Measuring rural households’ food consumption pattern using HHDS. A case of mopani district municipality, Limpopo province, South Africa

Inadequate consumption of nutritious food is still a challenge in most rural areas in the African continent, as the majority of households are in between jobs. This leads to rural households not having stable jobs, which affects their income, and results in their inability to acquire nutritious food because the level of income influences households’ dietary diversity and quality. This study aimed to measure household food consumption patterns using the Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS), with food groups over a recall period of seven days in the rural households of Mopani District Municipality. The study estimated the determinants of rural households’ dietary diversity. The sample size of the study was 173 rural households, where the sample size was determined using a multi-stage sampling procedure and proportional random sampling to select rural households in Mopani District Municipality. Descriptive statistics results indicated that a majority of rural households have a high dietary diversity status, with the average HDDS of food consumption being 80.26%. Regarding the regression results, household income, gender, level of education and the use of a home garden suggested a positive influence of rural households in attaining high dietary diversity.