Food Security Assessment Research Articles

Assessing Food Security In Terms Of Nutrient Intake In Agri-Business Households (As Primary Source Of Income) In Bankura District Of West Bengal Of India

This study evaluated food security and recommended policies to enhance calorie, protein, and fat intake in selected households. It surveyed 50 participants from the agri-business industry using Simple Random Sampling without Replacement and classified households based on income. Most family members were aged 26 to 45 years. The quantities of food consumed by the households were converted into equivalent amounts of calorie, protein, and fat based on the Nutrition Chart from an ICMR publication. The study converted food quantities to calorie, protein, and fat amounts using a Nutrition Chart, and adjusted calorie intake based on age and sex differences. Group-1 and Group-2 households were recommended to have balanced diets with more milk, pulses, fruits, and vegetables, and to increase protein intake. Protein intake was higher than the recommended amount for agri-business households, except for Group- 1 and Group-2. The study suggests policies to improve food intake, create awareness about balanced diets, and encourage the consumption of nutritious food, particularly in low-income households.

Development and Standardization of Household Food and Nutritional Security Index

An assessment of Household Food and Nutritional Security (HFNS) is important to understand the nutritional state of a household. There are various techniques available for measuring it but they are all in scattered form, making the study tedious. Present research carried out during 2022-23 was aimed at constructing a composite HFNS index that would aid in amalgamating the different techniques to holistically study the HFNS. Initially, four dimensions and 48 indicators were identified and subjected to relevancy testing through judges’ opinions which resulted in the selection of 32 indicators. A questionnaire with finalized indicators was administered to 60 households in the non-sampling area. The test retest and split-half method was followed for testing the reliability of the tool and the reliability co-efficient was 0.84 and 0.87, respectively. Content validity and statistical validity were used to confirm the validity of the tool which was 0.96. The developed tool finally consisted of four dimensions and 32 indicators which are reliable and can produce consistent results while assessing the food and nutritional security of rural households.

Red Amaranth (Amaranthus tricolor L.) Irrigated with Domestic Sewage Wastewater as a Source of Irrigation: Environmental Food Security and Safety Assessment Perspectives through Acute and Sub- Acute Toxicity Study

Water deficiency is one of the main factors for limiting sustainable agricultural development in most arid and semi-arid regions. There is a gradual decline in the availability of fresh water to be used for irrigation in developing countries like India. Sewage farming is quite common in all urban areas in India. The effect of its direct and long-term use for irrigation needs a thorough study. However, there is increasing concern about food safety and health risks, hence, a case study was undertaken to understand the long-term effect of domestic sewage wastewater irrigation on heavy metal concentrations in soil and plants. The study reveals the mineral and heavy metal composition of irrigated domestic sewage wastewater and it has been compared with the well water irrigated in the rural area, soil parameters and also the mineral and heavy metal composition of a cultivated plant, Amaranthus tricolor L. Transfer factor (TF) was calculated to understand the extent of risk and associated hazard due to wastewater irrigation and the consequence of heavy metals accumulation in the edible portion of experimented vegetables. The present study was carried out to assess the potential toxicity of acetone extract of A. tricolor with some essential parameters such as haematological and biochemical parameters, liver and kidney weight and their histopathological study. After conducting in vivo acute and subchronic toxicity experiments using the rat model, there was no toxicity or mortality observed between domestic sewage water and well water irrigated to red amaranth, A. tricolor.

