Food Security最新文献

The COVID-19 pandemic triggered unparalleled political, economic, and social ramifications, exacerbating global food insecurity (FI). To understand the overall impact of the pandemic and how different socio-economic groups were affected, we assessed prevalence and severity of FI in a sample of 18,997 households across seven countries in South America. We employed the Food Insecurity Experience Scale developed by the FAO. Our results showed that pre-pandemic, 4.5% of the sampled population across the entire continent faced Moderate FI, while 0.6% experienced severe FI. During the pandemic, Moderate FI increased to 16.9% (+ 12.4%), and Severe FI to 2.7% (+ 2.1%). By country, pre-pandemic households in Venezuela had the highest prevalence of Moderate FI (9.7%), with Peru experiencing the highest Severe FI frequency (1.1%). Peru had the greatest rise in Moderate (+ 23.9%) and Severe FI (+ 4.6%) during the pandemic. Low-income households, defined as those earning < 2 minimum wages per month, were most susceptible to FI. Uruguayan low-income families exhibited the most significant rise (+ 40.4%) in Moderate FI, while those in Peru experienced an increase of + 9.1% in Severe FI. This study measures the profound and far-reaching impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on FI in South America. Our findings also emphasise the critical importance of implementing effective public policy interventions to improve resilience against future shocks. This would enable policymakers to develop targeted strategies that address the immediate challenges posed by pandemics as well as laying the groundwork for a more resilient and sustainable food security landscape in the region.

Who is malnourished, why some people have access to diverse and healthy diets while others do not, and the lifelong and intergenerational consequences of these situations are questions that are central to why we care about food and nutrition equity – but these questions are often overlooked in research and practice. The purpose of this paper is to review recent work on equity and equality in the field of food, diets and nutrition, and to provide empirical case-studies demonstrating issues and solutions in practice, in order to move the field forward coherently. The Nutrition Equity Framework illustrates how unfairness, injustice and exclusion condition deep drivers of inequity that lead to unequal diet and nutrition outcomes. We use the framework to structure four case-studies from Brazil, South Africa, Vietnam and the UK on how researchers and activists are involved in the struggle for fair and just diets that are healthier and more sustainable. Comparison across the four case-studies provides a useful illustration of how diet and nutrition equity dynamics can play out in diverse ways depending on national historical and contemporary contexts; but at the same time, we see some parallel trends and characteristics suggesting common drivers of unhealthy and inequitable diets. In terms of action, equity can be operationalized in the positive as the need for recognition, representation and redistribution with relation to marginalized population groups, and the paper ends with suggestions from the literature on how to take this forward in research and action.

Promoting gardening among urban residents holds the potential to improve urban diets in low- and middle-income countries, but there is a lack of evidence of impact. This study tests the hypothesis that training urban residents in gardening increases their intake of fruit and vegetables. It uses panel data for 254 control and 425 treatment households from four city corporations in the Dhaka metropolitan area of Bangladesh. Urban residents, 85% of whom were women, were interviewed before the start of an urban gardening program and one year after training and inputs were provided to the treatment group. The study estimated the average treatment effects using a difference-in-difference estimator. Of the 38 outcomes tested, 20 are significant (p < 0.05) with 19 indicating a beneficial effect and one indicating an adverse effect. Among the beneficial effects, there is an increase in the diversity of fruits and vegetables produced (+ 5 species, p < 0.01), the frequency of harvesting (+ 0.64 times/week; p < 0.01), and increased sharing of produce with neighbors (+ 8%, p < 0.01). Regarding food and nutrition, there is an increase in women’s dietary diversity score (+ 0.37 on a 0–10 scale; p < 0.01), women’s minimum dietary diversity (+ 4%; p < 0.01), and in the number of portions of cooked vegetables eaten (+ 0.96 portions/day; p < 0.01). The gardening intervention also contributes to a range of perceived social, personal, and psychological benefits. The adverse effect is an increase in ultra-processed food consumption (+ 19%, p = 0.04). Nevertheless, the results confirm that urban gardening interventions can improve the quality of urban diets alongside other benefits.

The transformation of food systems in low-and middle-income countries is indispensable for attaining food and nutrition security. To analyse and better understand food system transition, transition pathway approach is commonly used as a tool to engage key stakeholders in looking for a solution to a major structural food system issue that requires a transition. Inherent in these food system transition pathways are trade-offs and synergies within or between different dimensions of sustainability, scales, and types of actors. The objective of this study was to identify and assess with the stakeholders the trade-offs and synergies in transition pathways of doubling dairy consumption in Ethiopia. Of the four transition pathways developed of doubling dairy consumption within 15 years, we focused on two pathways in this study. The “peri-urban pathway” focused on the vision that all low-income peri-urban consumers have access to safe and affordable pasteurized milk by 2037 while the “ rural pathway” aimed at access to pasteurized milk by all rural pregnant and lactating women, and children under 7 years. Fifteen trade-offs were identified by the participants for the two pathways. Scores of the importance of each trade-off ranged from 1 to 3 on a Likert scale from 1 (low) to 4 (very high) with average of 2.47 ± 0.42 and 2.6 ± 0.371 for peri-urban and rural pathways, respectively. Applying transition pathway approach to this case study shows that stakeholder participation is essential to assessment of trade-offs and synergies in food system transition, and that it is context-specific and pathway-dependent.

