Food security measurement in a global context: The food insecurity experience scale

Improving agricultural green efficiency (AGE) is related not only to food security but also to health and the environment. It is the key to achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs). Achieving the coordinated development of AGE and food security is an important starting point to achieving the sustainable development of agriculture and promote national food security. However, at present, little analysis and research have been conducted on the coordination of AGE and food security. In this study, using the SBM model based on undesirable output and the food gap rate (FGR) to measure AGE and food security, respectively, an exploratory spatio-temporal data analysis (ESTDA) model, panel grey correlation model and coupling coordination degree (CCD) model were used to measure the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics, as well as their degree of correlation and coordination. The results show that (1) China's AGE showed downward and upward trends in 2000–2002 and 2003–2019, respectively. The high and low values of food security risks were relatively scattered, and no obvious spatial agglomeration was found. The risk level of food security decreased significantly at the end of the study period. (2) The spatial structure of AGE in central, western and northeast China is more stable than that in eastern and northwest China; Shandong and Hubei have strong temporal and spatial dependence on food security risks, which are vulnerable to external influences and fluctuate drastically. The food security risks of Heilongjiang, Inner Mongolia, Eastern Shanghai, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong and Tibet in the northeast are relatively stable in the direction of spatial dependence. (3) The local spatial structure of China's AGE is unstable, while the local spatial structure of FGR is relatively stable, and change in the relative position is difficult. From the perspective of transfer subjectivity or independence, the local spatial structure of China's AGE and FGR is affected by neighboring regions, but local factors still have a great impact. (4) Overall, the contribution of AGE to food security in the northeast and eastern regions is significant, and the overall degree of coupling and coordination of AGE and the food security coefficient have gradually improved. However, the degree of coupling and coordination in southwest China and most of central China has remained in a state of serious imbalance.

Recent advances in food insecurity classification have made analytical approaches to predict and inform response to food crises possible. This paper develops a predictive, statistical framework to identify drivers of food insecurity risk with simulation capabilities for scenario analyses, risk assessment and forecasting purposes. It utilizes a panel vector-autoregression to model food insecurity distributions of 15 countries between October 2009 and February 2019. Least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) methods are employed to identify the most important agronomic, weather, conflict and economic variables. The paper finds that food insecurity dynamics are asymmetric and past-dependent, with low insecurity states more likely to transition to high insecurity states than vice versa. Conflict variables are more relevant for highly critical states, while agronomic and weather variables are more important for less critical states. Food prices are predictive for all cases. A Bayesian extension is introduced to incorporate expert opinions through the use of priors, which can lead to significant improvements in model performance.

This study was conducted to examine rural household livelihood strategies and diet diversification in North Shewa Administrative Zone (NSAZ), Central Ethiopia. A total of 372 family heads took part in the study. They were selected through multistage sampling procedure. Data collection took place from February to March 2020 using Questionnaire, Focused Group Discussions (FGDs) plus Key Informant Interviews (KIIs).The collected data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA and binary logistic regression model. The finding showed that rural households who diversified their livelihood strategies by combining agriculture with at least one of the activities outside agriculture make up only about 31.20% of the respondents. Out of eight baskets of food items (legumes, nuts and seeds; cereals; vegetables; fruits; milk and milk products; oils and fats; eggs and meat) considered to calculate Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS), only 22.60% of the sampled households consumed ≥4 baskets of food items within a 24 h recall period. The remaining 77.40% of the studied households consumed <4 baskets of food items and as such, they were subjected to dietary inadequacy. Results obtained from one-way between-groups analysis of variance revealed a statistically acceptable variation in the mean HDDS at p < 0.01 level among farming, non-farming and both farming plus non-farming rural household livelihood groups [F (2, 369) = 20.94, p = 0.00]. Binary logistic regression model also showed that age of a rural family head, labour size in the household, farm size, livestock possession, extension contact, market distance and access to credit are important predictors for diversification of rural household livelihood strategies. Policymakers and stakeholders should consider these variables while designing intervention mechanisms.

We document trends in food security up to one full year after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in four African countries. Using household-level data collected by the World Bank, we highlight differences over time amid the pandemic, between rural and urban areas, and between female-headed and male-headed households within Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Malawi, and Nigeria. We first observe a sharp increase in food insecurity during the early months of the pandemic with a subsequent gradual decline. Next, we find that food insecurity has increased more in rural areas than in urban areas relative to pre-pandemic data within each of these countries. Finally, we do not find a systematic difference in changes in food insecurity between female-headed and male-headed households. These trends complement previous microeconomic analysis studying short-term changes in food security associated with the pandemic and existing macroeconomic projections.

This study estimates the prevalence of food insecurity, mental well-being, and their associations among immigrants and compares the food insecurity–mental well-being associations with nonimmigrants globally and by region.

The Gallup World Poll data from 2014 to 2019 were analyzed in 2021. A total of 36,313 immigrants and 705,913 nonimmigrants were included. Food insecurity was measured by the Food Insecurity Experience Scale. Mental well-being was assessed using the Negative Experience Index and Positive Experience Index. A community attachment index was used to measure the living environment. Multilevel mixed-effect linear models were used to examine how the Negative Experience Index/Positive Experience Index was associated with food insecurity and the community attachment index in immigrants and nonimmigrants, adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics, survey years, and country fixed effects. The modifying effects of immigration status on food insecurity–mental well-being associations were tested.

The weighted proportion of food insecurity among global immigrants was 38.6% during 2014–2019. In the pooled adjusted model, food insecurity was dose–responsively associated with greater Negative Experience Index and lower Positive Experience Index than the food-secure ref (p<0.001 for trend). Similar dose–response associations were observed in nonimmigrants and in region-specific analyses. Community attachment marginally affected the food insecurity–mental well-being associations (all p≤0.001 for interaction). Immigration status significantly modified the food insecurity–mental well-being associations in all analyses (all p=0.01 for interaction), and immigrants experienced poorer mental well-being than nonimmigrants at the same level of community attachment and food insecurity.

Food insecurity is prevalent and is associated with poor mental well-being in immigrants worldwide. Future interventions are needed to alleviate food insecurity and promote community attachment to improve mental health among immigrants, especially in Asian and Pacific countries.