Обеспечение продовольственной безопасности как важнейший фактор социально-экономического развития регионов

The article is devoted to the issues of studying the system of socio-economic indicators that characterize the food security of the regions. The analysis and studies of indicators were carried out on the example of the regions of the Central federal district. The calculations are based on Rosstat data for the period from 2015 to 2020. The methods of mathematical statistics and correlation analysis were used as research methods. To perform calculations and visualize data, the RStudio interactive statistical analysis environment with the ggcorrplot graphics package was used. The paper explores approaches to assessing food security and defines a system of indicators used in most of the considered methods. For the study, the food self-sufficiency indicator, the actual consumption indicator, the poverty indicator, the real consumption indicator, and the Gini indicator were selected. The analysis of the dynamics of the level of actual consumption for the period under review did not reveal significant changes. At the same time, a comparative analysis of this indicator for 2020 by individual regions indicates an uneven distribution across all main types of food. For the seventeen regions considered in the work, calculations, and analysis of the self-sufficiency of the regions for the five most important food products were performed. In accordance with the data obtained, three groups of regions with high, sufficient, and low self-sufficiency in food products were identified. To eliminate the redundancy of a set of indicators for a general assessment of food security, a correlation analysis of the interdependence of indicators was performed in the work, which made it possible to limit the number of indicators under consideration without losing the information content of the model. An important value in assessing the availability of food is played by the indicator of monetary income of the population. Calculations showed a high degree of correlation of this indicator with the indicator of actual consumption. The results obtained in the study reflect the importance of food self-sufficiency in the regions, and the system of indicators considered allows us to provide objective information about the situation in this area.

STUDY OF THE STATE OF GLOBAL FOOD SECURITY

The article is devoted to the study of the state of the global food problem. Today, one of the most important and urgent global problems of humanity is food security, as the population of the world is growing rapidly, there is a threat that the existing natural resources are not enough to produce the amount of food that is necessary for the consumption of the population. Uneven development and irrational use of resources aggravate the food problem. In these conditions, it is urgent to strengthen the cooperation of countries to solve the global food problem. The threat of global food security makes the issue of increasing agricultural productivity more urgent than ever in countries that are currently the largest producers of agricultural products, including Ukraine. Despite the considerable amount of theoretical and analytical information on food security programs, insufficient attention has been paid to the causes and preconditions of the problem of hunger. In particular, the article presents the key concepts of global food security and examines the causes that aggravate the food crisis. The absence and lack of food security of the population is analyzed, changes in the prevalence of malnutrition that have occurred in recent years are considered, and the general scale of food security in the world is shown. The ranking of countries using the global food security index is also determined. As a result of the analysis of the reasons for the development of the global food problem, it was established that the food problem has reached global proportions today. There is an imbalance in food between countries of different levels of development. In countries with a low level of development and those that are developing, a situation of high depletion of food is observed. Many factors influenced this. Economic, environmental and climate crises have significantly increased the risk of worsening food security in the world and the likelihood of famine in certain regions. Russia's war against Ukraine, which is destroying its supply chain infrastructure and exacerbating food security problems, has contributed to increased attention to the issues under study. The research is aimed at determining the assessment of food security in the world and in Ukraine.

ПРОДОВОЛЬЧА БЕЗПЕКА: ОЦІНКА СУЧАСНОГО СТАНУ

The article discusses the essence of food security and indicators of food security assessment at the global level. Food security is the basis of national security of any state and is a leading component of its economic security and national sovereignty. For Ukraine, in the conditions of war, food security is one of the main conditions for preserving the independence of the state. The assessment of the current state of global food security was carried out using the Global Food Security Index. This universal index is a dynamic quantitative-qualitative model that provides in-depth analysis in different countries of the world. All the qualitative and quantitative factors of food security, with the help of which the universal global index is calculated, can be classified into four groups. Each group has its own value and evaluation indicators. The information of international rating agencies and organizations on the problems of identifying, assessing and forecasting threats in the food sector for 2022 has been systematized and analyzed. A number of factors that have influenced the decline in the overall food security situation both globally and in Ukraine have been identified. Analysis of the current state of food security in Ukraine showed that the decrease in the index occurred due to the deterioration of indicators of three groups, in particular: "Affordability", "Availability", "Natural Resources and Resilience". The indicators of the "Quality and Safety" group showed high results and restrained the overall decline of the Global Food Security Index -2022. The countries that have a threatening situation, are in the last places in the ranking and need food aid from the world community have been identified. The countries that have a high level of food security, are leaders in the rating and can take an active part in international processes of ensuring food security of mankind have been determined. It was noted that the food policy of each state plays an important role in ensuring global food security. Countries where significant attention is paid to issues of food security state management on a global scale are leading the rating. Countries with a passive state food policy are at the bottom. It was concluded that the identification of the country's food security rating will contribute to solving the global food problem.

