18

12 UN CESCR as cited in De Scutter, 2014). Moreover, the 2014 report of

the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food Oliver De Scutter

diagnoses that individuals can secure access to food (a) by earning

incomes from employment or self-employment; (b) through social

transfers; or (c) by producing their own food, for those who have access

to land and other productive resources. De Scutter proposes three

relevant dimensions to food security which he refers to as The Triple A

which includes physical availability, social and economic access and

nutritional and cultural adequacy.

Consequently, one of the primary goals of the international community

is to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger as exemplified by the MDG

goal 1. Kozak, Lombe & Miller (2012) assessed the status of this goal by

employing a systematic review of literature using three case studies

(Indonesia, Uganda and Jamaica). The rationale of the study supports the

findings of FAO (2009) that there is an uneven distribution in both the

reduction and increase in hunger. For instance, China alone was

responsible for most of the reduction in global hunger, while the number of

hungry people in Africa and South Asia continues to increase. Claims from

this study include: (i) Because of the complexity of MDG, it may not be

very effective in guiding implementation of location-based small-scale

initiatives targeting poverty reduction, especially with respect to

marginalized groups and (ii) the MDGs, in general, are seen as externally
 19

engineered, unable to capture local conditions and contexts. This

research provides for the calls of Kozak, et al by looking into the status of

food security in an indigenous community whose inhabitants are

considered one of the marginalized sectors in Philippine society.

2.2. Socio-Economic Profile

In the Philippines, the official poverty line is at 16,841 (PIDS, 2012).

In far flung and marginalized areas like those of Indigenous Peoples

communities, incomes have been very low (IFAD, 2012) which could not

meet the average threshold of 16,841. Comparatively, the study of Sok,

Yu and Wong (2014) entitled Food Security in the Riverine Rural

Communities of the Lower Mekong Basin in Cambodia sought to explore

the food security status of these three riverine communities. The study

made use of field survey, observations, community meetings and key

informant interviews in capturing local experiences of communities over

the concern of food security. Data were treated using ANOVA (to test

whether there was significant difference between the means of the three

study areas regarding the days of food shortages) and Chi-square (to test

the association of two categorical variables of food shortages and poverty

as well as the consequences of food shortages). Results of the study

show how (i) food insecurity exists in all three areas and has been mostly

concentrated among the poor; (ii) there is a close association between

 20

food shortages and poverty, but no relationship between food shortages

and its consequences such that the upper and lower areas rely heavily on

agriculture as sources of livelihood while the middle area, aside from

agriculture they could rely on weaving industries; (iii) local responses to

food insecurity has proven ineffective leaving villagers to deal with it by

simply reducing their food consumption (such as using their available

resources and getting help from other villagers); (iv) the existing local

employment could not ensure food security and sustainable livelihoods for

villagers. These results reveal that development projects must focus on

improving agricultural productivity and diversifying households sources of

income in order for households to escape food insecurity and hunger.

Similar to the study of Sok, Yu and Wong (2014), the research looked at

the monthly income of respondents and determine whether they are

below the poverty line and assessed its effects on the ability of

households to meet their food security.

The study of Regmi and Meade (2013) looked at the demand side

drivers of food commodities. The study employed cross-country demand

analyses using the International Comparison (ICP) data from 1980, 1996

and 2005. Results from cross-country demand analyses reveal that

consumers in lower income countries spend a higher share of income on

food, are most responsive to income and price changes, and are

increasingly diversifying their diets toward more protein and fat containing
 21

foods. Also, consumers, in general make larger adjustments to non-food

expenditures when food prices change than they do to food expenditures

when the price of non-food items change. The research looked into this

insight by investigating the commodities that the respondents brought.

Moreover, population pressures are also increasingly diminishing the worlds

food resources. For Population Action International (PAP, 2011), most of the

countries with the highest numbers of people facing food insecurity also have

high fertility rates and rapid population growth. Food production depends on

croplands and water supply, which are under strain as human populations

increase. Pressure on limited land resources, driven in part by population growth,

can mean expansion of cropland. This often involves destruction of vital forest

resources or overexploitation of arable land. The most recent figures based on an

unofficial survey conducted by the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples

(NCIP) estimates the population of indigenous peoples in the Philippines to be

between 1215 million, but the actual population may be higher (IFAD, 2012).

