Investigating the indicators and factors affecting food literacy among rural households, With emphasis on the mediating role of food security

Abstract

Food literacy has significant potential for improving some aspects of food insecurity by increasing flexibility and maximizing the use of available resources. The aim of this study was to investigate the indicators and factors affecting food literacy among rural households by survey method among the statistical population of rural households in Dashti city of Bushehr province. The number of samples was selected based on Cochran's formula and 232 households by multi-stage sampling method. The data collection tool was a questionnaire whose validity and reliability were confirmed by the pilot and the opinion of faculty of agricultural extension and education and data analysis was performed using SPSS25 software. The results showed that the average food literacy among rural households with different levels of education and income level was significantly different. The results of examining the causal relationship in the form of path analysis test showed that among the variables included in the model, the use of ecosystem services (effect of 0.725), attitude towards conventional agriculture (effect of 0.577) and food security (effect of 0.465) had the highest effect (sum of direct and indirect effects) on food literacy and the age variable (effect of 0.225) had the lowest. In order to improve the food literacy of rural communities, it is recommended to identify the scientific methods that can be offered in formal and informal education courses, and pay more attention to the empirical knowledge of villagers regarding food, as well as appropriate educational management.