Household assets and food security in and around medium-sized towns: some insights from Morogoro and Iringa, Tanzania

ABSTRACT This paper examines the extent to which household assets ownership vary along the urban-rural continuum, and assess the influence of these assets on household food accessibility. A cross-sectional research design using a stratified random sample of 279 households was sampled along the urban-rural continuum in Morogoro and Iringa, Tanzania. The results show that household assets ownership varies significantly in areas regarded as urban, peri-urban and rural. Using binary logistic regression, household food accessibility improves as household head's education and the number of household members earning income increase. Conversely, food accessibility worsens as household size, the proportion of consumption expenditure on food, and reliance on aid increase. It is concluded that although household assets ownership varies greatly along the urban-rural continuum, its food accessibility status is influenced by factors such as household head's education level, number of members earning an income, household size, the proportion of consumption expenditure on food and reliance on aid. Household's location does not affect its food accessibility. Therefore, household's heads should be given appropriate technical skills to enable them to improve their household food accessibility. More job opportunities should be created mostly in rural areas and people should be sensitised to practice family planning.