Household Food Insecurity Access Research Articles

A Comparative Analysis of Household Food Insecurity Status among Rice Farmers in Savanna and the Rainforest Agro-ecological Zones in Southwest States, Nigeria

The study presents findings on comparative analysis of household food insecurity status among rice farmers in the Savanna and the Rainforest agro-ecological zones in Southwest States, Nigeria. Primary data were used and obtained through the administration of a well structured questionnaire. A multistage random sampling was used to select 577 rice farmers in the study area. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, household food insecurity access (HFIA) scale, household food insecurity access prevalence (HFIAP) scale, likert scale and linear regression model. The results revealed that majority of the rice farmer’s fall within 31-50 years of age bracket, with household size of 5-8 persons, married, with farming experiences and have small farm size. The findings from average household food insecurity access scale scores in the Savanna and the Rainforest agro-ecological zones were 4.0 (mildly food insecure) and 5.2 (moderately food insecure) respectively. The results of HFIAP indicator revealed that about 39.1% and 33.5% of respondents were classified as food secure, 8% and 13.9% were mildly food insecure, 15.1% and 22.2% were moderately food insecure and 37.8% and 30.4% were severely food insecure in the Savanna and the Rainforest agro-ecological zones respectively. The major coping strategies adopted by the respondents against food insecurity include reduce the quantity of food consumed and eating but not satisfied. The linear regression model revealed that age, sex, years in school, farm size, household size, farming experience, rice farming experience and tenure system significantly affect household’s food insecurity status. To transport from food insecure to food secure, age, sex, years in school, farm size, household size, farming experience, rice farming experience and tenure system alleviation policies are imperative.

The Relationship between Food Security and Total Factor Productivity in Apple Producers in Semirom

Background: Food security and productivity are very important variables that affect social welfare and production level. Since a large proportion of employees in Semirom are engaged in apple gardening, this study aims to investigate the effect of increasing the productivity of all factors of apple production in improving the level of food security in Semirom city. Methods: In order to answer the research questions, using Cochran's formula, 139 gardeners were selected and the required data were collected through interviews and completing a questionnaire by cluster sampling in 2020. First, the productivity of all factors of production and the level of food security of the surveyed households were measured using the Household Food Insecurity Access (HFIA) index. Results: The results of this analysis showed that gardeners are not in a good food security situation. Then, using Shazam software and estimating the coefficients of the variables in the logit model, the relationship between productivity and food security was investigated. The results showed that productivity had a positive and significant effect on food security of the studied farmers. Based on the final effect, the variables of productivity, income, and savings had the greatest effect on food security of the farmers. In order to create more employment and increase income for gardeners and their families, apple-related processing industries should be established. Conclusion: The results of the study showed that apple gardeners of Semirom do not have good food security. It is recommended that younger people be educated by experienced farmers in the region.

Household Food Insecurity in Ikot–Ekpene Local Government Area, Akwa-Ibom State, Nigeria: Prevalence and Association

ABSTRACT This study determined the prevalence and association of household food insecurity and its association with anemia among children in a Nigerian rural community. A descriptive cross-sectional community-based study design with 308 households in Akwa-Ibom state, Nigeria, was used. Household food insecurity access was assessed using HFIAS questionnaire. Haemoglobin was assessed using cyanmethemoglobin method. Bivariate logistic regression analysis was done to identify factors associated with household food insecurity. Having self-employed mothers (COR = 1.093; 95% CI = 0.301–3.962) and large household size (COR = 2.163; 95% CI = 1.229–3.809) were associated with increased risk of household food insecurity.

Armed conflict and household food insecurity: evidence from war-torn Tigray, Ethiopia

BackgroundExposure to armed conflicts result in strongly adverse and often irreversible short- and long-term effects which may transmit across generations. Armed conflicts directly cause food insecurity and starvation by disruption and destruction of food systems, reduce farming populations, destroying infrastructure, reducing resilience, and increasing vulnerabilities, disruptions in access to market, increasing food price or making goods and services unavailable altogether. The objective of the present study was to determine the status of household food insecurity in the armed conflict affected communities of Tigray in terms of Access, Experience and Hunger scale.MethodCommunity-based cross-sectional study was conducted to assess impact of armed conflict on household food insecurity among households with children with under one year. FHI 360 and FAO guidelines were used to quantify household food insecurity and Household hunger status.ResultsThree-fourth of the households had anxiety about food supply and eat undesired monotonous diet due to lack of resources. Households were obliged to eat few kinds of foods, eat smaller meals, eat foods they do not want to eat, or went a whole day without eating any food. Household food insecurity access, food insecurity experience, and hunger scales significantly increased by 43.3 (95% CI: 41.9–44.7), 41.9 (95% CI: 40.5–43.3) and 32.5 (95% CI: 31.0-33.9) percentage points from the prewar period.ConclusionsHousehold food insecurity levels and household hunger status of the study communities was unacceptably high. The armed conflict has significant negative effect on food security in Tigray. It is recommended that the study communities need to be protected from the immediate and long-term consequences of conflict-induced household food insecurity.