Kazakhstan Food security at the present stage of development

In this article, the authors consider the current state of food security in Kazakhstan. The main purpose of the article is to assess food security in Kazakhstan. Today, 9.2% of the world's population faces food insecurity, namely the consumption of insufficient food, as a result of which a person experiences hunger. It is worth noting that the economic consequences of the epidemic and the measures taken to prevent it have led to an increase in food prices and there is often an economic unavailability of healthy food in the world. In the course of the study conducted by the authors, it was revealed that in the conditions of recent events, the severity of food insecurity is aggravated. Therefore, in the context of innovative development, Kazakhstan is increasingly focusing on food security issues. The article considered the current state of agricultural production development: namely, the gross harvest of agricultural crops and the production of certain types livestock products in Kazakhstan for 2018-2022. The authors also analyzed Kazakhstan profile in more detail according to the data of the global food security index. The global food security index is considered in more detail, which includes the level of availability and consumption of food, the availability and accessibility of food, the level of food quality and safety. In the course of the analysis, the main directions of ensuring food security were proposed, such as: the growth of agricultural competitiveness and product quality, the development of export-oriented production, the development of breeding and genetic and technical and technological modernization of the agro-industrial complex, the introduction of high-tech technologies, etc.

Global Food Security and Ukraine’s Contribution to Its Provision

The aim of the article is to study the essence of global food security and assess Ukraine’s contribution to its provision. The essence of the concept of “global food security” is clarified. The tasks of specialized institutions dealing with the problem of global food security are described. Ukraine’s participation in the FAO and the UN World Food Security Committee has been clarified. It has been established that the Global Food Security Index (GFSI) is used to assess food security around the world, which includes four components: food affordability, food affordability, food quality, safety an d security, natural resources and sustainability. Ukraine’s contribution to the world food market has been studied. The structure of the total merchandise exports of Ukraine was analyzed, it was found that the share of agri-food products is 40.6%, and the share of plant products is 22.8%. Ukraine’s place in world food exports is specifi ed, the geographical structure of food exports is considered. Ukraine’s contribution to food security in Africa and Asia is analyzed. The dynamics of Ukrainian grain exports to the world market has been studied. The risks and threats to global food security related to the Russian armed invasion of Ukraine are described. The USDA forecast for grain exports from Ukraine is given. The conclusion is made about the need to protect and support the production of agricultural products in Ukraine under martial law.

Islands of Milk Insecurity in World’s Leading Milk Producer: A Case of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India

India, with the world’s largest cattle population, is a leading producer of milk, and claims to be self-sufficient for dairy production. However, such an important component for nutritional security has been reported to be adulterated by 68% by the national food safety agency. This study challenges the basic claim of self-sufficiency in terms of milk production and food security for milk and milk products. A novel model for studying milk safety is presented, which evaluates the prevailing conditions in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (A&N), India. There are no comprehensive data nor studies available for this region. The assessment of the pillars of food security found that with the present population load, there is an annual deficit of 25673.7 MT of fluid milk in the A&N Islands. The study found that the average herd size is 1.9, with about 26.9% of the animals rearing desi (non-descriptive) cattle, characterized by low production levels of 3.95 L/day and with gene frequency of 16.48% for the A1 allele. None of the milk samples were found to be positive for antibiotic (tetracycline and aminoglycoside) residues. However, 4% of the milk samples were found to be positive for the aflatoxin residues above the permitted MRL. The KAP study shows that awareness regarding clean milk production, antimicrobial residues, withdrawal timings, aflatoxins, etc. is poor/highly limited among the farmers of the region. The output may act as a referral study and a template for future studies for the assessment of product-specific food security. Our findings highlight the limitations of the present approach and the need for additional data, using a wider range of research techniques for assessing dairy. Whilst not definitive, it aims to highlight those factors which are considered crucial to an understanding of contemporary milk safety controls.