The proposed study will look into the household size of Sabang Adgawan.

Consequently, the researchers considered the household size as a factor of food

security and its effects on the allocation of food resources of households.

Furthermore, Rahim et al (2011) determined the Influencing factors on

the household food insecurity status. The study used chi-square and

logistics regression in order to assess influencing factors to food

insecurity. Results from the study reveal that as the distance from an
 22

urban center decreases, food insecurity increases as there is a decrease

of centers that provides with food. Other findings from the study include:

(i) as household size increases there is also an increase in food insecurity

among low income earners; (ii) single parents are more susceptible to

food insecurity compared to households who have both parents living in

the same roof; (iii) income is inversely proportional to food insecurity such

that an increase in income is a decrease in food insecurity. Taking heed

from these insights, the study looked at the monthly income of the

respondents, their civil status and household size and determined its

implication to the food security of the respondents.

2.3. Resource Availability

The study of Taylor (2013) looks at how the differential control of key

productive assets in agrarian environments (such as land, machineries,

credit etc.) has caused relative security for those who own and control it

over those who do not. The study concludes how marginalized peoples

are adversely incorporated into the political, social and economic

relationships that produce vulnerability while simultaneously creating

relative security for others. The study made us of examples from Andhra

Pradesh in India. For instance, poor peasant farmers rely on credit from

merchants, in order to buy farm inputs necessary for the production of

agricultural commodities. However due to droughts in the area, the

 23

expected yield of the small-scale farmer could not pay for the debt which

is further compounded by its interest (the mode of payment can be either

on monetary value or the farm produce). Though the peasant cannot pay

for the credit, interest rates continue to increase and the peasant

continually loans to the merchant for future planting. The peasant has

been subject in a relationship wherein it is continually subject to insecure

income while the merchant has secure access to it. The result argues

Taylor is the increasing number of suicides of small-scale peasant farmers

in Andhra Pradesh. This study investigates whether there is unequal

control and ownership of assets in the community and whether these

differential control in assets has caused different outcomes in the food

security of the community.

Consequently, Guo (2011) looks at the independent role of household

assets over food security. The data for this study was obtained from the

Survey of Program Dynamics of the US Census Bureau. The study found

that household assets have a significant association with food security

such that households with more assets are less to face food insecurity

and hunger. The study also shows that assets provide a buffer for low-

income households to food insecurity in the face of income losses. These

insights were used in this research such that it investigated how assets

contribute to the food security of the respondents.

Moreover, Khandker, Khalily & Samads (2012) study Seasonal

 24

Hunger and Its Mitigation in North-West Bangladesh looks at seasonal

hunger and households failure to smooth income and consumption as an

effect to the seasonality of agriculture. Primary data for the study were

gathered through household questionnaire survey and data from the

household income and expenditure survey (HIES) from Bangladesh.

Results of the study show that the perpetual poor are the most vulnerable

to seasonal hunger since they lack the financial capacity (such regular

and sufficient income, savings, inter-family transfers or other

mechanisms) to mitigate the impacts of hunger as their incomes are

directly attached to seasonality of agriculture. This research looked at

financial resources available to the respondents and whether these

financial resources enable households to be food secure.

2.4. Sources of Food

Owing to the study sites location in the fertile lands of Agusan Marsh,

the continued and unsustainable conversion of the forest lands has

become a fact. Continued population growth and unsustainable forest

conversions are detrimental to the long-term productivity and carrying

capacity of the area. Verela, Fernandez and Degamo (2013) surveys the

continued agricultural development and habitat change in the Agusan

river valley. Data were gathered through surveys, field observation and

records from LGUs, PENRO & NIA. Alarmingly, the study found that
 25

agricultural plantation and development had already encroached into the

natural habitats of the Agusan River Basin which threatens the

biodiversity of Agusan Marsh and its continued expansion in the buffer

zone of Agusan Marsh can alter habitats and their connectivity causing

disturbances to the biodiversity in the marsh due to various human

activities associated with agricultural operation. This has wider

implications for food security of Lumads (the Manobos) living in the area.