Comparative Analysis of Food Security Measures by Vitamin A-rich Food Consumption Among Mother-Child Dyads in Uganda

ObjectivesThis study examined mother-child differences in vitamin A-rich food consumption and conduct a comparative analysis of three food security indicators on household vitamin A-rich food consumption for 375 mother-child dyads from selected sweet potato growing households in Uganda. MethodsThis study examined baseline data collected by the International Potato Centre (IPC) for an initiative on the development and delivery of biofortified crops in Uganda. Dietary intake and livelihoods data was collected from women residing in households that grew sweet potatoes in selected regions in Uganda. Eligibility criteria included women who were pregnant or lactating and/or had children 6–24 months. The analytical dataset had 375 woman-child dyads. An adjusted Hellen Keller International (HKI) guide was used to examine data on vitamin A consumption. Scores were weighted for animal- and plant-based sources of vitamin A. Data were stratified by woman or child to allow for within- and between-person variances in vitamin A-rich food consumption. Dependent sample Student’s t-tests, Pearson’s correlation analysis and a repeated measure analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) tested for differences in the vitamin A-rich food consumption mother-child dyads. ResultsThere was a statistically significant difference in the mean consumption of vitamin A-rich foods for women and children (F (1,370) = 6.51, p = .011). Women had a higher vitamin A consumption (M = 2.08, SD = 2.11) than children in the same household (M = 1.39, SD = 2.17). This was qualified by a significant interaction with the household wealth index (F (1,370) = 4.31, p = .039), however not with household dietary diversity (F (1,370) = 3.16, p = .07), and household food insecurity access (F (1,370) = 0.32, p = .57). HDDS and the wealth index were associated with the mother’s consumption of vitamin A-rich food but not with the children’s. ConclusionsInitiatives that target mother-child dyads should be aware of factors such as intrahousehold food distribution and cultural practices that may differentially impact child consumption of vitamin A-rich and other micronutrient-rich foods. Child-friendly initiatives are recommended to maximize nutritional benefits for children under five years. Funding SourcesInternational Potato Center and the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Effect of food insecurity on mental health of patients with tuberculosis in Southwest Ethiopia: a prospective cohort study

ObjectiveThe objective of this study is to investigate the effect of food insecurity on the mental health of patients with tuberculosis (TB) in Ethiopia.DesignA prospective cohort study.SettingHealth centres and hospitals...

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CLIMATE CHANGE AND FOOD SECURITY: A CASE STUDY ON THE NORTHERN REGION OF MALAYSIA

Purpose of the Study: Climate change is an international agenda and entails a worldwide clarification. It is trendy now in Southeast Asia and the nastiest is yet to originate. In recent years, addressing climate change has been high on the global strategic program. There is now consent to avert worldwide heating and attainment of hazardous stages, which can be accomplished through mechanisms of alleviating conservatory gas releases. The target of this paper is to decide the linkages of the aspects of climatic variations and domestic resiliencies through the level of domestic food security among the deprived and squat revenue households in the Northern Region of Malaysia.
 Methodology: In this study, the Northern Region of Malaysia covers four states, namely, Perlis, Kedah, Penang, and Perak. The current learning is founded on the primary data that were composed from March to June, 2018 over a questionnaire review of 400 deprived and less revenue families from the Malaysian states of Perlis, Kedah, Penang, and Perak. The sample was designated from E-Kasih poor domestic database founded on a cluster random sampling system.
 Educational Implications: Primarily, the study is about the events of family nourishment safety according to the United States Agency for International Development – Household Food Insecurity Access (USAIDHFIA) model, and takes track of ordinal regressions under the Logit and Probit models.
 Results: This study discovered that nourishment uncertainty is related to community and financial issues, and is also expressively related to climatic issues. Therefore, nutrition safety programs must be assimilated with the programs for climatic change variation.
 Novelty: The innovation of this paper is the indicator of environmental sustainability in the Northern Region of Malaysia

Food insecurity among college students in West Texas

PurposeFood insecurity is an evolving nutrition issue affecting both developed and underdeveloped college campuses. The purpose of this paper is to assess food insecurity and related coping strategies among Texas Tech University students.Design/methodology/approachThis was a cross-sectional online survey in Lubbock, Texas, among college students (n=173). The outcome measures, socio-demographic factors, household food insecurity access) and dietary diversity were assessed using validated tools. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS software. Socio-demographic differences in food security status were examined using χ2, and means testing. Risks of student food insecurity were assessed using odds ratios (ORs).FindingsRespondents were mostly female (70 percent), non-Hispanic white (58 percent) and young adults’ (median age: 22.0 (20.0, 27.0)), with a median monthly income of $1,000 (0.0, 1,500) and spent about a fifth of their income on food. More students were food insecure (59.5 percent) compared to those who experienced food security (40.5 percent) (p<0.001). Some of the severe food insecure students (16.7 percent) reported going to bed without food (6.9 percent) in the prior 30 days. Students with monthly food budgets of ⩽ $200 were 3.2 times more likely to be food insecure (OR=3.231: CI: 1.353–7.714; p=0.010) compared to those with higher food budgets. A students’ choice of priority monthly expenses was significantly associated with food security status; however, further risk assessment of dichotomous “prioritized food” and “prioritized other expenses” was not statistically significant.Originality/valueStudent’s food budget of $200 was the strongest determinant of food insecurity. Individual training on money management and meal planning are recommended. University policies should recognize and develop academic support policies addressing competing expenses with food.

