Understanding Food Security and Hunger in Xai-Xai, Mozambique

Abstract

The cyclical alternation of drought, cyclones and floods threaten food security for households in rapidly growing coastal cities such as Xai-Xai, Mozambique. Inhabitants of Xai-Xai are highly dependent on urban subsistence agriculture and informal markets in order to guarantee food for their households. Both of these food security strategies have been affected by natural disasters in recent years making it difficult for households to access food. Recent research discussed in this chapter demonstrates that urban households are deprived of basic needs and live under permanent stress manifested by their inability to provide a pot of xima meal on household’s tables. The area around Xai-Xai used to be the granary of the southern Mozambique, but it is no longer able to guarantee that role. A common response among Xai-Xai residents to questions about urban food security is that food security is a concept for experts who do not understand their lived experiences. To them, food security associated with the whole household having enough xima. This chapter examines the concept of food security from the perspective of what really matters to households in the context of extreme events. The chapter integrates the lead author’s reflections on her community’s experiences with hunger and food security during her childhood with recent research on food security in Mozambique. The significance of this method in this instance is, as stated above, to uncover food security experiences that may well escape rigorous quantitative methods.