Unravelling the Linkage between Food Security, Poverty Reduction, and Education for Sustainable Development

Abstract

All members of the United Nations have pledged to achieve no poverty and zero hunger within the sustainable development goals (SDG) agenda by 2030. This study looks at the SDG objectives and linkages between poverty, food insecurity, and education. We constructed a composite food security index to capture the multidimensional concept of food security. The link between poverty and food security is then examined using the new food security index and the robustness of the link is compared with the conventional unidimensional food security measure. Using a recursive, simultaneous-equations model and data from a nationally representative household survey in Cameroon, we find a strong link at the national and in both urban and rural regions. The results show the important driver role of education, better education not only contributes to poverty reduction but also enhances food security. The absolute marginal effects of tertiary education are clearly stronger in rural areas. Compared to access to credit, the benefits of education are much more substantial. These findings are in favour of an integrated and targeted approach to address food security and emphasise the driver role of education in enabling sustainable development.