Rural Development
Jassem golabifar; Ali Akbar Barati; khalil kalantari
Abstract
Access to food is one of the most important components of food security, which plays an important role in food security. Access to food has three main components including physical, economics and stability. The present study investigated the access of rural households to food in Shavoor village. The ...
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Access to food is one of the most important components of food security, which plays an important role in food security. Access to food has three main components including physical, economics and stability. The present study investigated the access of rural households to food in Shavoor village. The statistical population of the study consisted of all rural households in this district (N = 2624). The sample size of 300 households was determined based on stratified sampling method with proportional assignment. The data collection tool was a questionnaire. To measure access to food, based on the UN MPI, a standard index was developed whose value was between zero and one. This method was a methodological innovation of the study. Findings showed that about 23% of rural households have a good access to food. Among three main components, economic ans stability access have had the more contribution in access to food index. Disability to food supply resources and centers, lack of self-production and severe fluctuations in food prices are the most important causes for reducing the rural households access to food. Accordingly, it was suggested that improvement of ICT infrastructures will provide better condition to access of rural community to food. Promoting a culture of self-production and saving is another suggestion to improve the resilience of rural households to food price fluctuations.
