is needed albeit small and within the food insecurity category. Households that are food insecure use different strategies in order to cope with their situation. There are varied coping strategies that can be applied by the head of household to ration or prioritise who should eat what, when and what amount. The study uses a questionnaire to collect data collected from Malawi in the Eastern region of the country which is among the regions that are characterized by food insecurity. The data is used to assess the coping strategies used by different households, and understand what determines the chosen coping strategy for a given household. The results of the statistical analysis showed that, food insecure households employed more coping strategies than the food secure households. The regression results show that gender, location, employment status and income are all significant predictors of household vulnerability. The results also show that female heads of households are more vulnerable than the male counterparts. The study, therefore puts to the fore the need to address gender disparities in the effort to deal with food security, and poverty in general.