In your own community you might have become aware of households with food insecurity. There are two forms of food insecurity; chronic and acute.

Chronic food insecurity is commonly described as the result of overwhelming poverty indicated by a lack of assets (means of living).
Acute food insecurity is usually considered to be more of a short-term phenomenon related either to manmade or unusual natural shocks, such as drought.

While the chronically food insecure population may experience food deficits relative to need in any given year, irrespective of the impact of shocks, the acutely food insecure require short term assistance to help them cope with unusual circumstances that impact temporarily on their lives and livelihoods. .

The Table below depicts the types of households that are vulnerable to chronic and acute food insecurity in rural and urban settings.

Households that are vulnerable to acute and chronic food insecurity.

	Rural	Urban	Others
Chronic	Resource poor households Landless or land-scarce households Poor pastoralists Female-headed households Elderly, disabled and sick Poor non-agricultural households Newly established settlers	Low income households employed in informal sector Those outside the labour market Elderly, disabled and sick Some female-headed households Street children	Refugees Displaced people
Acute	Resource poor households vulnerable to shocks, especially drought Farmers and others in drought prone areas Pastoralists Others vulnerable to economic shocks (eg. in low potential areas)	Urban poor vulnerable to economic shocks, especially those causing food price rises	Groups affected by temporary civil unrest

Rural

Urban

Others

Chronic

Resource poor households

Landless or land-scarce households

Poor pastoralists

Female-headed households

Elderly, disabled and sick

Poor non-agricultural households

Newly established settlers

Low income households employed in informal sector

Those outside the labour market

Elderly, disabled and sick

Some female-headed households

Street children

Refugees

Displaced people

Acute

Resource poor households vulnerable to shocks, especially drought

Farmers and others in drought prone areas

Pastoralists

Others vulnerable to economic shocks (eg. in low potential areas)

Urban poor vulnerable to economic shocks, especially those causing food price rises

Groups affected by temporary civil unrest

What segments of the population are vulnerable to chronic food insecurity?

Show answer

You may have thought of a number of people who are particularly vulnerable to chronic food insecurity, such as those who are not in work, the elderly, sick and disabled, female-headed households, and street children. People living in low income households, with informal employment are also very vulnerable.