Should the Food Insecurity Experience Scale Crowd Out Other Food Access Measures? : Evidence from Nigeria
Measurement of food access typically relies on a consensus of different indicators. However, there is a growing list of surveys in which the Food Insecurity Experience Scale is one of the few food access indicators captured, likely because it is an...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2022
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099728008162219371/IDU083a9faf7020780466008c130dd4bcbc7dfa5 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37894 |
| Summary: | Measurement of food access typically
relies on a consensus of different indicators. However,
there is a growing list of surveys in which the Food
Insecurity Experience Scale is one of the few food access
indicators captured, likely because it is an official
measure for tracking progress toward the Sustainable
Development Goal of zero hunger. This paper uses a
nationally representative, multipurpose household survey
conducted in Nigeria to investigate the validity of the Food
Insecurity Experience Scale. It compares the Food Insecurity
Experience Scale to monetary poverty and a widely used food
access metric that has been more extensively validated, the
Food Consumption Score. Although it is possible for food
access metrics to be poorly aligned and capture different
dimensions of poor food access, empirically supported
assumptions in standard consumption models result in many
dimensions of poor food access being concentrated among the
poorest segments of the population. However, the paper
demonstrates that the Food Insecurity Experience Scale does
not appear to correctly identify the population with poor
food access—it finds little difference in the share with
poor food access among poor and nonpoor Nigerians. Moreover,
even the very richest and very poorest households have a
similar prevalence of poor food access, according to the
Food Insecurity Experience Scale. These patterns are in
stark contrast to the Food Consumption Score, which suggests
that food access is significantly lower for poorer
Nigerians. Combined, the results demonstrate the importance
of measuring food access with more than one indicator, and
they call into question the notion of using the Food
Insecurity Experience Scale alone, despite the measure being
a key Sustainable Development Goal food security indicator. |
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