Risk factors in the food security of peasant households in the District of Coixtlahuaca, Oaxaca

Abstract

Food intake in peasant households is rooted in the availability of local resources, their exposure to external factors puts food security at risk. The objective of the article is to characterize the intake, availability and accessibility of food in peasant households in rural communities of eight municipalities of the District of Coixtlahuaca to identify economic, physical and climatological risks. The methodology used was to carry out field work by applying in-depth interviews with semi-structured questions to key informants. The information collected is qualitative and the analysis is by block from the saturation of categories to characterize the typical diet and its risk factors in the study region. As research results, it was determined that the main food in the food system is corn and its derivatives, the secondary and frequent are legumes, and the seasonal ones correspond to wild plants and backyard fruits. The diet is scarcely varied. Traditional dishes are prepared at family and religious festivals. It is concluded that food vulnerability prevails in households due to the presence of extreme weather factors that endanger the production of basic grains and low productivity in crops due to eroded crop plots. Households use life strategies such as the sale of handicrafts and small animals to obtain income, which are complemented with monetary transfers from the government for economic access to food.