Household food insecurity and coping strategies among urban areas: a case study of Bindura.

Abstract

Food insecurity in urban Zimbabwe is no longer a peripheral concern it is an everyday reality for a large proportion of households, particularly in smaller towns like Bindura that are often overlooked in national policy conversations. This study investigated household food insecurity and the coping strategies employed by urban households in Bindura, Zimbabwe, focusing on the high-density suburbs of Chipadze and Chiwaridzo and the medium-density suburbs of Aerodrome and Claverhill. Guided by a mixed methods approach, the study combined structured questionnaires administered to 56 households with in-depth interviews from 35 participants and 10 key informants drawn from local government, non-governmental organizations, and community leadership structures. The findings reveal that the overwhelming majority of households experience mild to severe food insecurity, driven primarily by unemployment, chronically low and unstable incomes, relentless food price inflation, and large household sizes that stretch already limited resources. In response to these pressures, households have developed a range of coping strategies most of them short-term and consumption-based including reducing meal portions, skipping meals altogether, purchasing cheaper and nutritionally poor food, borrowing from neighbors and relatives, and, in fewer cases, engaging in backyard urban agriculture. While these mechanisms reflect genuine household resilience and agency, they fall far short of addressing the structural roots of food insecurity and leave families vulnerable to recurring cycles of hunger and nutritional deprivation. The study is anchored theoretically in Ecological Systems Theory, the Strengths Perspective, and Social Learning Theory, which collectively illuminate how household-level vulnerabilities interact with broader economic and institutional failures. The research concludes with targeted recommendations for government, local authorities, civil society, and communities, emphasizing the urgent need for sustainable urban employment creation, food price stabilization, and institutional support for urban agriculture as complementary pathways toward achieving meaningful food security in Bindura and similar urban contexts across Zimbabwe.