Above- and belowground net-primary productivity: A field-based global database of grasslands.

Net primary productivity (NPP) over global grasslands is crucial for understanding the terrestrial carbon cycling and for the assessments of wild herbivores food security. During the past few decades, numerous field investigations have been conducted to estimate grassland NPP since the measuring criterion released by the International Biological Program. However, a comprehensive NPP database, particularly for belowground NPP (BNPP), in global grasslands is rare to date. Here, field NPP measurements from 438 publications (1957-2018) in global grasslands were collected, critically filtered, and incorporated in a comprehensive global database with observations for aboveground NPP (ANPP), BNPP, total NPP (TNPP), and BNPP fraction (fBNPP ). Associated information on geographical locations, climatic records, grassland types, land use patterns, manipulations subjected to manipulative experiments, sampling year of study sites, as well as NPP measurement methods are also documented. This database included 2985 entries from 1785 study sites. Among them, 806 entries contained paired data of ANPP and BNPP, resulting in the 806 fBNPP data. The study sites encompassed global grasslands with latitudinal range of 54.5° S~78.9° N, longitudinal range of 157.4° W~175.8° E, and altitudes from 0 to 5168 m above sea level, covering broad climatic gradients (-17.6 to 28.8°C in mean annual temperature and 63-2052 mm in mean annual precipitation). This global database is the world's largest paired data of ANPP and BNPP field measurements in grasslands. It can be used to study the spatio-temporal patterns of NPP and its allocation, evaluate the responses of above- and below-ground carbon components to future global changes, and validate the NPP estimation by empirical or process-based models in global grasslands. The database can be freely used for noncommercial applications. We kindly request users cite this data paper when using the database, respecting all the hard work during data compilation.

Influx of Backyard Farming with Limited Biosecurity Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic Carries an Increased Risk of Zoonotic Spillover in Cambodia.

Backyard farming with limited biosecurity creates a massive potential for zoonotic spillover. Cambodia, a developing nation in Southeast Asia, is a hub for emerging and endemic infectious diseases. Due to pandemic-induced job losses in the tourism sector, rumors suggest that many former Cambodian tour guides have turned to backyard farming as a source of income and food security. A cross-sectional study including 331 tour guides and 69 poultry farmers in Cambodia before and during the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic was conducted. Participants were administered a survey to assess food security, income, and general farming practices. Survey data were collected to evaluate the risk perceptions for avian influenza virus (AIV), antimicrobial resistance (AMR), and general biosecurity management implemented on these poultry farms. Overall, food security decreased for 80.1% of the tour guides during the COVID-19 pandemic. Approximately 21% of the tour guides interviewed used backyard poultry farming to supplement losses of income and food insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic, with a significantly higher risk than for traditional poultry farmers. Agricultural intensification in Cambodia due to the COVID-19 pandemic has caused an influx of makeshift farms with limited biosecurity. Inadequate biosecurity measures in animal farms can facilitate spillover and contribute to future pandemics. Improved biosecurity and robust viral surveillance systems are critical for reducing the risk of spillover from backyard farms. IMPORTANCE While this study highlights COVID-19-associated changes in poultry production at a small scale in Cambodia, poultry production is expected to expand due to an increase in the global demand for poultry protein during the pandemic, changes in urbanization, and the reduction of the global pork supply caused by African swine fever (ASF). The global demand and surge in poultry products, combined with inadequate biosecurity methods, can lead to an increased risk of domestic animal and human spillovers of zoonotic pathogens such as avian influenza. Countries in regions of endemicity are often plagued by complex emergency situations (i.e., food insecurity and economic fallouts) that hinder efforts to effectively address the emergence (or reemergence) of zoonotic diseases. Thus, novel surveillance strategies for endemic and emerging infectious diseases require robust surveillance systems and biosecurity training programs to prevent future global pandemics.

