As adults in their prime productive and reproductive years are preoccupied with care giving and or eventually die off, household responsiveness to cope with the advent of drought, death of cattle, and market reforms is undermined. This is particularly problematic during planting and harvesting, when the labour of men, women, and children is in high demand. Over time, food insecurity is accentuated as economic productivity is constrained by the emotional and physical burden of caring for the chronically ill and consequent labour loss. Women and grandparents are overburdened with caring for patients and later on, in fostering orphans. Gender divisions continue to be structured by conventional divisions of labour, limiting household responsiveness.
Decisions made by women and men to cope with labour shortages function in the short term.
In the long run, they are detrimental to agricultural sustainability. Livestock and cash for farming are being severely constrained without any mechanisms in place to replenish these resources. Differential vulnerability between households varies according to household size and wealth. Centre for Development Studies, University of Bath, Working Paper. Agricultural change under structural adjustment and other shocks in Zambia.