The definition of food security in Swaziland has four main dimensions as outlined in the Food Security Policy: (a) the availability of food in quantity and of quality sufficient to satisfy dietary needs of individuals; (b) food access which is the ability to acquire adequate food through a combination of means; (c) stability of the food supply; and (d) effective utilization of the food consumed. Going by this definition, a household is said to be food insecure and suffering from hunger when it is unable to produce enough food for its own consumption; it does not have sufficient cash income nor other means to buy or acquire the food that it needs; and the prices of food are so high and unstable that the household cannot afford to buy enough to eat. 
Household and individuals’ food security is key to the realization of the first 6 MDGs and the mid term review of progress towards the realization of MDGs has shown that much more has to be done in achieving food security for the Swazi population. In Swaziland, the right to adequate food is seen as a basic human right. However, the realization of the right by different groups, especially those considered most vulnerable is threatened by amongst other things; declining food production over the last decade (see Figure 6), reduced household income which reduces the amount of food that can be purchased, limited access to safe drinking water and health related issues such as HIV and AIDS which reduces intake and further compromises the nutrition status.
The proportion of food-insecure population varies from year to year, but it is estimated that between 20 to 25 percent of the population are food insecure and dependent on food assistance for their survival. People especially identified as the most affected by food insecurity include the elderly, widows with minimal income or external support, women headed households, households with chronically ill member. The VAC report shows that not only do these households have a high dependency ratio but they have significantly lower per capita income, most of the time they have more than one of the proxies associated with vulnerability. HIV and AIDS, which is an underlying factor of household food insecurity in Swaziland affects household food security, particularly where the loss or incapacitation of the breadwinner in a family puts pressure on household income through medical expenses, reduced income and time spent in caring for the sick.
The 2007 census showed that 79 percent of Swazis live in rural areas where they are dependent on agriculture, with the staple maize being the dominant crop. Production of maize, however, has consistently failed to match demand; in 2009, production of maize is estimated at 70,000 metric tons, the best in five years, against a domestic consumption requirement of 161,800 metric tons. As such, Swaziland depends on food imports to fill the production shortfalls. The country also consumes significant amounts of rice and wheat which are exclusively imported from South Africa. 
Hunger and malnutrition are a direct consequence of household food insecurity. Combined with HIV/AIDS and inappropriate maternal and child care, the nutritional status of vulnerable populations in Swaziland has been severely undermined. The main nutritional problems prevailing in the country are protein energy malnutrition, presenting as stunting among children and micronutrient deficiencies, particularly iron deficiency. Malnutrition can occur even when access to food is sufficient. Factors influencing nutrition status include access to safe water and sanitation, feeding practices, maternal hygiene, and morbidity and HIV and AIDS.
Another important dimension to nutrition is the state of water and sanitation. Access to safe drinking water stands at 87 percent in urban areas and 51 percent in rural area. A similar state of affairs prevails with respect to sanitation. This poses a challenge to food utilization as clean water is essential for proper food preparation, while poor sanitary conditions increases the risk of exposure to disease, reducing the conversion efficiency of food by the body.
The most food insecure are located mainly in the rural Shiselweni and Lubombo regions, however there are indications that urban poverty is a growing phenomenon due to a number of push and pull factors such as opportunities for employment. Of the challenges stated above, there are some overriding casual factors that can be identified and are found to be impacting negatively on food security and nutrition. These include: shortages and or poor skills set necessary to adapt to changing climatic conditions, limited access to adequate and appropriate production tools and inputs, limited investment in smallholder farming, high disease burden associated with high HIV and AIDS prevalence, disability. These challenges are mainly attributable to among others, inadequate human resources (high extension officer: household ratio), slow implementation of legislation, poor coordination and standards setting. Detailed causes of food insecurity are addressed in 7.4 under outstanding challenges.

