Abstract—Rural households across South Africa experience food and nutritional insecurity. Given the claimed nutritional benefits of indigenous fruits (IFs), their availability and accessibility in rural areas, several researchers believe they can significantly contribute to rural household food and nutritional security. However, literature highlights that their consumption in recent years has generally remained low and in some incidences reported to be declining. This paper investigated factors that influence indigenous fruits consumption frequency among rural households using 200 randomly selected households from 10 villages in Mutale local municipality, South Africa. Results indicate that a majority of the respondents (78%) consumed indigenous fruits on weekly to monthly basis, mostly in summer when they are abundantly available. Several socio-economic and perception based factors are estimated to condition rural households’ indigenous fruits consumption frequency worth targeting. We therefore argue that, caution should be exercised when indigenous fruits are targeted as food and nutrition security supplements for rural households bearing in mind the periods of the year they are available and drivers of their consumption frequency.

 

Index Terms—indigenous fruits, food and nutrition security, rural households

Cite: Rudzani Nengovhela, Amon Taruvinga, and Abyssinia Mushunje, "Determinants of Indigenous Fruits Consumption Frequency among Rural Households: Evidence from Mutale Local Municipality, South Africa," Journal of Advanced Agricultural Technologies, Vol. 5, No. 3, pp. 227-231, September 2018. Doi: 10.18178/joaat.5.3.227-231