ABSTRACT
This chapter presents findings from the Consuming Urban Poverty food security survey conducted in two low-income areas of Kitwe. The survey found that over 90% of sampled households were either severely or moderately food insecure. The sampled households had extremely low dietary diversity; however, the months of inadequate food provisioning were fewer than the food security and dietary diversity figures would usually suggest for a city in the global South. The chapter proposes that this is the result of national food policies that focus on ensuring production and access of maize. This provides a veneer of food security, but masks significant nutritional deficiencies. The findings of this chapter indicate that households navigate food poverty through strategic engagement with the city’s food system and livelihood diversification. Therefore, policies and programmatic responses that are meant to alleviate food poverty ought to engage both the food system and livelihood interventions so as to promote access to food and enhance household incomes.