Current Policies and Strategies

Swaziland is a signatory to a number of international agreements on food security, including The Rome Declaration on World Food Security (1996), the Declaration on the World Food Summit (2002) and the FAO Committee on World Food Security, among others. Additionally, the country has taken several measures in the formulation of legislation, policies and strategies as part of the creation of an enabling environment for food security and nutrition. The Poverty Reduction Strategy and Action Plan (PRSAP) seeks to combat declining agricultural production; reduce poor yields in drought-prone areas; improve agricultural marketing information systems; and empower and improve the skills of the poor. The Government has placed food security as one of the highest priorities for the next five years. The National budget allocation for 2009/10 to agriculture stands at 9.1 percent, just below the 10 percent target of Maputo Declaration. To operationalise the policies and legislation, coordinating bodies such as Swaziland Nutrition Council, the National Disaster Management Agency and further developed programmes and plans of action to ensure that the policy translates to action.
Food security and nutrition-related policies and strategies that have been formulated and adopted include: the  Livestock Development Policy, which seeks to promote smallholder livestock enterprises and introduce intensive production technologies, including improved range management practices, the Food Security Policy, which seeks to improve food security and provides a framework for improving agricultural production and marketing; enhancing environmental management; strengthening disaster preparedness; improving health delivery; and broadening access to safe water and sanitation, the National Disaster Management Policy, which seeks to prevent or reduce the impact of disasters on vulnerable communities and groups and the Swaziland Food and Nutrition Policy, which seeks to eliminate all forms of malnutrition through the creation of an enabling environment for women to, inter alia, breastfeed optimally and support infant and young child feeding practices.
There are other policies and legislation that support food security, including some which are still in the pipeline, and others which are currently under review]

Outstanding Challenges

In the light of the preceding analysis, a number of challenges have remained that should be addressed to improve Swaziland’s food security and nutritional status. These include the following:

Low Production and Productivity in the Agricultural Sector
Households continue to experience food shortages as the production has continued to decrease, Swaziland has a very low yield per hectare of maize planted, which means that farmers are putting more money into the soil and getting less from it. Although 79 percent of the population resides in rural areas and their major livelihood is said to be crop and livestock production, less than 29% of their food is derived from own production. Factors that contributing to the reduced household ability to produce enough food include lack of enabling environment (as evidenced by very low investment in small holder agriculture by the Government over the years, slow implementation of policies and programmes set to improve the sector and the slow finalization of the land policy which is supposed to set the tone for commercialization of agriculture) and inadequate capacity within the Ministry of Agriculture in terms of numbers (the extension: household ratio is very high) and skills which in turn leads to poor skills at household level.
The population most affected by food shortages lack the skills to adapt to changing climatic conditions, have very little access to adequate production tools and inputs and there has been limited investment in smallholder farming. These challenges are mainly attributable to among others, inadequate human resources (high extension officer: household ratio), slow implementation of legislation such as the land policy which is still in draft form.
Swaziland has some of the highest stocking density in Africa at 1.77 heads/ha and  slowing livestock development, especially cattle, is that farmers are reluctant to sell their cattle and keep them way past their peak market value. There is also a need to diversify livestock production, especially including more smaller livestock which are more prolific, with feed requirements and less impact on the environment (such as goats, chicken).
HIV and AIDS also has a significant impact on household food security. Studies show that AIDS affected households experience a significant reduction in agricultural production and a large increase in health care costs (see Chapter 6).

Poor Infant, child and Adult Nutrition
Anthropometric measurements in the Swaziland Demographic Health Survey, 2006/2007, indicate that the main nutritional problem in Swaziland is chronic malnutrition. At the national level, 29 percent of children under five are stunted and the report indicates that. stunting is higher among children in rural (30 percent) than those in urban settings (23 percent). Infections and inadequate diet contribute to the level of stunting observed among children less than five years of age. Breastfeeding is a common practice (87 percent of children are ever breast fed) but early introduction of solid and semi-solid foods into the diets of infants is widespread. After early infancy the diet of many children is inadequate in terms of quantity and diversity..  Orphaned and vulnerable children are also particularly affected, with 11 percent of OVC underweight compared to 7 percent of non-OVC[2]
Micronutrient deficiency is the second major nutritional problem of public health significance. The three micronutrients implicated in studies are iron, vitamin A and iodine and due to this,  6-24-month-old children are at risk of disrupted brain development due to iron deficiency. Iron deficiency is also reflected in high rates of anaemia among children.
Overweight and its attendant health risks are emerging as the third nutrition problem of public health significance. Eighteen percent of women are considered either overweight (BMI 25-29.9) or obese (BMI >30). Regardless of gender, urban residents are more likely to be overweight or obese than their rural counterparts. This indicates malnutrition largely related to diet quality and it is mostly consumption of excess carbohydrates (mainly maize and sugar) with limited protein and vegetables, there are also indications that people do not fully understand or practice proper nutrition practices and even where people are have more income bad eating habits subsist.