Continued conversion of forest lands might in the long run destabilize the

land as a primary source of food and livelihoods. The research looked at

how Manobos utilize forest resources and the viability of these resources

in securing their food supplies and livelihoods against the backdrop of

continued forest conversion.

Another interrelated concern in the area, owing to its natural

landscape is water. The report of FAO (2015) Water, Food Security and

Human Dignity spells out the importance of water for agricultural

productivity. Agriculture accounts for about 70% of water allocations

worldwide. What is alarming is the continued consumptive use of water

that has resulted in a situation where 1.4 billion people live in river basins

that are closed or are closing due to insatiable demands for food

commodities. Consequently, the synthesis report of the Global Food

Security Program (2012) entitled Facing the future together found that

extreme weather events (flooding and droughts) will increasingly influence

 26

agricultures water impacts, given the extreme climate variability patterns

caused by climate change. These studies address how water and

agriculture directly relate to each other. This study also examines the

environmental conditions (particularly rainfall patterns, extreme flooding,

degradation of freshwater resources) faced by households in Sabang

Adgawan in their role as farmers and resource utilizers as water is an

essential prerequisite for agricultural production.

There are also gender-related natural resource management issues.

Agarwal (2013, 2014) notes the growing feminization of agriculture. In

Sabang Adgawan, the traditional role of women as managers in the

households has been diminishing (Tomas, Manuta and Dela Rosa, 2006).

The study of Tomas, Manuta and Dela Rosa (2006), Women, Water and

the Marsh: Adaptation Pathways of Agusan Marsh Communities in

Southern Philippines specifically explores how women are increasingly

helping in search for viable sources of income. The researchers used

direct field observation, participatory analysis, community resource

assessment, focus group discussions and key informant interviews in

gathering data. The study finds that the flexible movement of Agusan

Marsh women from reproductive to productive functions and even

community support work is critical for the survival and maintenance of

their households and communities. However, despite womens

contribution to the survival of their families, their work in the households

 27

has not lessened, therefore the quality and adequacy of food prepared in

the home is in question. Also, like in most patriarchal settings, women

have access to resources (in Sabang Adgawan for instance, land, money,

bangka etc.) but no control of it.

Studies elsewhere had explicitly documented gender related

differences in the ability to be food secure. The study of Kakota, Nyakiri

and Makau (2011) Gender vulnerability to climate variability and

household food insecurity specifically locates gender vulnerability to

climatic risks and exposures. Data were gathered using triangulation

method (focus group discussions, household questionnaire surveys and

key informant interviews). Results of the study reveal that exposure and

sensitivity to climate risks vary between men and women with men having

more capacity and opportunities adapt than women. The immediate

consequences of which male-headed households (MHHs) are relatively

food secure than female-headed households (FHHs). Women own less

tracks of land, are often illiterate (as compared to men), and have little

access to agricultural inputs (proper water irrigation, pesticides and

fertilizers). Similarly, Agarwal (2013) in the study published in the Oxford

Handbook of Food Politics and Society entitled Food Security,

Productivity and Gender Inequality uses a systematic literature review of

contributions on gender and its relation to food security. Findings from this

review revealed that the inequalities women face as producers reduce the
 28

potential productivity of agriculture and hence of overall food availability in

countries, regions, and the world as a whole. Moreover, the inequalities

women face as consumers adversely affects both their own well-being as

well as that of future generations of children who inherit the disabilities

arising from poor maternal health. The research looked at the gender

related constraints that women face as food producers in Sabang

Adgawan and the quality of food that they can provide in the household

given that they have to seek employment because of the diminishing

productivity of natural resources in the area and the unreliable incomes

from single earners, which in effect has an immediate consequence on

the health of their children.

Another issue aside from the availability of resources is its

accessibility. The study of Dressler and Guieb (2015) explores how rural

Tagbanuas have been marginalized in the Puerto Princesa Subterranean

River National Park in terms of their ability to utilize forest resources for

their livelihoods due to overlapping layers of governance. Findings of the

study reveal how the rural Tagbanuas cannot utilize forest resources

available in the protected area because of environmental protection laws

(enforced by PAWB) to their local practices of swidden cultivation. Also,

military operations over the pursuit of NPA insurgents in the areas has

been detrimental for Tagbanuas because NPA members also, has been

cultivating in the protected area. Despite the fact that Indigenous Peoples
 29

land rights are recognized in the Indigenous Peoples Right Act of 1997,

migrant communities have secure land ownership (through land titles)

than indigenous peoples in their ancestral domain.

