Needs-based food and nutrient security indices to monitor and modify the food supply and intakes: Taiwan, 1991–2010

This study was carried out to assess farm households’ food security and consumption indices. The study was conducted in Kaduna state, Nigeria. Data used for this study was collected from a total of 244 farm households with the use of structured questionnaire using a multistage random and purposive sampling technique. The main tools of analysis for this study include descriptive statistics and food security index. The study shows that about one third of the rural farm households sampled was food insecure and that the average farm size of the farm households was 2.05ha as food secure and insecure households cultivate 2.09ha and 1.96ha respectively. Average farm and non-farm income were $1,130.7 and $810.3 per annum respectively as household daily calorie consumed was found to exceed household daily calorie requirement. The food security indices for the food secure and insecure households were found to be 1.462 and 0.852 respectively. Large family size was found to lower available calorie intake of households. The study recommends the need for family planning education and policy frames to increase household farm size.

The Public Distribution System (PDS) of India plays a crucial role in reducing food insecurity by acting as a safety net by distributing essentials at a subsidised rate. While the PDS forms a cornerstone of government food and nutrition policy, India continues to be home to a large population of hungry and malnourished people. This review seeks to explore the functioning and efficiency of the PDS in achieving food and nutritional security in India. A comprehensive and systematic search using the key terms “food insecurity” OR “food security” AND “Public Distribution System” OR “PDS” OR “TPDS” AND “India” identified 23 articles which met the inclusion criteria. This review draws attention to the lack of published literature in areas of PDS and food security in India. The findings of the review emphasise the role of PDS in tackling hunger and malnutrition while highlighting its limited role in improving food security and childhood mortality due to operational inefficiencies. The PDS has the potential to act as a solution to food insecurity in India if the operational inefficiencies and environmental footprints are addressed by adequate policy reforms.

Food insecurity remains a critical issue globally, as highlighted by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 2). In 2023, nearly 25 million Nigerians faced food insecurity due to factors like insurgency affecting agricultural activities. This, therefore, worsens the food insecurity in the country. Thus, this study investigates the dynamics between household consumption expenditure patterns and food security in Nigeria over a decade (2010-2019). This was done by analysing four waves of secondary panel data of 4,000 nationally representative households of the Nigeria General Household Survey GHS - Panel collected by the National Bureau of Statistics in four waves over ten years from 2010 to 2019. Analytical tools used were descriptive statistics and the Food Security Index. The results of the consumption patterns of the respondents showed that the majority of the respondents were in the lowest band of per capita total expenditure and sectoral expenditures. The ratio of food secure to food insecure averages around 30% to 70% with a food security (surplus) index of 1.26 and food insecurity (shortfall) index of 0.53. Nigeria was food insecure during the period. The analysis concludes that boosting agricultural productivity, improving infrastructure, and addressing corruption are essential to enhance food security in Nigeria. The government is recommended to prioritize long-term strategies for food production, support vulnerable households, and leverage technological advancements to increase agricultural productivity. This study underscores the need for comprehensive policies to address the multifaceted challenges of food insecurity in Nigeria.

Assessing food and nutrient security in Taiwan: Integrating sustainability and the planetary health diet.

Different food security (FS) indicators were used to determine the level of FS on all dimensions of FS in the informal settlement areas of the Western Cape Metropole in South Africa. With regards to food access, 78% of households are severely food insecure, while just more than 50% of households earn more than the US$ 2 per capita per day food poverty line and with 21% of the households that fall below the critical point of US$ 1.25 per capita per day. The average total household expenditure on food is R338.26, whereto the share of income spent is an average of 52.5% of household income. Households experience 4.3 hungry months during a year, meaning challenges are experienced concerning food availability. The household diet diversity score (HDDS) was used to measure utilisation and it was found that 10.4 out of 18 different food groups/categories were consumed. Most significant differences can be seen for FS indicators between areas, but no significant differences were measured between farming and non-farming households. This means that households involved in farming are not more food secure than those not involved in farming. Bonteheuwel and Kraaifontein were the two areas most severely affected by food insecurity according to Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS), Household Diet Diversity Score (HDDS) as well as Months of Adequate Household Food Provisioning (MAHFP) and the food poverty measures. Gugulethu and Khayelitsha on the other hand seem to be the most food secure of all these areas. Keywords: Urban households, food security, food security indicators, food security measures, Farmer Support and Development, extension services

This study was conducted to assess the temporal changes in the status of food security in India. The food security was assessed in terms of its basic pillars—availability access and absorption. Findings reveal that though there has been a remarkable improvement in the status of food security in India, the presence of food insecurity on a large scale erodes the large chunk of sheen from the glory of economic development in India. Several initiatives have been taken to tackle the challenge of food security, and the public distribution system (PDS) has been the most important instrument of ensuring food security in India. It has been observed that its contribution to poverty reduction and food security improvement has been increasing over time.

