Nutrition and Food Security in the Resettlement Farms of Skoonheid and Drimiopsis, Namibia Evans Burford John Favreau Lauren Gergel Olivia O’Connell May 8th, 2009 ADVISOR: CXP PROJECT NUMBER: N097 DIVISION NUMBER: 49B Nutrition and Food Security in the Resettlement Farms of Skoonheid and Drimiopsis, Namibia AN INTERACTIVE QUALIFYING PROJECT SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF SCIENCE BY EVANS BURFORD JOHN FAVREAU LAUREN GERGEL OLIVIA O’CONNELL DATE: 8 MAY, 2009 Food-security, APPROVED: Nutrition, PROFESSOR R. CREIGHTON PEET, MAJOR ADVISOR Resettlement PROFESSOR HOLLY K. AULT, CO-ADVISOR This report represents the work of four WPI undergraduate students. Submitted to the faculty as evidence of completion of a degree requirement. WPI routinely publishes these reports on its website without editorial or peer review. i Abstract The purpose of this project was to assess community Food Security and Nutrition in relation to health and development on the resettlement farms of Skoonheid and Drimiopsis in Namibia. In living with the communities and conducting group based activities, we have developed a comprehensive understanding of issues including agriculture, animal husbandry, and marketing practices. From these findings we created recommendations on how to sustainably improve the livelihoods of farm residents in addition to a pictorial manual about proper nutrition. ii Acknowledgements We would like to thank the following people and institutions: Our sponsoring agencies, The Desert Research Foundation of Namibia and the Fundación CEAR, for providing us with this research opportunity and supporting us. The Spanish Agency for International Development and the Namibian Ministry of Lands, Resettlement and Rehabilitation for funding our project. Within these Organizations we would like to specially thank the following people: Erik Dirkx, our project liaison at the Desert Research Foundation of Namibia. Silvia Sala, our project liaison for Fundación CEAR, our co-implementing organization. Ester Nakale, Alex Moses, Estelle Platt and Simon Asser for their indispensible help with translating while in the field. Additionally, we would especially like to thank Michael Kandovazu, a local minister in Drimiopsis, who gave us generous amounts of his time to help us with translation and organization in the community. Our advisors from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Professor Creighton Peet and Professor Holly Ault, for their continual guidance and support throughout our project. We would like to extend a very special thank you to the communities of Skoonheid and Drimiopsis for welcoming us so warmly and for participating in our research. Additionally we would like to thank the people we interviewed to help provide a complete picture of the communities and topics of interest, both in Worcester, MA and in Namibia: Dr. Tim Downs, and Dr. Barbara Thomas-Slayter from Clark University Ida Erasmus, from the Catering Association of Namibia Dr. Marjorie Van Wyk, of Namibian Ministry of Health and Social Services Professor Andrew Muwonge, of International University of Management Silke Felton, of WIMSA Dr. Helen De Kok, who runs a Medical Clinic in Skoonheid Kirukirue Tjijenda, of the Omaheke Regional Council James Uerikua, of the Namibian Ministry of Lands and Resettlement Chief Langmann, the northern Omaheke San Chief We would like to thank the Polytechnic of Namibia for housing us during our stay in Namibia and providing transport to many of our interviews. Finally, we would also like to thank Worcester Polytechnic Institute for the unique opportunity to travel and work in Namibia to fulfill our IQP requirements. iii Authorship This proposal was written with equal input by all team members in every section. Editing and revisions were done on each section by the entire team in order to ensure common ideas, knowledge, and input. For each section, we have listed the original writer(s): Executive Summary: John Favreau Introduction: Olivia O‘Connell Background: Evans Burford and Lauren Gergel Methodology: Evans Burford, John Favreau, Lauren Gergel and Olivia O‘Connell Results and Analysis: Evans Burford, John Favreau, Lauren Gergel and Olivia O‘Connell Conclusions and Recommendations: Evans Burford and Olivia O‘Connell Appendices: Evans Burford and Lauren Gergel Formatting: John Favreau and Olivia O‘Connell iv Table of Contents Abstract -------------------------------------------------------------------- ii Acknowledgements --------------------------------------------------------- iii Authorship ----------------------------------------------------------------- iv Table of Contents ------------------------------------------------------------ v List of Figures -------------------------------------------------------------- ix List of Tables ---------------------------------------------------------------- x List of Acronyms and Abbreviations --------------------------------------- xi Executive Summary ------------------------------------------------------- xii 1. Introduction ------------------------------------------------------------- 1 2. Background ------------------------------------------------------------- 3 2.1. Food Security and Nutrition -------------------------------------------------------- 3 2.1.1. Food Security ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3 2.1.2. Proper Nutrition -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4 2.1.3. Monitoring --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6 2.2. Problems with Global Resettlement ------------------------------------------------ 7 2.2.1. Government Policy----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7 2.2.2. Problems Resulting from Resettlement --------------------------------------------------------- 9 2.3. Resettlement in Namibia ---------------------------------------------------------- 13 2.3.1. Namibia ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13 2.3.2. Resettlement in Skoonheid and Drimiopsis---------------------------------------------------- 16 2.3.3. Livelihood Support Programme ------------------------------------------------------------------ 18 3. Methodology ----------------------------------------------------------- 20 3.1. Food Consumption ---------------------------------------------------------------- 20 3.1.1. Diet ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 20 3.1.2. Nutritional Consequences -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 25 3.2. Factors that Influence Food Security --------------------------------------------- 27 3.2.1. Agriculture -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 27 3.2.2. Animal Husbandry ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 30 3.2.3. Water Infrastructure ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 32 3.2.4. Marketing --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 32 3.3. Improving Community Awareness ----------------------------------------------- 33 3.3.1. Education --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 33 3.3.2. Monitoring -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 33 4. Results and Analysis --------------------------------------------------- 35 4.1. Food Security --------------------------------------------------------------------- 35 4.1.1. Diet ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 35 4.1.2. Nutritional Consequences -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 48 4.2. Factors that Influence Food Security --------------------------------------------- 53 4.2.1. Cultural barriers ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 53 4.2.2. Income Generating Activities --------------------------------------------------------------------- 54 4.2.3. Agriculture -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 58 4.2.4. Livestock ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 67 v 4.2.5. Water Infrastructure ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 70 4.3. Marketing ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 76 4.3.1. Intra-communal trade ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 76 4.3.2. Travel to Outside Markets ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 77 4.3.3. Trade with Outside Communities ---------------------------------------------------------------- 77 4.4. Perceptions of Nutrition ---------------------------------------------------------- 79 4.4.1. Current Awareness ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 79 4.4.2. Monitoring -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 80 4.4.3. Education --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 80 5. Conclusions and