Negative impact of HIV and AIDS on Food Security
HIV and AIDS, which is an underlying factor of household food insecurity in Swaziland, poses various threats to household food security, particularly where the loss or incapacitation of the breadwinner in a family puts pressure on household income through medical expenses, reduced income and time spent in caring for the sick. Food insecurity also has a negative impact on treatment uptake, drug adherence, programme compliance / attendance; first year survival and malnutrition and or weight loss are strong predictors of death in patients initiating ART. Therefore people living with HIV (PLWH) are particularly vulnerable to food insecurity and are additionally heavily affected by poor access to food which could hasten the progression from HIV to AIDS and reduce immune defence against opportunistic infections. There are still no clear policies that ensure that PLHIV nutrition needs are taken care of including supplementation, nutrition education, counselling and guidance. Issues of coordination in this area are also critically lacking and as such a number of role players are intervening in different forms at times to the detriment of the affected as untested products and drugs are in wide circulation and so are messages.

Limited Opportunities for Income Generation
In Swaziland, the poor are net buyers of food and data indicates that, on average, food constitutes approximately 55 percent of total expenditure for this group, which would even be higher in the absence of food assistance. Currently less than 29% of the food consumed is from self production and the rest is derived from purchases, gifts and to a lesser extent food assistance. The most vulnerable groups include households that are headed by the elderly, those that host orphans, those with a disabled member, and those that are either female-headed or child-headed. This is because they usually have lower income per capita and are less involved in income generation activities, making them more susceptible to high food price shocks. Whilst pro-poor policies have been formulated, the trickle down of the economic benefits and job opportunities has been very slow (See also Chapters 3 and 4)

Weak National Capacity for Disaster and Emergency Response
The National Disaster Management Policy and current practices within the National Disaster Management context are at best reactive in approach to disasters. In their current state national systems cannot address issues of vulnerability to disasters at household level and as a result when risks such as drought occur families have very poor responses and are therefore caught in a cycle of disasters and accompanying poverty and food insecurity. It is important for risks to be identified and mapped, and for risk awareness to be mainstreamed into development at household, community and national levels. Although the Government, through legislative provisions, has established institutions for disaster risk reduction, these are yet to be effected 3 years after the enactment.

Poor Infrastructure Development for Food Security 
Swaziland suffers from poor linkages to markets and value chain especially that will ensure that the poor derive maximum benefit from their efforts. Currently even when people are able to produce, middlemen receive much more cash than producers and this has seen more and more resource poor households being squeezed out of the production cycle. At the national level, Swaziland has reasonably good infrastructure, characterised by well engineered roads, chain supermarkets and fresh produce markets. However, rural roads are not well maintained, thus, restricting access to markets. There is also a bias in the markets themselves, as they are centralized and do not favour the poor in terms of pricing and commodity prices in rural areas are significantly higher per unit than in urban areas. Whilst there have been several irrigation development initiatives in the past ten years, these have mainly focused on sugar cane production which is mostly beyond the reach of the poorest in the communities and has at times encroached into already established food crop production systems.

Poor Access to Safe Drinking Water, Hygiene and Sanitation Facilities
As drought persists , access to clean water and sanitation remain severely limited for much of the population, especially children. With growing migration from rural to urban areas, water-access to burgeoning peri-urban slums is also becoming a growing problem. Poor access to water and sanitation leads to exposure to harmful and potentially life-threatening micro-organisms, which are a major contributory factor to mortality and morbidity from diarrhoea and other intestinal disorders, particularly among children. It is estimated that at least 80 percent of all sicknesses in Swaziland can be traced back to unsafe water, directly or as a breeding ground for diseases and insect vectors.

[1] The others include:  the Swaziland Constitution, Small and Medium Enterprise Development policy (in draft), the National Population Policy, National Youth Policy, National Rural Resettlement Policy, the National Environmental Policy, the Comprehensive Agricultural Sector Policy (in draft), the Urban Agricultural Policy, the National  Management Act, the National Irrigation Policy, and the National Forestry Policy.

[2] Swaziland Demographic and Health Survey, 2006/2007