FOOD SECURITY AND CONSUMPTION PATTERNS IN BOTSWANA: ANALYSIS BASED ON RECENT NATIONAL HOUSEHOLD BUDGET SURVEY

This article analyzes the consumption patterns in Botswana, paying special attention to food consumption patterns and food security in line with poverty alleviation. Engel’s Law has been found to be generally applicable to the Botswana’s economy. At the national level, household allocation on food consumption decreased from about 35% in 1993-94 to 33% in 2002-03. Furthermore, the food shares are higher in rural areas than urban areas since the former has lower income than the latter. Despite the existence of food security at the national level, there is incidence of food insecurity especially in rural areas where households allocate about 88% of their disposable income on food and only 12% on non food items. There is also a tendency of poor consumers to spend on expensive assets and other household items, probably sometimes, at the expense of food security. This, however, needs further research and it is also recommended that relevant government agencies, NGOs, media and others should make more efforts in implementing food security policies especially in rural areas. They should also educate the poor consumers against free consumerism at the expense of food security. This is in line with the national long-term goal of eradicating poverty and food insecurity by the year 2016. Although the study focuses on Botswana, some of the recommendations made are possibly relevant in less developed countries.