Food insecurity is quickly becoming a key topic in national and international debates. Consequently, series of studies have been conducted on food security and its determinants. However, none of these studies have measured food security among cocoa marketers and have considered the influence of public relations (PR) on food security among cocoa marketers in Nigeria Thus, this study measured food security status and determined the influence of PR strategies on food security of marketers. A combination of purposive and random sampling techniques were employed to select 100 respondents for this study. The analytical tools include: descriptive statistics, food security index and logistic regression analysis. The result revealed that majority of the sampled respondents were males with an average household size of 8 persons. The food security index indicated that 65% and 35% of the respondents were food insecure and secure respectively. The logistic regression indicated that about 53% of the total variation in food security of the wholesale cocoa marketers was accounted for by the estimated explanatory variables. Age of the respondents, marketing margin, household size, credit access and PR strategies were the critical determinants of food security among cocoa marketers in the area. Government should provide PR tools at subsidized rate as well as train marketers on the effective use of these tools. Policies to address irregular network and high airtime tariff challenges associated with the adoption of PR strategies in the country must be supported. Policy aimed at reducing household size should be encouraged.

This study explores the effect of small-scale agricultural crop commercialisation on household food security in Liwale, Lindi. The study used a household survey data from a sample of 389 households that were collected in 2017. The Principal Component Analysis was used to develop the household food security index and the Cluster Analysis was used to assign the individual households to their respective clusters of food security index. The output side measure of commercialisation was used to develop crop commercialisation index, and lastly, the Ordered Logit Model was used to estimate the effect of commercialisation on food security. The average household food security index is 32%. The majority (64%) of the households were moderately food secured with an average food security index of 32.8% while only 16% of households were relatively more food secure than the rest and with average food security index of 49.1%. The average commercialisation of small-scale agricultural crops is 66%. The results from ordered logit estimation show that crop commercialisation, off-farm income, and access to extension services positively affect the level of household food security while credit negatively affects food security. The implication of the findings is that, small local processing factories should be established in rural areas to promote commercialisation, value addition and increase of market access and linkages to reduce post-harvest losses incurred as a result of poor storage technology and perishability.

Food security in a just energy transition is a growing debate about designing sustainable food secure networks worldwide. Energy transition, land-use change, and food security are crucial factors for food security and provision. The increased demand for food products and customer preferences regarding food safety provide various issues for the current agriculture food supply chain (AFSC). Along with rising sustainability concerns, strict government regulation, food security, and traceability concerns compel managers, business houses, and practitioners working in AFSC to adopt new tools, techniques, and methodologies to model current food supply chain problems. Thus, in turn, design the food logistics network for food security. Hence, this study investigates the core determinants of food security and supply in Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, and Lebanon over the period of 2010–2019. In order to estimate the objectives of the study, we employ the fully modified ordinary least square (FMOLS) and dynamic ordinary least squares estimators (DOLS) to draw the study findings. However, the estimated results show a negative association of land use with food security and supply. Likewise, energy transition, gross domestic product, and agricultural value added (AVA) contribute to the food security supply. In contrast, urbanization's negative but insignificant contribution to the food supply in selected economies exists. Besides, another core objective of the study is to investigate the moderate role of the energy transition on the gross domestic product, agriculture sector, and land use and find the significant contribution to the food supply. However, the current study also tries forecasting for the next 10 years and employs the impulse response function (IRF) and variance decomposition analysis (VDA). Congruently, this study uses the pairwise panel causality test and finds exciting outcomes. The COVID-19 crisis has posed challenges such as energy consumption and food security issues. On behalf of the results, the current study proposes imperative policies to investigate the desired level of food supply. The findings provide valuable insights for experts, policymakers, and officials to take practical measures for energy use and food security challenges.

Diversifying income sources is recognized as a crucial strategy to boost earnings, mitigate risk, and reduce economic vulnerability. Despite its importance, the relationship between food security and income diversification in Sri Lanka hasn’t received sufficient attention. Therefore, this study investigates how Sri Lankan food security is impacted by income diversification by analyzing 19,783 national representative households' data taken from the 2019 Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES). The nutrition-based Food Security Index (FSI) was used to assess food security. Food security is measured by dividing the daily calorie intake by the recommended per capita daily calorie intake of all household members. An FSI value below 1.0 indicates food insecurity, while values at or above 1.0 indicate food security. Income diversification was measured using Simpson's Index of Diversity (SID), with households possessing multiple income sources classified as having diversified income portfolios. Descriptive statistics, multiple linear regression and probit regression were used to analyze the data. The results reveal that over half of households have a variety of sources of income, indicating that households typically rely on multiple sources of income rather than just one, and FSI, with a mean of 1.11, suggests that households are food secure on average. Ultimately, the analysis revealed that the household food security in Sri Lanka is positively and significantly impacted by income diversification. Sectoral analysis indicates that rural and urban households have wider income sources compared to households in the estate sector, while the estate and rural sector households are generally food secure, compared to the households in the urban sector. These findings highlight the importance of promoting income diversification strategies among Sri Lankan households to enhance food security and build resilience against economic shocks in Sri Lanka. Keywords: Food security; Household income; Income diversification; Rural-urban disparities; Sri Lanka

