An Investigation of Determinants of Food Security in Rural Areas of Faisalabad, Pakistan

Shahid Mahmood; Aqeela Tabassum; Shahbaz Ahmad Khan; Norina Jabeen

Authors

Shahid Mahmood Assistant Professor, Institute of Food Science and Nutrition, University of Sargodha, Pakistan
Aqeela Tabassum Deputy District Officer, Population Welfare Department, Chakwal, Pakistan
Shahbaz Ahmad Khan Department of Sociology, Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi, Pakistan
Norina Jabeen Department of Sociology, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan

Abstract

Food security exist when all people, all the times have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preference for an active and healthy life. Food security may be analyzed four units at different conceptual level: regions, countries, household and individual. Pakistani people have not enough access to food for their proper nutrition. This study was carried out to investigate the determinants of food security and key issues affecting food security in rural areas of Faisalabad. A sample of 120 household respondents was selected systematically from rural Faisalabad through multistage sampling technique. Study revealed that 63.3% respondents reported that they had faced the problems regarding the availability of all type of food products and 50.3% respondents were satisfied about the quality of food. Almost two third of the respondents i.e. 63.3% claimed that they had not access to access to all type of food products which they want to get. The value of Chi-Square and Gamma showed a significant and strong association between age, education and income of the respondents and their perception about food security.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n4p676