Consequently, Burton (n.d.) described the accessibility of resources in

along the riverine communities in Agusan Marsh. The author suggests

that despite the fact that the Manobo can own lands to farm, many of

them only utilize a tiny fraction of land available since they lack capital

and storage place for surplus crops. Also, marketing is a problem because

the river settlements are not accessible by land transportation. In line with

Burton, this research looked at the availability and accessibility of

resources in Sabang Adgawan.

2.5. Food Habits

Barbara and Cabrera (2008) maps out the updated version of the

Recommended Energy and Nutrient Intakes (RENI). The RENI provides a

guideline for the recommended levels of intakes of energy and nutrients

which, on the basis of current scientific knowledge, are considered

adequate for the maintenance of good health and well-being of nearly all

healthy Filipinos. The contribution spells out the necessary energy

requirements and nutrient intakes for a Filipino. On average, the desirable

contribution of carbohydrates, fats and protein for all groups (excluding

infants) should be 55%-70%, 20%-30% and 10%-15% respectively. The

 30

marshlands constitute majority of all these requirements. However aside

from these recommended energy intake, the study also emphasizes that

the human body needs 40 different nutrients (Barba and Cabrera, 2008

p.402) for the body to be healthy thus emphasizing the need to diversify

the foodstuffs on the Filipino diet. The study explored the composition of

food of the inhabitants and described its availability.

However, the viability of the land to provide for the diversification of

diets for IPs has been directly threatened by development policies and

extractive industries (such as mining, agricultural conversions and

logging). For Rudolph & McLachlan (2013) development initiatives have

endangered the indigenous food system such that indigenous peoples

consume cheaper and unhealthy foodstuffs that are not locally grown and

produced in their ancestral domains. The study utilized grounded theory

as its main approach. The study looked into the food practices of

households. It sought to determine whether they are consuming culturally

appropriate and nutritionally adequate food. Likewise this research

explored the food that the respondents consume specifically when food

insecurity and hunger.

Consequently, given Sabang Adgawans location in the marshlands,

HLPEs (2015) report entitled Water for Food Security and Nutrition

recognizes that lack of access to safe drinking water, sanitation facilities

and hygiene practices undermines the nutritional status of people through

 31

water-borne diseases and chronic intestinal infections. Despite significant

advances in access to drinking water and sanitation, in 2012, according to

WHO and UNICEF, globally 4 percent of the urban population and 18

percent of the rural population still lacked access to an improved drinking

water sources and 25 percent of the population lacked access to

improved or shared sanitation. In relation to these findings, Tomas,

Manuta and Dela Rosa (2006) also showed how unsanitary practices

(such as improper garbage disposals to open waters) has resulted to

unprecedented cases of diarrhea and water-borne diseases in the area.

There is also no system of safe and drinking water in Agusan Marsh

causing people to rely on natural spring, rainwater and the riverbanks.

The study looked at how respondents get drinking in the area to

determine whether these water resources are safe and potable.

2.6. Enabling and Constraining Factors to Food Security

The report of IFAD (International Fund for Agricultural Development,

2012) on indigenous peoples (IPs) in the Philippines identifies

constraining and enabling factors on IPs food system. The bio-physical

factors that enable food security include the biodiversity, fertility and water

resources. The constraining factors are climatic conditions and crop

pests. A failure in the bio-physical system can go a long way to

households food security. Crop failures can force IP farmers to

 32

subsistence farming since they cannot buy foodstuffs that their farms

alone cannot provide or worse it may subject them to chronic hunger

which already indicates a failure to all of De Scutters dimensions of food

security (food availability, food access and food adequacy). Other

enabling and constraining factors in the IFAD report include: (i) for

enabling factors (indigenous knowledge systems, systems of mutual help

during crises and secure land ownership); (ii) for constraining factors

(seasonal outmigration, land intensification, extractive industries, armed

conflict and lesser government support in IP communities). Rutlen, Yaroch

and Story (2011) propose a model of food systems that is able to identify

barriers in contributing to food insecurity and hunger. Food systems has

been defined in the study as the processes, required inputs, and

generated outputs involved in feeding a population, including growing,

harvesting, processing, packaging, transporting, marketing, consuming,

and disposing of food. These sets of interrelated and interdependent

subsystems operate within social, economic, environmental, and political

contexts. Any barrier in one of the components will hinder the ability of

individuals or households to be food secure.

