Assessing Food Insecurity in Latin America and the Caribbean Using FAO’s Food Insecurity Experience Scale

The complexity of the operational concept and definition of food insecurity has complicated the study of the ‘food insecure’ and efforts to determine clear policy directions. Previous findings on the prevalence and severity of food insecurity are inconsistent and often depend on the measure used. To...

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Main Authors:	Smith, Michael D., Kassa, Woubet, Winters, Paul
Format:	Journal Article
Published:	Elsevier 2018
Subjects:	FOOD SECURITY FOOD INSECURITY EXPERIENCE SCALE POVERTY FIES
Online Access:	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/29326

id	okr-10986-29326
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-293262021-05-25T10:54:44Z Assessing Food Insecurity in Latin America and the Caribbean Using FAO’s Food Insecurity Experience Scale Smith, Michael D. Kassa, Woubet Winters, Paul FOOD SECURITY FOOD INSECURITY EXPERIENCE SCALE POVERTY FIES The complexity of the operational concept and definition of food insecurity has complicated the study of the ‘food insecure’ and efforts to determine clear policy directions. Previous findings on the prevalence and severity of food insecurity are inconsistent and often depend on the measure used. To overcome limitations in food security measurement, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations developed the Food Insecurity Experience Scale, which is the first survey protocol to measure people’s direct experience of food insecurity on a global scale. Using this new measure, our study contributes to the understanding of the food insecure by examining the determinants of food insecurity within and across countries in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). Using a series of multilevel linear models, we find the three determinants associated with the largest increase in the likelihood of experiencing food insecurity in LAC are: low levels of education, limited social capital, and living in a country with low GDP per capita. Results suggest the need to promote education of the most vulnerable, encourage social interactions that help build individuals’ social capital, and adopt gender-sensitive programs. The results also suggest the need for a shift in policy from short-term strategies to long-term efforts that sustain household productive capacity and employment to promote sustained economic growth. 2018-02-06T20:50:12Z 2018-02-06T20:50:12Z 2017-08 Journal Article Food Policy 0306-9192 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/29326 CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo World Bank Elsevier Publications & Research :: Journal Article Publications & Research Latin America & Caribbean Caribbean Central America Latin America South America
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
topic	FOOD SECURITY FOOD INSECURITY EXPERIENCE SCALE POVERTY FIES
spellingShingle	FOOD SECURITY FOOD INSECURITY EXPERIENCE SCALE POVERTY FIES Smith, Michael D. Kassa, Woubet Winters, Paul Assessing Food Insecurity in Latin America and the Caribbean Using FAO’s Food Insecurity Experience Scale
geographic_facet	Latin America & Caribbean Caribbean Central America Latin America South America
description	The complexity of the operational concept and definition of food insecurity has complicated the study of the ‘food insecure’ and efforts to determine clear policy directions. Previous findings on the prevalence and severity of food insecurity are inconsistent and often depend on the measure used. To overcome limitations in food security measurement, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations developed the Food Insecurity Experience Scale, which is the first survey protocol to measure people’s direct experience of food insecurity on a global scale. Using this new measure, our study contributes to the understanding of the food insecure by examining the determinants of food insecurity within and across countries in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). Using a series of multilevel linear models, we find the three determinants associated with the largest increase in the likelihood of experiencing food insecurity in LAC are: low levels of education, limited social capital, and living in a country with low GDP per capita. Results suggest the need to promote education of the most vulnerable, encourage social interactions that help build individuals’ social capital, and adopt gender-sensitive programs. The results also suggest the need for a shift in policy from short-term strategies to long-term efforts that sustain household productive capacity and employment to promote sustained economic growth.
format	Journal Article
author	Smith, Michael D. Kassa, Woubet Winters, Paul
author_facet	Smith, Michael D. Kassa, Woubet Winters, Paul
author_sort	Smith, Michael D.
title	Assessing Food Insecurity in Latin America and the Caribbean Using FAO’s Food Insecurity Experience Scale
title_short	Assessing Food Insecurity in Latin America and the Caribbean Using FAO’s Food Insecurity Experience Scale
title_full	Assessing Food Insecurity in Latin America and the Caribbean Using FAO’s Food Insecurity Experience Scale
title_fullStr	Assessing Food Insecurity in Latin America and the Caribbean Using FAO’s Food Insecurity Experience Scale
title_full_unstemmed	Assessing Food Insecurity in Latin America and the Caribbean Using FAO’s Food Insecurity Experience Scale
title_sort	assessing food insecurity in latin america and the caribbean using fao’s food insecurity experience scale
publisher	Elsevier
publishDate	2018
url	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/29326
_version_	1764469063133691904

Assessing Food Insecurity in Latin America and the Caribbean Using FAO’s Food Insecurity Experience Scale

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