| Sumario: | This report focuses on findings from 16 focus group discussions with adult men and women from four districts in Central region of Uganda to better understand the different types of food environments that the communities have access to, and the types of foods they access, how the various foods are acquired and how the food access points have changed across seasons and time.
The four districts included Masaka, Mukono, Wakiso, and Kampala. This study was conducted using a gendered participatory mapping focus group discussion (FGD) tool that entailed mapping and describing the different types of food environments within the community as well as exploring how food environments have changed over time highlighting the perspectives of both men and women. Some of the food environment dimensions assessed included food availability, affordability, convenience, and sustainability. Sex-disaggregated FGDs were conducted in rural and urban locations within the districts, and with adult men and women who are knowledgeable about food access points for consumers within their community. The main outputs from the FGDs are twofold; 1) a map of the community showing main physical features and food access points 2) notes from the discussion about a) the foods that the communities access from the different food access points and related food environments; and b) the seasonal and broader changes in food access over the previous five years. This is expected to enable the design of more targeted nutrition interventions that address identified food environment constraints and opportunities.
The majority of rural and urban communities heavily relied on food types accessed from the built food environment. Own production and wild food environments were more common in rural areas. Food exchange was common in rural areas mostly among women. Supplementary food environments were limited to a few churches, mosques, schools and hospitals and these were slowly phasing out. Major access points included markets, shops, stalls, kiosks, restaurants, and supermarkets. Markets served as key food access points for both rural and urban communities. Shops and stalls were more accessed by women whereas supermarkets were more associated with higher income earners and urban dwellers. Restaurants were more associated with unmarried men and women. Affordability, accessibility, and availability of foods were key determinants of the choice of food access points. Dry spells greatly affected the supply of key staple foods, vegetables, fruits and animal source foods (ASFs).
Main markets within the districts served as major sources of fresh foods such as roots and tubers, fruits, vegetables, dry staples and ASFs. They also served as food supply points to the stalls, kiosks, shops, and restaurants. Shops, kiosks and stalls were often located within the communities and thus easily accessible to both men and women. Motorcycles (“boda-boda”) were the easiest means of transport to the central market, especially for rural communities. Majority of the main markets had designated areas for livestock products while some also had a slaughterhouse often located behind the markets.
Food types accessed from the wild included fish such as catfish, lungfish, mudfish and wild fruits such as natal plum, gooseberry fruits, African olive and passion fruits. Other foods types from the wild included grasshoppers, mushrooms and herbal medicine. Food supplements included meat, sugar, cooking oil, maize flour; rice often supplied to the elderly within the communities. The cultivated food environment or own production included individual spaces such as home gardens or plots of land reserved for crop cultivation and livestock rearing. Main crops grown included maize, casava, sweet potatoes, matooke, plantain, yams, rice and legumes grown depending on the cropping season. Men mostly cultivated crops for sale while women for home consumption. Livestock rearing included pigs, poultry, rabbits, goats, and sheep. The gardens were located within walking distance from the homes but for those that were far, bicycles or motorcycles were used as means of transport.
While there was reported increase in the number of markets, shops and food stalls within communities improving food accessibility, essential Animal source foods (ASFs) foods were becoming unaffordable to majority of community members. Both men and women expressed their concern over the rising food prices especially for the major food crop Matooke. Men were more concerned over the rising cost of animal source foods whereas women the scarcity of fruits and vegetables.
Land fragmentation, seasonal changes, and increased use of agrochemicals and rural to-urban or urban to-rural migration were major issues affecting all food environments as evidenced in discussions from rural and urban areas. The loss of biodiversity especially indigenous fruits, mushrooms and grasshoppers due the destruction of forests was a key issue. Increased soil infertility and reduced agricultural land affected own production. There was a clear desire by the respondents to sustainably manage the natural resources and use of better and improved farming methods to boost own production by utilizing the limited spaces available.
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