Focus on the ONJAMA Household Food Security Paradigm The main preoccupation of rural poor communities in Tanzania is the availability of year-round household food security to all family members. Shortages of food have become a recurring phenomenon especially in areas receiving poor rainfall. Food allocations are frequently provided to help starving families. Sporadic droughts and disregard for husbandry of drought-resistant crops are major causes of hunger. A down-to-earth household food security program, known as ONJAMA1 was introduced and carried out in Masasi district of southern Tanzania, which in practical terms was the locus of a successful locally-organized and self-reliant household food security program that received fame in the country and abroad. Keywords: ONJAMA, Household Food Security, Masasi District, Drought, Hunger, Famine, Cassava, Legumes, Kilimo Kwanza. This study examines the major causes, challenges and possible solutions of the sporadic situations of famine and hunger in the erstwhile Masasi district, an administrative area that comprised seven divisions, thirty wards and 196 registered villages, before being subdivided in 2006 into two autonomous districts of Masasi and Nanyumbu. According to the Regional Economic Profile (1997), Masasi formed 53 percent of Mtwara region's total area or 55 percent of the smallest district of Mtwara Mikindani. The other districts were Newala (including Tandahimba) and Mtwara Rural. Ravaged by a dreadful drought period between 1986 and 1988 consecutively, communities in the Masasi district depended on food relief provided by government and other multilateral and charitable organizations. UNICEF's Annual Report of the Executive Board (1990) conceded that the local authorities in the district initiated an intensive and extensive programme popularly known as ONJAMA, for eradicating hunger that helped the study area turn into a new green belt with limited external support. Community food production was mobilized an ... Read more