Spatial Products for Crop Monitoring and Sustainable Agriculture

The spatial cropland products are of great importance in water and food security assessments, especially in India, which is home to nearly 1.4 billion people and 160 million hectares of net cropland area. In India, croplands account for about 90% of all human water use. Cropland extent, cropping intensity, crop watering methods and crop types are important factors that have a bearing on the quantity, quality and location of production. Currently, cropland products are produced using mainly coarse-resolution (250-1000 m) remote sensing data., our study was aimed at producing three distinct spatial products at 30m and 250m resolution that would be useful and needed to address food and water security challenges. The first of these, Product 1, was to assess irrigated versus rainfed croplands in India using Landsat 30 m data in GEE platform. The second, Product 2, was to map major crop types using MODIS 250 m data. The third, Product 3, to map cropping intensity (single, double and triple cropping) using MODIS 250 m data. For the kharif season (the main cropping season in India, Jun-Oct), 9 major crops (5 irrigated crops: rice, soybean, maize, sugarcane, cotton and 5 rainfed crops: pulses, rice, sorghum, millet, groundnut) were mapped. For the rabi season (post rainy season, Nov-Feb), 5 major crops (3 irrigated crops: rice, wheat, maize and 2 rainfed crops: chickpea, pulses) were mapped. The irrigated versus rainfed 30 m product showed an overall accuracy of 79.8% with the irrigated cropland class providing a producer’s accuracy of 79% and the rainfed cropland class 74%. The overall accuracy demonstrated by the cropping intensity product was 85.3% with producer’s accuracies of 88%, 85% and 67% for single, double, and triple cropping respectively. Crop types were mapped to accuracy levels ranging from 72% to 97%. A comparison of the crop type area statistics with national statistics explained 63-98% variability. The study highlights production of multiple cropland products to support food security studies using multiple satellite sensor big-data, and RF machine learning algorithm that were coded, processed and computed.

REGIONAL FOOD SECURITY: PROBLEMS OF FORMATION AND IMPLEMENTATION (ON THE EXAMPLE OF THE IRKUTSK REGION)

The purpose of the work is to analyze regional food security on the example of the Irkutsk region, both in conceptual and practical aspects. The objectives are to specify the basic components of this concept and to establish conditions for monitoring regional food security. The article analyzes the concept of food security, which offers criteria for its provision, including accessibility, reliability, sustainability, independence. Of these four criteria, only two are fixed in the Doctrine of Food Security of Russia with an emphasis on the level of self-sufficiency for 11 types of food without specifying the state of production, resource and other potential providing it and prospects for its development: The importance of creating analytical and information systems for monitoring food security is indisputable, while it is necessary to take into account the regional aspect of assessing this problem. Currently, there is a wide set of indicators for assessing food security, although without methodological support for monitoring and interpreting its results. Using the proposed composition of indicators grouped by four criteria: accessibility, reliability, sustainability, independence, an analysis of the food security of the Irkutsk region was carried out, which showed the criticality of the region in this area. The results of the work are very relevant for the formation of regional economic policy in the field of food security management.

What Is Associated with Changes in Food Security among Low-Income Residents of a Former Food Desert?

Lack of geographic access to foods has been postulated as a cause for food insecurity, which has been linked to poor nutrition, obesity, and chronic disease. Building on an established cohort of randomly selected households from a low-income, predominantly Black neighborhood, we examined household food security, distance to where study participants reported doing their major food shopping, and prices at stores where they shopped. Data from the Pittsburgh Hill/Homewood Research on Eating, Shopping, and Health study for years 2011, 2014 and 2018 was limited to residents of the neighborhood that began as a food desert (i.e., low access to healthy foods), but acquired a full-service supermarket in 2013. We calculated descriptive statistics and compared study participants in the former food desert neighborhood whose food security improved to those whose food security did not improve across survey waves. We estimated cross sectional linear regressions using all waves of data to assess food security level among study participants. Distance to major food shopping store was positively associated with food security (p < 0.05) while food-store prices were not significantly associated with food security. Findings suggest that for predominantly low-income residents, food secure individuals traveled further for their major food shopping.