Moreover, an alarming constraining factor to food security is climate

change. According to the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security

and Nutrition (2012) the concern over climate change and food security

must be integrated. As cited by the report, climate change will make it

 33

even harder to overcome food insecurity, as it reduces the productivity of

the majority of existing food systems and harms the livelihoods of those

already vulnerable to food insecurity. Also, the likelihood of increased

variability and extreme events means that management of risk, both

locally and internationally, will be even more important than it is today. The

study examined how climate change affects the communitys food

security. It explored whether tradition patterns of farming have been

rendered unreliable by climate change. Kotir (2011) supports this view by

reviewing evidences on the scope and nature of the climate change

challenge in Sub-Saharan Africa. The review assessed that as result of

current and expected climate change, the area suitable for agriculture, the

length of growing seasons and yield potential are expected to decrease

specially that countries in Sub-Saharan Africa heavily rely on agricultural

production which is subject to unpredictable weather patterns. As a result

of this, argues Kotir, climate change will affect all components of food

security, namely food availability, food accessibility, food utilization and

food stability and hence increase the risk of hunger. Also, Codjoe and

Owusu (2011) surveyed three communities in Afram Plains and revealed

how extreme climatic events affect rural food production, transportation,

processing and storage. Taking heed from these studies, the research

also looked at the effects on climate change on the food system of the

Manobo of Sabang Adgawan.

 34

More so, Lake, et al., (2012) probes how climate change will affect the

health outcomes of individuals consuming food. Accordingly, climate

change will have notable impacts upon nutrition and food safety in

developed countries, but further research is necessary to accurately

quantify these impacts. Moreover, uncertainty about future impacts,

coupled with evidence that climate change may lead to more variable food

quality, emphasizes the need to strengthen or create structures and

policies that regulate food production, monitor food quality and safety, and

respond to nutritional and safety issues that arise. Climate change will

certainly have impacts on the quality of food that the household use or

produce which the research also probed in Sabang Adgawan.

Consequently, the problem of price volatility has also been a limiting

factor towards achieving food security. According to HLPE (2001), price

volatility (the unpredictable changes of prices of commodities) has a

strong impact on food security because it affects household incomes and

purchasing power. Simply put, it can transform vulnerable people into

poor and hungry people. Price volatility interacts with price levels to affect

welfare and food security. The higher the price, the stronger call there is

for the state to provide for welfare consequences provisions. A dramatic

rise in food prices in 20072008 shook the world. There was nearly a 40

percent increase in the food price index relative to 9 percent in 2006 (von

Braun 2008 as cited in Agarwal, 2014 p.1250). The poor, and especially
 35

women and children in poor households, were the most adversely

affected. The price rise, by some estimates, added 105 million to the poor,

mostly in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa (Ivanic and Martin 2008 as

cited in Agarwal, 2014 p.1250). Although the price spike in 2007 2008

was especially sharp, the overall upward trend in food prices is expected

to continue (HLPE, 2011). With price volatility poor people are forced into

hunger, thereby delimiting their ability to meet food security.

Another problem faced by households in achieving food security is

armed conflict. A report by Simmons (2013) Harvesting Peace: Food

Security, Conflict and Cooperation explores the links of food security and

conflict. There is no doubt that conflict exacerbates food insecurity. As a

consequence of conflict, it can reduce the amount of food available,

disrupt peoples access to food, limits families access to food preparation

facilities and health care, and increase uncertainty about satisfying future

needs for food and nutrition. Conflict induces the affected populations to

adopt coping strategies that nonetheless reduce their food consumption

and nutrition. The study investigated the peace and order situation in the

area. It will specifically explored the presence of paramilitary and

revolutionary groups and its immediate consequences to the accessibility

of food in Sabang Adagawan.