This paper analyses the demand and supply of food in the context of food security in India so as to understand the domestic policies needed to control food problems and food inflation. First, we could consider supply side policies needed to ensure that the rising demand can be met and food inflation controlled. Concerted action will be needed to increase agricultural yields, given that cropped land will be hard to increase. These include improving irrigation facilities, better seeds, improved cold storage and transportation facilities, reallocation of land from cereals and pulses to vegetables and fruits, etc. Second, we estimate food demand in India by categories such as cereals, vegetables, fruits, dairy products, and meat using consumption data available under different studies. Our analysis shows that the structure of demand by food category is in the process of undergoing significant changes with rising income levels, and that the demand for fruits, vegetable, cooking oils, dairy products, and meat will increase by 60–75 per cent over the next 10 years, while demand for cereals will increase only 10 per cent, and that for pulses will decline slightly. Finally, we discuss the food security issues and required measures to be followed by the government for ensuring food security in future.

Food Insecurity: A Nutritional Outcome or a Predictor Variable?

Food insecurity remains a major concern for numerous rural households in Sub-Saharan Africa who rely on agriculture as their main source of livelihood. The assessment of the links between food security and livelihoods is central for overcoming widespread food insecurity. However, assessments remain challenging due to food security’s multi-dimensionality and the challenge of finding indicators that are comparable and applicable to various contexts. This study addresses this challenge by adapting a food security index (FSI) and uses it to assess the livelihood drivers of food security. The index captures the multi-dimensionality of food security using conventional food security indicators. The assessed indicators include measures of “food consumption score”, “household dietary diversity score”, “coping strategies index”, the “household food insecurity access scale” and “months of adequate household food provisioning”. The study covered 600 randomly selected households representative of three agro-ecological zones located close to large-scale agricultural investment in Mount Kenya region in Kenya. We used linear regression to identify livelihood factors significantly influencing food security. Spearman’s rank-order correlation and student’s T-test demonstrated a strong and significant correlation between the composite FSI index and each classical indicators of food security. Overall, 32% of the households were food secure and 68% were food insecure. Households’ ownership of productive hand tools, followed by off-farm income, consumption of own produced food, type of agro-ecological zone, farm income and number of main crops infested by pests had a significant effect on household food security. All these factors, except the number of main crops infested by pests, positively influenced household food security. Households in humid agro-ecological zone were less food secure than households in semi-humid and semi-arid zones. Household size, the size of accessible land and households’ members’ participation to large agricultural investments (as wage workers or sub-contract farmer) were not significantly influencing food security. Households of the Mount Kenya region need alternative off-farm income sources combined with further support to improve sustainable agriculture management with appropriate hand tools for increased production, and improve value chains to increase farm income.

Achieving food security is still a major problem for households in most rural areas of Nigeria. This study was therefore designed to assess the food security status among farming households in rural areas of Kano state, Nigeria. The study utilized a multistage random sampling technique to +select a sample of 120 rural farm households for interview. Data collected were analysed using percentages, mean score, logistic regression and food security index. Using the food security index approach, the study revealed that 74% of the respondents were food secure while 26% were food insecure. The results of the logistic regression revealed that educational level (p0.05; z = 1.95), sex (p0.05; z = 1.99), household size (p0.05; -4.29) and access to credit (p0.05; z = 2.4) were significant determinants of food security. Also, the major effect of food insecurity on the households include reduction in household income/ savings due to increased expenditure on food (M= 3.58), among others. The perceived coping strategies in cushioning the effects of food insecurity include engaging in off-farm and non-farm jobs to increase household income, (M= 2.77), among others. The study therefore recommends the fast tracking of already established policy measures aimed at reducing food insecurity in the country. Also, efforts aimed at reducing food insecurity among rural farming households should focus on increasing household income and food supply.

As climate change intensifies, food security has received widespread attention. This study examines the development of Japan's food security index and its relationship with climate change. From these findings, a food security indicator system for Japan was established. The food security system has six dimensions: availability, nutrition, climate change, society, economics, and fertilizer. The factors affecting food security are complex and variable, and this paper adds the Fertilizer Security Index (FSI) to the previous studies. The overuse of fertilizers directly contributes to soil and atmospheric pollution, which can indirectly lead to issues of food quality insecurity. Including this factor within the food security system is fully justified. This enhances the precision of the food security index system to some degree. The results showed that Japan's overall food security index exhibited a slight downward trend from 0.113 in 1980 to 0.099 in 2022. Food security reached its lowest point of about 0.067 in 1993. In addition, all five indicators, except the fertilizer index, put pressure on the food security index. Due to the uncertainty inherent in climate change, specifically its ambiguous positive and negative impacts on food security, the Climate Change Security Index provides detailed evidence in this paper supporting whether climate change contributes to or undermines food security. Finally, the study put forward recommendations to ensure food security.