Food insecurity and self-rated health in rural Nicaraguan women of reproductive age: a cross-sectional study

BackgroundAccess to food is a basic necessity, and food insecurity may impair the individual’s well-being and health. Self-rated health measurements have frequently been used to assess population health. Little is known, however, as to whether food security is associated with self-rated health in low- and middle-income settings. This study aims at analyzing the association between food security and self-rated health among non-pregnant women of reproductive age in a rural Nicaraguan setting.MethodsData was taken from the 2014 update of a health and demographic surveillance system in the municipalities of Los Cuatro Santos in northwestern Nicaragua. Fieldworkers interviewed women about their self-rated health using a 5-point Likert scale. Food insecurity was assessed by the household food insecurity access (HFIAS) scale. A multilevel Poisson random-intercept model was used to calculate the prevalence ratio.ResultsThe survey included 5866 women. In total, 89% were food insecure, and 48% had poor self-rated health. Food insecurity was associated with poor self-rated health, and remained so after adjustment for potential confounders and accounting for community dependency.ConclusionIn this Nicaraguan resource-limited setting, there was an association between food insecurity and poor self-rated health. Food insecurity is a facet of poverty and measures an important missing capability directly related to health.

Household access to traditional and indigenous foods positively associated with food security and dietary diversity in Botswana.

To determine access to traditional and indigenous foods (TIF) and the association with household food security, dietary diversity and women's BMI in low socio-economic households. Sequential explanatory mixed-methods design, including a random household cross-sectional survey on household food insecurity access (HFIA), household dietary diversity (HDD) and women's BMI, followed by focus group discussions. Two rural and two urban areas of Botswana. Persons responsible for food preparation or an adult in a household (n 400); for BMI, non-pregnant women aged 18-49 years (n 253). Almost two-thirds of households experienced moderate or severe food insecurity (28·8 and 37·3 %, respectively), but more than half of women were overweight or obese (26·9 and 26·9 %, respectively). Median HDD score was 6 (interquartile range 5-7) out of a total of 12. A positive correlation was found between number of TIF accessed and HDD score (r=0·457; P<0·001) and a negative correlation between number of TIF accessed and HFIA score (r=-0·272; P<0·001). There was no correlation between number of TIF accessed and women's BMI (r=-0·066; P=0·297). TIF were perceived as healthy but with declining consumption due to preference for modern foods. TIF may potentially have an important role in household food security and dietary diversity. There is need to explore potential benefits that may be associated with their optimal use on food security and nutrition outcomes.

The impacts of climatic and non-climatic factors on household food security: a study on the poor living in the Malaysian East Coast Economic Region

Sustainable food security at the household level is a national concern in many countries. The reasons for household food insecurity include, among others, social, economic, political, and personal factors, as well as climatic changes and its outcomes. This research aims to determine the linkage of the factors of climatic changes, non-climatic factors and household resiliencies with the level of household food security among the poor and low income households in Malaysia. The present study is based on primary data that were collected in July and October 2012 through a questionnaire survey of 460 poor and low-income households from the Pahang, Kelantan, and Terengganu States of Malaysia. The sample was selected from E-Kasih poor household database based on a cluster random sampling technique. Initially the study measures household food security according to the United States Agency for International Development – Household Food Insecurity Access (USAIDHFIA) model, and has run ordinal regressions under the logit and probit models. This study finds that household food insecurity is not only linked with social and economic factors, but also significantly linked with the climatic factors. Therefore, food security programmes must be integrated with the programmes for climatic change adaptation.

Household food insecurity access: a predictor of overweight and underweight among Kenyan women

There has been a rise in the number of overweight women across the globe and sub-Saharan Africa has not been spared. Our objective was to describe the performance of household food security as a factor in determining overweight and underweight among Kenyan women of child-bearing age. A cross sectional survey using a structured questionnaire was carried out among 656 households with women of child-bearing age from both rural and urban settings in the Rift Valley, Kenya. Of all households involved, 70.1% were categorized as severely food insecure, 21.9% were moderately food insecure, and 3.7% were mildly food insecure, whereas 4.3% were food secure. Urban women had higher mean BMI (M = 24.53, SD = 4.36), compared to rural women (M = 22.52, SD = 3.71; P <0.000). Households with more children had decreased dietary diversity (r = -0.154; P <0.01). Logistical regression indicated that more food-secure households (OR = 0.97; 95% CI 9.4, 1.0), urban residence (OR = 1.82; 95% CI 1.1, 3.0), older age (OR = 1.10; 95% CI 1.1, 1.5), and high standard of living (OR = 1.79; 95% CI 1.2, 1.5) were strong predictors of overweight while being underweight was predicted by younger age (OR = 0.91; 95% CI, 0.83, 1.0). A food-secure household does not predict underweight but predicts overweight among women.