Journal of Food Security, 2015, Vol. 3, No. 6, 145-154 Available online at http://pubs.sciepub.com/jfs/3/6/2 © Science and Education Publishing DOI:10.12691/jfs-3-6-2 Coping with Household Food Insecurity: Perspectives of Mothers in Anambra State, Nigeria Nkiru Nwamaka Ezeama 1,* , Christian Ibeh 2 , Echendu Adinma 2 , Obiageli Emelumadu 2 , Prosper Adogu 2 1 Department of Community Medicine, Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, Nnewi, Nigeria 2 Department of Community Medicine and Primary Health Care, College of Medicine, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria *Corresponding author: nkiru.ezeama@live.co.uk Abstract Household food security has been identified as an important determinant of an individual’s nutritional status. Households are food insecure when the food available to them is limited or uncertain or when there is limited or uncertain ability to acquire suitable food in ways that are socially acceptable. In the event of food shortage, households tend to employ coping strategies to minimize its impact and maintain adequate food access. This was a qualitative study aimed at exploring the coping practices of mothers in Anambra State when faced with household food and financial shortage. It is part of a mixed methods comparative study on household food security as a determinant of the nutritional status of under-five children in the study area. Focus group discussions and in-depth interviews of mothers from three communities in Anambra State, Nigeria were conducted and thematic content analysis was carried out on data obtained. Several coping strategies were practiced by the participants including maternal buffering, reduction in the number of meals in a day and limiting portion sizes. Other common themes that emerged include differences in intra-household food distribution and gender-power relations as well as solutions to household food insecurity. Study participants expressed the desire for food assistance schemes and empowerment from the government and their communities in form of micro-credit loans, vocational training and jobs. Keywords: household food security, coping practices, focus groups, in-depth interviews, thematic content analysis, gender, Anambra state, Nigeria Cite This Article: Nkiru Nwamaka Ezeama, Christian Ibeh, Echendu Adinma, Obiageli Emelumadu, and Prosper Adogu, “Coping with Household Food Insecurity: Perspectives of Mothers in Anambra State, Nigeria.” Journal of Food Security, vol. 3, no. 6 (2015): 145-154. doi: 10.12691/jfs-3-6-2. 1. Introduction Household food security has been identified as an important underlying determinant of an individual’s nutritional status [1,2]. Households are food insecure when the food available to them is limited or uncertain or when there is limited or uncertain ability to acquire suitable food in ways that are socially acceptable [3,4]. Household food insecurity is intricately linked with poverty [5]. According to the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), 29% of households in Nigeria in the poorest wealth quintile have unacceptable diets compared with 15% in the wealthiest quintiles [5]. Household food insecurity may affect dietary diversity by limiting access to and procurement of foods of higher quality and wider variety by poor and food insecure households. The relatively expensive costs of meats, fish, fruits, vegetables and whole grain products lead low- income households to resort to consuming limited food choices and cheaper food items which are more likely to be high in fat and energy density. Children are especially vulnerable to the effects of food insecurity as it has been linked to increased rates of iron-deficiency anemia, acute infection, chronic illness, poor school performance, developmental and psychological problems [6,7]. In addition, it is also significantly associated with hypertension and diabetes in adults and overweight/obesity in both adults and children [6]. In the event of food shortage, households tend to employ coping strategies to minimize its impact and maintain adequate food access. These are activities that people ‘choose’ as ways of living through difficult times brought on by some sort of shock to their normal means of livelihood and way of living [11]. The diversity of coping strategies employed by food insecure households often reveals the severity and complexity of household food shortage [1,3,8]. For example, strategies such as reducing the number of meals in a day, reducing the amount of food cooked for meals, maternal buffering (a mother limiting her own food intake to ensure her child has enough to eat), borrowing from relatives may not be abnormal, are reversible and do not result in lasting damage. However, more drastic coping strategies such as skipping meals for a whole day, borrowing outside one’s kinship network, sale of land and other productive assets signal worsening household food and economic conditions and can permanently undermine future food security [1,3,9]. An assessment of coping strategies by Oldewage- Theron et al [10] revealed that female caregivers in the sampled households employed coping strategies such as procuring and cooking a limited variety of foods (74.7%), maternal buffering by limiting the caregiver’s intake to