Do Smallholder Farmers Need Nutrition Education? A Case Study from KwaZulu Natal, South Africa

Abstract

South Africa (SA) is considered as the second largest economies in Africa with well-developed agricultural food production system. But food security is still a challenge at household level. Currently, in Africa, smallholder agriculture is recognized to contribute food security at household level. This study investigates the prevalence of food insecurity and nutritional knowledge of 78 local smallholder farmers in KwaZulu Natal (KZN) province of South Africa. The results from this study indicated that nutrition knowledge was poor and food insecurity was prevalent at >40% at the household level. It is therefore recommended that future agricultural training should include nutrition education based on FBDG (Food Based Dietary Guidelines) in their respective programs so as to attain a balanced diet for healthy and productive smallholder farmer communities

Nutritional knowledge and practices followed by rural women: An exploratory study

“…Overall nutritional knowledge among rural women N=500 but also because of the direct influence that maternal nutrition and nutritional knowledge have on the health and growth of the generation that comes after them. The results are in line with the findings ofMorales et al (2021) …”