Addressing food and nutrition security challenges among the farming households in Lesotho: A cluster analysis

Food insecurity and malnutrition are a burden to global community and the solutions for addressing these challenges continue to be explored. There are causes, factors and consequences that are important in understanding the nature, extent and severity of food insecurity to inform interventions. The classification of households in accordance with relevant indicators would allow for adapting policy making to respond to specific needs and prioritizing the most vulnerable groups. Organising a targeted population into clusters is a valuable technique that enables a clearer understanding of the food and nutrition security situation. This approach also identifies the most vulnerable and informs the priorities of interventions. This study seeks to explore food and nutrition security clusters within farming households, and their respective demographic and agricultural characteristics. A k-means cluster analysis was employed and yielded three groups: food and nutrition secure, moderately food and nutrition insecure and severely food and nutrition insecure. The findings indicated that the food and nutrition secure households were small-sized (4.18), had higher incomes (LSL5960.00 (USD 380), produced agricultural commodities for commercial purposes and had obtained higher educational levels. They also have access to extension services and credit to purchase agricultural inputs. The moderately food and nutrition insecure group is characterised by a lower monthly income LSL2939 (USD188), with a larger household size (4.65) than the food and nutrition secure group, but less than the severely food and nutrition insecure group. The severely food and nutrition insecure households had the largest household size (5.67), lowest monthly income LSL1411.00 (USD90), produced mainly for own consumption and did not have access to extension services. A cluster analysis identifies key areas, showing the most vulnerable groups within the target group which benefits planning and development of interventions. This approach further indicates the strengths and vulnerabilities of these clusters, which facilitates programs that are specific to the needs. Key words: Cluster analysis, household food and nutrition security, nutrition-sensitive agriculture