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Food Security of UK Adults Aged 20-65 Years (COVID-19 Food Security and Dietary Assessment Study).

The first UK lockdown greatly impacted the food security status of UK adults. This study set out to establish if food procurement was adapted differently for different income groups and if this impacted dietary intakes disproportionately. Adults (n = 515) aged 20-65 years participated in an online survey with 56 completing a 3-4 day diet diary. Food availability was a significant factor in the experience of food insecurity. Similar proportions of food secure and food insecure adapted food spend during lockdown, spending similar amounts. Food insecure (n = 85, 18.3%) had a 10.5% lower income and the money spent on food required a greater proportion of income. Access to food was the biggest driver of food insecurity but monetary constraint was a factor for the lowest income group. The relative risk of food insecurity increased by 0.07-fold for every 1% increase in the proportion of income spent on food above 10%. Micronutrient intakes were low compared to the reference nutrient intake (RNI) for most females, with riboflavin being 36% lower in food insecure groups (p = 0.03), whilst vitamin B12 was 56% lower (p = 0.057) and iodine 53.6% lower (p = 0.257) these were not significant. Coping strategies adopted by food insecure groups included altering the quantity and variety of fruit and vegetables which may have contributed to the differences in micronutrients.

Assessment of Supply Chain Management Practices and Sustainable Food Security in Nigeria

Supply chain flow is a major concern for food security, particularly to ensure that food is not lost between farmers and consumers. Food security has become a highly emotive issue, as chronic hunger, local food shortages, and sudden increases in food prices are strongly influencing public sentiment and reaction. This raises concern for the assessment of supply chain management and sustainable food security in Nigeria, using honesty among supply chain participants, effective storage facilities, and quality of seed as a determinant for sustainable food security. A survey research design was adopted for this study, using a structured questionnaire. Convenient and Purposive sampling techniques were used to select 80 farmers from the North-Western state of Nigeria. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the data collected, which was presented using charts. The findings of this study show that honesty among supply chain participants, effective storage facilities for farm produce, and the quality of seeds to plant will enhance nutritional foods in society, promotes both affordability and high profits for all participants in the supply chain based on the response of the selected farmers. It was further revealed from the study that Government intervention in terms of subsidy and credit facilities to the farmers are not well harnessed by the real farmers that are actually in the business of farming. Therefore, it was recommended, among others, that there should be an effective feedback mechanism from the government to ensure the subsidy is actually addressing the purpose of its establishment.

What Informs the Choice of Free Seeds and Seedlings taken by Farmers while Adopting Agroforestry in Makueni County?

Purpose: The main objective of this study was to evaluate what informs the choice of free seeds and seedlings taken by farmers while adopting agroforestry in Makueni County.&#x0D; Methodology: This study adopted a descriptive survey design. The study randomly selected 150 beneficiaries appearing in the list of 30,643 beneficiaries provided by Makueni County Long Rains Food Security Assessment Report (2013). This study used primary data which was collected through use of a questionnaire. After data had been collected through questionnaires, it was prepared in readiness for analysis by editing, handling blank responses, coding, categorizing and keying into Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) computer software for analysis.&#x0D; Findings: The study findings indicated that agroforestry is beneficial to farmers in several ways. They can access tree products such as fuel wood, herbs, fodder and vegetables among others within their farms rather than traveling to forests, making it cheaper and less time consuming. The time saved can be invested in productive activities and subsequently improve incomes and livelihoods. It is therefore important to underscore that agroforestry practices and scaling&#x0D; Conclusion: It can be concluded that the farmers were happy about the government initiative of distributing seeds. Free seed encourages planting of trees and woodlots by individual land users, institutions and community groups. Agroforestry can help in maintaining a viable system of green and open spaces for a functioning eco-system and work towards the achievement and maintenance of a tree cover of at least 10% of the land area of Kenya&#x0D; Recommendations: The study recommends for rigorous mobilization and sensitization of the community on need for active involvement in agroforestry. Agroforestry scaling can take advantage of the landscape restoration programs in Makueni County.