In this paper, we analyse the impact of international migration on the food consumption and dietary diversity of left-behind households. Using the Kerala migration survey 2011, we study whether households with emigrants (on account of international migration) have higher consumption expenditure and improved dietary diversity than their non-migrating counterparts. We use ordinary least square and instrumental variable approach to answer this question. The key findings are that: a) emigrant households have higher overall consumption expenditure as well as higher expenditure on food; b) we find that international migration leads to increase in the dietary diversity of left behind households. Further, we explore the effect on food sub-group expenditure for both rural and urban households. We find that emigrant households spend more on protein (milk, pulses and egg, fish and meat), at the same time there is higher spending on non-healthy food habits (processed and ready to eat food items) among them.

This article explores the relationship between agricultural crime victimization, including theft and vandalism of crops and livestock, and food security of smallholder farming households. We use a distinctive panel dataset from rural Tanzania collected in 2016, 2018, and 2021 and measure various dimensions of food security using the Food Consumption Score (FCS), the Household Food Insecurity Access Score (HFIAS) and the Reduced Coping Strategies Index (rCSI). We use the linear two-way fixed effects model to analyze the association between victimization and FCS, and Tobit regression model for HFIAS and rCSI. Our findings reveal that on average, households suffer losses from crime equivalent to 6% of total food expenditure in a year. While vandalism is consistently linked to lower food security across all indicators, theft of crops and livestock is associated with higher HFIAS and rCSI scores, suggesting greater food insecurity. These findings necessitate the need to recognize agricultural crime victimization as an emerging threat to food security that requires attention and intervention in rural communities.

Fruit and vegetable consumption is below the WHO recommendations, globally, in Southeast Asia, and in West Africa. Affordability, accessibility, and acceptability are the main drivers of consumption. Nutrition-sensitive food system interventions that address these drivers may be effective in increasing fruit and vegetable consumption. This study evaluates the effect of an integrated nutrition-sensitive program that aimed to increase fruit and vegetable consumption in low-income urban adults in Hanoi, Vietnam (n = 582), and Ibadan, Nigeria (n = 626), through the simultaneous implementation of three interventions at the market and consumer levels. Fruit and vegetable intake data were collected after eight months of exposure to the program with repeated quantitative 24-hour recalls and exposure effect was estimated with inverse probability weighting with regression adjustment, adjusting for potential confounders. The impact size on total fruits and vegetables (144 g/d, 95%CI 93, 196), fruits (137 g/d, 95%CI 93, 183) and vegetables (6 g/d, 95%CI -12, 24) showed that intake was higher in the exposed Nigerian population than the control group. In Vietnam, intakes of fruits and vegetables in the exposed group did not statistically differ from the control group when controlling for differences between groups with propensity scores. Participants exposed to all three interventions reported slightly higher intakes compared to those who were exposed to fewer interventions, but these differences were not statistically significant. Integrated approaches of nutrition-sensitive food system interventions need to be implemented to increase fruit and vegetable consumption. Co-creation of interventions provides the possibility to address the different drivers and barriers of healthy diets specific of the context.

The present study aimed to determine the risk levels affecting food safety and security in foods distributed to earthquake victims by organizations. This descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted in food distribution organizations in Kahramanmaraş and Hatay between 20–24 February 2023 (N = 40). The data were collected face-to-face by using the Descriptive Data Form and Food Safety and Security Observation Form (FSSOF) developed by the researchers. According to FSSOF, organizations had a 41.6% risk concerning food safety and security. According to the multiple linear regression analysis, organizations that did not control the foods were found to be associated with an increased total score of FSSOF (β: -0.527, p = 0.010). No relationships could be found between the type of organization, the population served, having a food technologist and/or dietitian, the distance between the organization and waste, and the total scores of FSSOF (p > 0.05). The organizations that did not control the food were found to be associated with Organization-specific conditions (β: -0.623, p = 0.002), Food distribution conditions (β: -0.531, p = 0.015), Personnel hygiene (β: -0.608, p = 0.005), Food security (β: -0.480, p = 0.036) and Environmental conditions (β: -0.537, p = 0.018) were found to be associated with an increased level of risks. Also, not having an engineer and/or dietitian was associated with an increased risk of Food storage practices (β: -0.469, p = 0.005), and increased the number of staff was associated with an increased risk of Organization-specific conditions (β: 0.348, p = 0.007). The level of risk of the organizations concerning food safety and security was found to be relatively high. Control of the food provided was the most important determinant of food safety and security.

Climate change is drastically affecting agriculture, markets, and infrastructure, putting global food security at risk. Mexico faces major challenges, with a significant portion of its population experiencing moderate to severe food insecurity. This study presents a novel methodology for assessing food security in Mexico that incorporates the impacts of climate change. The methodology combines a thorough analysis of four dimensions: availability, access, use, and stability. It includes 48 variables at the municipality level and establishes a baseline scenario with data from 2020. It projects variables to two future scenarios: one that follows the observed trend of the last 20 years and another that includes climate change. Principal component analysis and Dalenius and Hodges stratification are used to classify municipalities into very high, high, medium, and low food security categories. Low food security indicates municipalities with poor conditions on most dimensions, while very high food security indicates those with optimal conditions on all variables. Food security problems are defined as municipalities with medium or low food security. Results indicate that, in the baseline scenario, 45% of municipalities face food security problems, including issues such as insufficient agricultural productivity and limited access to food due to economic and/or infrastructural constraints, as well as health-related problems and lack of basic services. Among municipalities, 15% were classified as having low food security. Future projections suggest an increase in food insecurity by 6% and 7% in the trend and climate change scenarios, respectively, reaching 51% and 52% of municipalities. The greatest impact of food insecurity is in the southern and mountainous central-northern regions, with 12 areas identified as most vulnerable. These areas should be prioritized for mitigating climate change impacts on food security. The recommended indicators can help in monitoring climate-related risks and guide effective policy responses.