One of the most powerful tools that we introduce to farmers is the Food Security Self-Assessment. This is a one-page worksheet that will help a farmers determine if they are food secure, and how much deficit or surplus food they will encounter. We teach the concepts behind the worksheet, most of which are intuitively understood, like the more mouths to feed, the more food you need. We add to the intuitive understanding by introducing ways to estimate food needs and productions and how to balance land and capital allocation with their needs.
The results of using this tool are:
1) Individuals and families know with high confidence whether they have a surplus or deficit
2) Families with deficit know the date when they will run out of food at normal consumption rates
3) Farmers know how to use this information to plan their farms to mitigate and prevent food deficits.
In 2017, more than 1,000 households learned to use this tool.
