Volume 4, Issue 4

Food Security: A Comparison of Indicators for the United States and the United Republic of Tanzania
Original Research
Developing nations have struggled with the problem of food insecurity thus one of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDG) was to ‘eradicate extreme poverty and hunger’ with a target of halving between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger. Progress has been made by developing countries in increasing their food security, however a question remains about their status as compared to developed countries; thus this paper sought to devise a methodology to compare the food security status of a food surplus developing country to a food surplus developed country utilizing the four pillars of food security; availability, access, utilization and stability. To test the methodology a comparison was made between the United Republic of Tanzania, a bright spot in the developing world and the United States utilizing indicators for the four pillars from the FAOSTAT Food Security data domain. The results suggest that Tanzania is still deficient with respect to most food security indicators, including the key indicator - the “prevalence of undernourishment”. Tanzania’s food security status also compares unfavorably to that of the United States, which remains among the leading nations in maintaining a high level of national food security. Finally the paper explores the critical areas needed for the improvement of the food security status of Tanzania.
Journal of Food Security. 2016, 4(4), 95-103. DOI: 10.12691/jfs-4-4-3
Pub. Date: August 31, 2016
15934 Views3235 Downloads
Poverty, Food Security Status and Coping Strategies of Marginal Farm Households in Some Selected Areas of Bangladesh
Original Research
The present study was conducted in Bangladesh during the years 2012-13 to know the present status of poverty, food insecurity and coping strategies adopted by marginal farm households during food crisis. The study employed mainly farm level cross sectional data collected from 150 farm households taking 50 from each upazila of three districts of Bangladesh. Descriptive statistics such as cost-of-basic need method and direct calorie intake method were used to analyze the data. About 24% of the marginal farm households lie below the lower poverty line and about 37% lie below the upper poverty line. About 19% lie below the hardcore poverty line and about 35% lie below the absolute poverty line. The study observed that on an average, the rural households were more or less secured in relation to availability of food round the year. About 62% of the respondents identified landlessness as the prime cause of their food insecurity followed by lack of income generating activities and natural calamities, respectively. About 49% of farm households relied like on less expensive food for everyday as consumption coping strategy during food shortage where about 22% took less food and about 17% cut quantity of food per meal and reduce number of meals eaten in a day. Irrespective of location, about 53% reliant upon borrowing money for coping with food insecurity followed by sale of households assets (45%), reduce food cost (40%) and seeking help from relatives (36%). It is also recommended that creation of employment opportunities throughout the year, especially in the lean season, and government supports are suggested to tackle the food insecurity problems for the study areas.
Journal of Food Security. 2016, 4(4), 86-94. DOI: 10.12691/jfs-4-4-2
Pub. Date: August 30, 2016
36292 Views22414 Downloads
Understanding Climate Change Adaptation by Farmers in Crop Production in Nepal
Original Research
This study was conducted in Jhapa (Terai), Sindhuli (Hill) and Kalikot (Mountain) districts of Nepal from February 2015 to end of April 2016, to assess the understanding of climate change adaptation by the farmers in crop production using survey questionnaire. In the context of food sufficiency condition, Jhapa was more food secured followed by Sindhuli and Kalikot. The majority of respondents also perceived that climatic factors has affected their cropping pattern. Among various climatic factor, drought was major cause of loss in cereal, legume and vegetable production as perceived by majority of respondents. On trend analysis of three districts from 1989-2013 by Mann-Kendall test showed that maximum temperature and average temperature was significantly increasing by 0.042°C/year and 0.044°C/year respectively. While rainfall was significantly decreasing by 22.779 mm/year. On the impact analysis of rice in Jhapa, rainfall has significantly negative relation at 5% confident level while relative humidity has significantly negative relation to rice yield at 10% confident level. Similarly, in Kalikot rainfall has significantly positive relation to rice yield at 10% confident level. The results also suggest that in wheat at Jhapa, maximum temperature has significantly positive relation to wheat yield at 10% confident level. Among the three districts, varietal richness was found in Jhapa. Majority of respondents in Jhapa and Sindhuli have changed their varieties and adapted new varieties. The adaptation of new crops varieties by the majority respondents was for the greater yield. As adaptive capacity varies from district to district, this study argues that plan and policy should be formulated and focused on the location specific adaptation mechanism under changing climate.
Journal of Food Security. 2016, 4(4), 76-85. DOI: 10.12691/jfs-4-4-1
Pub. Date: August 13, 2016
38832 Views23620 Downloads1 Likes