Participatory mapping to address neighborhood level data deficiencies for food security assessment in Southeastern Virginia, USA

BackgroundFood is not equitably available. Deficiencies and generalizations limit national datasets, food security assessments, and interventions. Additional neighborhood level studies are needed to develop a scalable and transferable process to complement national and internationally comparative data sets with timely, granular, nuanced data. Participatory geographic information systems (PGIS) offer a means to address these issues by digitizing local knowledge.MethodsThe objectives of this study were two-fold: (i) identify granular locations missing from food source and risk datasets and (ii) examine the relation between the spatial, socio-economic, and agency contributors to food security. Twenty-nine subject matter experts from three cities in Southeastern Virginia with backgrounds in food distribution, nutrition management, human services, and associated research engaged in a participatory mapping process.ResultsResults show that publicly available and other national datasets are not inclusive of non-traditional food sources or updated frequently enough to reflect changes associated with closures, expansion, or new programs. Almost 6 percent of food sources were missing from publicly available and national datasets. Food pantries, community gardens and fridges, farmers markets, child and adult care programs, and meals served in community centers and homeless shelters were not well represented. Over 24 km2 of participant identified need was outside United States Department of Agriculture low income, low access areas. Economic, physical, and social barriers to food security were interconnected with transportation limitations. Recommendations address an international call from development agencies, countries, and world regions for intervention methods that include systemic and generational issues with poverty, incorporate non-traditional spaces into food distribution systems, incentivize or regulate healthy food options in stores, improve educational opportunities, increase data sharing.ConclusionsLeveraging city and regional agency as appropriate to capitalize upon synergistic activities was seen as critical to achieve these goals, particularly for non-traditional partnership building. To address neighborhood scale food security needs in Southeastern Virginia, data collection and assessment should address both environment and utilization issues from consumer and producer perspectives including availability, proximity, accessibility, awareness, affordability, cooking capacity, and preference. The PGIS process utilized to facilitate information sharing about neighborhood level contributors to food insecurity and translate those contributors to intervention strategies through discussion with local subject matter experts and contextualization within larger scale food systems dynamics is transferable.

The impact of COVID-19 and associated policy responses on global food security.

We analyze the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated policy responses on the global economy and food security in 80 low- and middle-income countries. We use a global economy-wide model with detailed disaggregation of agricultural and food sectors and develop a business-as-usual baseline for 2020 and 2021 called "But-for-COVID" (BfC). We then shock the model with aggregate income shocks derived from the IMF World Economic Outlook for 2020 and 2021. We impose total-factor productivity losses in key sectors as well as consumption decreases induced by social distancing. The resulting shocks in prices and incomes from the CGE model simulations are fed into the USDA-ERS International Food Security Assessment (IFSA) model to derive the impact of the pandemic on food security in these 80 countries. The main effect of the pandemic was to exacerbate the existing declining trend in food security. Food insecurity increases considerably in countries in Asia through income shocks rather than prices effects. We also review trade policies that were put in place to restrict imports and exports of food, and we evaluate their potential for further disruption of markets focusing on the food-security implications.

National Protocol for the Fourth Round of Assessment of Food Consumption Pattern, Nutrients Intake and Food Security in Iran, Development, Design, and Implementation

National food-consumption surveys are main tools for policymakers to evaluate and design interventions to ensure food and nutrition security and developing a healthy diet