Another issue pertaining to enabling factors of food security is that of

cooperation. For Lapp (2013) our narrow focus on quantitative growth

 36

has caused both greater production and greater hunger at the same time.

The author calls it the scarcity frame; the assumption has been validated

by FAO (2011). Accordingly, since the 1960s net food production per

person has grown at more than a third last five years, world cereal

production has grown at more than twice the rate of population growth (as

cited in Lapp, 2013 p.221). The author further advances the argument

that hunger is not caused by a scarcity of food but by a scarcity of

democracy. However, faith in humanity need not be in doubt. For though

we are very much informed by the scarcity frame, we dont necessarily

have to change our behavior as humans (as evidenced from

neuroscience to anthropology), we have innately all the pro-social

qualities such as cooperation superior to any other species (Hrdy 2009),

and the sensitivity to fairness to be good enough (Sloane et al. 2012).

Taking suit from this study, the research probed whether the Manobos in

Sabang Adgawan employ community based system of mutual help during

times of food shortages.

On the other hand, Lockie, Tennent, Benares and Carpenter (2012)

study Is De-agrarianization inevitable? Subsistence, Food Security and

Market Production in the Uplands of Negros Occidental, the Philippines,

looks at how rural household adapt to changes brought about by

globalization and recommends ways into which poor rural households can

improve their situations. Surveys from 347 individuals reveal that the
 37

effect of globalization to poor small-scale farmers has been detrimental

forcing them to look for employment on big landowning elites while some

permanently migrate to urban areas. The study recommends adaptive

ways through which rural households can overcome their constraints from

direct field observations. These include: (i) agro-ecological production

methods (i.e. sustainable farming techniques); (ii) alternative market

conventions (i.e. group farming) and (iii) participation in formal education,

as it can increase small-holders ability to read markets and avoid

exploitations in their dealings with others.

Kuiire, Mkandawire, Arku and Luginaah (2013) study Abandoning

farms in search of food: food remittance and household food security in

Ghana looks at how food remittances from family members who migrated

to more lucrative regions for income and livelihoods in Ghana has

improved the food security of family members living in the Upper West

Region. The approach of the study was qualitative. Data were gathered

thru narratives from respondents and the study employed purposive

random sampling technique so as to determine those persons in the

community that received food remittances. Results from in-depth

interviews show that the growing importance of food remittances as a

coping strategy to improve food security has been underpinned by

accelerating poverty, declining environmental conditions and uneven

development policies through which the Ghanas Upper West Region has
 38

been experiencing. Insights from this study will be used in the proposed

research as to assess whether or not households had been receiving in-

kind help from relatives or family members living elsewhere and its effect

in improving the food security of households living in Sabang Adgawan.

While the study of Kuiire, et al., focusses exclusively on food remittances,

the study looked at other in-kind remittances that household receive from

relatives or family members such as those of monetary remittances, etc.

The report of HLPE (2012) on Social Security for Food Security

emphasizes that in order to ensure food security for all, both intra-

generational and intergenerational social protection should receive

attention. Since food security is a right granted to all, the proposed study

will look at welfare provisions provided by the state and non-state actors

in their interventions in the community, whether they are recipients of such

programs (such as 4Ps) and whether this provisions are enough in order

to lift their hunger and low food security situation such as during times of

food shortages. Similarly, a report by the Canadian International

Development Agency (CIDA) entitled Increasing Food Security spells out

a framework for donor agencies. This framework encourages flexible,

predictable funding amongst the donor community, support nutrition

interventions, the use of social safety nets and food distribution systems,

and school feeding programs, and work with other countries to improve

the Food Assistance Convention, which is the main international

 39

agreement governing food aid. Also, it also supports for the incorporation

of nutrition considerations into broader food security initiatives and

increase micronutrient programming and support and strengthen national

and regional food reserves and food crisis alert and prevention systems.

