Measuring Poverty for Food Security Analysis

2016

Measuring food security in an accurate and cost effective way is important for targeted food relief and for designing anti-poverty programs. A number of studies have established different food security indicators as alternatives to calorie intake but none has conducted a comparative study of multiple indicators. We present a comparative analysis of 3 alternative indicators, (a) dietary diversity score (DDS) (b) self-reported food security and (c) land holding, as alternatives to calorie intake for prediction of household food security. We assess the reliability of the 3 indicators through their relation with household calorie intake, food and non-food expenditure, and nutritional status. We use a nationally representative cross sectional data consisting of 4,423 households from Bangladesh. We find no systematic difference in association with access to food (as measured by household food and non-food expenditure) among the alternative indicators. We also find that the land indicator ...

2016

The overall objective of this paper was to assess household food access insecurity along the urban-rural continuum of Morogoro and Iringa towns in Tanzania. The specific objectives were to: (1) measure the extent of household food access insecurity along the urban-rural continuum, and (2) identify the socio-economic characteristics associated with the household food access insecurity. The study was cross-sectional in design whereby a sample of 300 households was selected using a Geographic Information System (GIS)-based simple random sampling procedure. The primary data were collected through interview schedules using the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) tool. The data were analysed descriptively and inferentially using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software. Ordinal logistic regression was used to determine the influence of some household socio-economic characteristics on the household food access security. Generally, the results showed that the h...

Dependency of Urban Poor Food Expenditures on Household’s Social Dynamics; The Situation of Low- Income Households in City of Kigali, Rwanda, 2020

In 2015, poorer households owning fewer assets and with more unstable sources of income were more likely to have experienced food shortages and shocks (NISR, 2015) and Bashir et al. (2012) state that households with ownership to land and livestock to be associated with less food insecurity levels. This paper aimed to analyze how access to assets, access to finance and level of education for the head of household in low-income households in City of Kigali influence household's level of food security. Our research has focused on how the three key factors; i) Household owned assets (Land, shelter), ii)

The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished. The papers carry the names of the authors and should be cited accordingly. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the views of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/World Bank and its affiliated organizations, or those of the Executive Directors of the World Bank or the governments they represent.

Developing Country Studies, 2014

In Tanzania, a food monetary poverty line of TZS 1 10,219 per adult equivalent for 28 days in 2007 prices and a caloric poverty line of 2,200 kcal per adult equivalent per day are used. However, it is not known where their uses give similar incidences of food security. Generation of empirical information on this was worthwhile to inform choices of which of the lines should be more preferable. This study sought to determine food security based on monetary and caloric poverty lines in Mbeya and Makete Districts. The specific objectives of the study were to: (1) Determine food security based on the national monetary poverty line, (2) Determine food security based on caloric food poverty line, and Compare food security incidences based on the two poverty lines. Multistage sampling was used to select 233 households. The research was a cross-sectional one and was conducted through structured interviews using a questionnaire, focus group discussions and key informant interviews. Using the national food monetary and calorific food poverty lines, it was found that 82.8% and 79.0% of the 233 sampled households were food secure in Mbeya and Makete respectively. Monetary and caloric food poverty lines gave almost similar results of food security incidences, albeit the monetary food poverty line gives slightly higher food security incidences. It is concluded that the two poverty lines give almost similar food security incidences and have good potential to give reasonable results of food security status. It is recommended that the government and other stakeholders dealing with food security should use both food poverty lines almost equally since they give almost the same results.

2018

The study on which this paper is based assessed the socio-economic characteristics that influence prevalence of food insecurity among urban, peri-urban and rural households in Morogoro and Iringa, Tanzania. A cross-sectional research design was employed whereby a sample of 300 households was selected using a multi-stage cluster sampling procedure. The primary data were collected through interview schedules using the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) tool. Descriptive analysis was carried out to examine the variation of food access as a measure of food insecurity and socio-economic characteristics that influence the prevalence of food insecurity among urban, peri-urban and rural households. Ordinal logistic regression model was employed to determine the influence of household’s socio-economic characteristics on food access. Generally, the results show that food access as a measure of food security was higher among urban households (53.9%) compared to peri-urban (47.3%) a...

2013

This study had tried to assess the determinants of the food security of rural people of Malawi. The study was based on data collected from Malawi Third Integrated Household Survey (IHS3) in 2010/11. Since the objective variable is dichotomous type the study employ logistic regression model for analysis. There was consideration of different economic as well as societal factors to check that whether they significantly affect the dependent variable one or not. Based on the regression result eight of the regressors are significant in affecting probability of households to be food secured. Variables like education participation of households, sex of household head and age square positively affect the probability of being food secured. Other variables like cassava production, emergency of shocks, participation in off farm activities and age of household head affect probability of being food secured in the opposite direction as to the expectations. TLU and Land holding are insignificant in...

The Journal of nutrition, 2006

Food insecurity is a daily reality for hundreds of millions of people around the world. Although its most extreme manifestations are often obvious, many other households facing constraints in their access to food are less identifiable. Operational agencies lack a method for differentiating households at varying degrees of food insecurity in order to target and evaluate their interventions. This chapter provides an overview of a set of papers associated with a research initiative that seeks to identify more precise, yet simple, measures of household food insecurity. The overview highlights three main conceptual developments associated with practical approaches to measuring constraints in access to food: 1) a shift from using measures of food availability and utilization to measuring "inadequate access"; 2) a shift from a focus on objective to subjective measures; and 3) a growing emphasis on fundamental measurement as opposed to reliance on distal, proxy measures. Further r...

Agriculture & Food Security, 2022

Background The prevalence of food insecurity in Mozambique is alarming, despite progress made during the 2010s. Several studies apply different proxy indicators of food security (FS) to assess the FS situation. However, these studies overlook the factors affecting FS, using only a single data point that results in an incomplete picture of FS. Food security is expected to fluctuate, being better and worse than what studies suggest. Using a sample of 296 households to assess FS, key drivers conditioning households’ capacity to achieve FS in Gurué District, Central Mozambique, are identified. Data were collected in the pre-harvest period and during the harvest period to capture relevant interseasonal variation of FS. Household FS is assessed using three standard indicators: Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS), Household Food Consumption Score (HFCS), and Months of Adequate Household Food Provisioning (MAHFP). Results Each household was classified into a specific FS status dependin...

Sustainability

Food security at the household level remains a major issue in South Africa and for many other developing countries, particularly those in Africa. As a means of ensuring food security in KwaZulu-Natal province, various food security intervention programmes were launched. Nonetheless, food security remains an issue among households in the province. This paper estimates the household food security status of the “One Home One Garden” (OHOG) beneficiaries against that of non-beneficiaries and assesses the determinants of household food security status in Maphumulo. A stratified random sampling technique was used to sample 495 households (including 330 OHOG beneficiaries and 165 non-beneficiaries). The status of household food security was estimated by means of a “Household Dietary Diversity Score” (HDDS). Additionally, a Household Food Consumption Score” (HFCS) tool was employed to supplement the HDDS. The results showed that food consumption patterns were characterized by medium (4.89) ...