Association of Sustainable Food Security with Climatic and Non-climatic Factors in Gujarat State of India: A District-Wise Panel Data Investigation

Abstract

AbstractFood security is significantly associated with agricultural sector, socio-economic activities of people, ecosystem services, geographical location, political stability and climatic factors in a country. Aforesaid activities are also useful to increase agricultural sustainability. Thus, assessment of food security and agricultural sustainability is complex and controversial. Therefore, this study develops district-wise food security index (FSI) as a measurement of food security and agricultural sustainability in Gujarat during 2001–2017. The composite Z-score technique was used to develop FSI. The descriptive results indicate that most districts were in poor position in food security due to high diversity in climatic factors, ecosystem services, socio-economic factors and performance of agricultural sector. Food security was positively correlated with food availability, food accessibility, and food stability. Thereupon, linear, log-linear and non-linear production function models were also used to explores the association of climatic and non-climatic factors with FSI employing a district-wise panel data. The empirical results imply that food security was negatively impacted due to change in maximum temperature and rainfall pattern. This study was also reported that food security was significantly associated with agriculture, socio-economic, government policy and ecosystem services-related variables in Gujarat. It is recommended that policymakers should implement policies to control the birth rate, infant mortality rate, population growth, population density, and urbanization and protect ecosystem services (i.e., land, water and forestry) to increase agricultural sustainability and sustainable food security in Gujarat.KeywordsAgricultural sustainabilityClimate changeSustainable food securityFood security indexEcological servicesGujaratIndia