In similar terms, the Agusan Marsh Wildlife Sanctuary (AMWS) has

been directly managed by the Protected Areas Management Board

(AMWS-PAMB). However, a myriad of actors are also involved in the

management of the area. Being home to Indigenous peoples, portions of

the Marsh have a Certification for Ancestral Domain Title (CADT) which is

directly governed by the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples

(NCIP), of which Sabang Adgawan is covered. The role of the local LGU

must also come into account because Agusan Marsh covers more than

eight municipalities. Also, different NGOs are also in the area, such as the

Foundation for Agusanons, Inc. (FDAI), the Philippine Red Cross,

Philippine-Australia Community Assistance Program and the Philippine

Partnership for the Development of Human Resources in Rural Areas

(PHILDRRA) among others. However, Acopiado (2014) suggest that an

effective convergence mechanism between these different actors has not

been realized. Findings from this assessment suggest that due to the

overlapping mandates and laws over the AMWS, conflict might arise

because of the different approaches that these actors employ. The

research took heed from these insights with the primary concern on the
 40

acquisition of food as a result of these different areas of governance.

Studies elsewhere has provided insights as to how different actors in

governance have different approaches to food security with the result of

different outcomes. In the study of Sneyd, Legwegoh and Sneyd (2015),

the perspectives of different stakeholders in Central African countries in

terms of food security were explored. The study employed de Scutters

concept of the relevant dimensions of food security (physical availability,

social and economic access and nutritional and cultural adequacy) in

capturing the different perspective of these stakeholders. Aided by content

analysis, the study employed wide ranging website search relating to the

term food security in both English and French. For news coverages, the

Factiva News Agency Database was used. Also, the authors gathered

different government documents on matters relating to food security.

Results of the study reveal that different stakeholders businesses (n=42

documents), civil society groups (n=34 documents), governments (n=36

documents), and multilateral and bilateral partners (n=72 documents)- do

not necessarily articulate similar viewpoints on food security with different

emphasis on how food security should be tackled (based on the

availability, accessibility and adequacy of food).

For example, the study of Patel, Bezner, Shumba and Dakishoni

(2015) compares how two programs address the problem of food security

differently in Malawi. The New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition (a
 41

corporate led initiative) espouses greater production of agricultural

commodities that are attuned to the global market. While the Recipe Days

program focused on promoting small-scale farming heeding concerns

over gender and labor. In-depth interviews from the study imply that the

Recipe Days program was more successful in dealing with food security

concerns. The failure of the New Alliance lies on how it constructs the

hungry as recipients- and buyers- of food but never as agents empowered

to think through the problems and constraints of malnutrition that Recipe

Days was able to address. In the context of Malawi gender related

constraints has divided the responsibilities and tasks of men and women.

However, environmental constraints have been rendered unreliable

forcing women to help in searching for livelihoods. Responsibilities of

women in the household do not lessen therefore the quality of work that

women perform in the household, (the acquisition, preparation and

cooking of adequate food) is at stake. Through the Recipe Days these

concerns were addressed such as men now can help in the preparation

and cooking of food as well as women helping in the livelihood activities

among the men.

2.6. Summary of Review

The mentioned studies show that in order to ensure food security, a

number of factors should be addressed. The food system operates within

 42

the environmental, economic, cultural, social and political spheres

(Rutlen, Yaroch and Story, 2011). This means that the sufficiency in

production of food commodities is not an assurance of food security.

Access to these food commodities through purchase and other means

should also be considered. Also, another issue that needs to be

considered is that of the adequacy of food. No matter how much you eat,

as long as these foodstuffs are not able to provide your energy and

nutrient requirements this will still render a consumer food insecure.

Oliver de Scutter provides relevant dimensions to food security which

includes (i) physical availability (in the context of Sabang Adgawan this

refers to the food that is already available in their immediate

environment), (ii) social and economic access (such can be provided by

income and other extra-legal legitimate conventions), and (iii) cultural

and nutritional adequacy (through culturally appropriate foods in their

traditional diets in view of the standards set up by the RENI. These

variables will be used in order to measure food security.

In sum the review showed that: (i) income affects the ability of

household to command items needed to be food secure; (ii) continued

and unsustainable resource utilization can directly threaten environmental

inputs needed to have secure and sufficient access to food; (iii)

inequalities within households and communities can exacerbate food

insecurity to those who are marginalized; and (iv) the ability to be food
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secure depends on many enabling and constraining factors. By providing

a particular case of food security, the study aimed at gathering richer data

and analysis so as to contribute to the literature.