Assessing the association of sustainable agriculture with rural household food security (considering ecological, economic, and social aspects)

Unveiling the nexus of climate change, adaptation strategies, and food security: Insights from small-scale farmers in zagros mountains in Iran

In today's world, climate change and its unprecedented impact on food and nutrition security have emerged as a significant and formidable global challenge. This study aimed to investigate the effect of adaptation strategies on the food security of small-scale farmers in Khorramabad city, Iran, using a survey-based analysis. To assess the food security level, the Household Food Security Survey Module (HFSSM) was employed. Additionally, Structural Equation Modeling was utilized to examine the relationship between adaptation dimensions and food security. The findings revealed that households without children exhibited a higher level of food security (48%) compared to households with children (6%). Moreover, the results demonstrated a positive and significant correlation between the food security of households, regardless of whether they had children, and the different adaptation components. Despite a satisfactory level of knowledge regarding climate change adaptation in the study area, the actual implementation of such measures remained low. While weed management, agricultural crop insurance, and access to meteorological information were identified as the top three strategies employed by farmers, the results suggested that sustainable-oriented operations and organic-oriented practices could serve as more effective strategies for both climate change resilience and enhancing food security status.

Seasonality of associations between production of indigenous foods and food security status of mother-child dyads in Kisumu County, Kenya

BACKGROUND

Food insecurity is a major predicament for rural populations, especially mothers and children, whose livelihoods are often dependent on rain-fed agriculture. Indigenous foods have the potential of mitigating food insecurity as they can thrive in poor agro-ecological conditions. However, the associations between indigenous food production and food security status of mothers and children drawn from rural contexts has not been expansively assessed. Food insecurity evident by high food poverty rates remain high in Kisumu County due to over-reliance on food imports from other counties. The objective of the study was to assess seasonality in associations between production of selected indigenous foods (kidney beans, soya beans, millet, cassava, sweet potatoes, groundnuts, green grams, cow peas, amaranth leaves, spider plant leaves, black night shade leaves, mangoes, guavas, lime, and tamarind) and food security status of mothers and children during planting and harvesting seasons.

METHODS

We used a longitudinal study design adopting both quantitative and qualitative data collection methods. A structured questionnaire assessed production of selected indigenous foods in the sampled households, Household Food Insecurity Access Scale for mother's food security status and Prevalence of Underweight for children's food security status. Ordinal logistic regression was used to derive odds ratio (OR), which assessed strength of associations between dependent variables (mother's and children's food security status) and independent variables (production of selected indigenous foods). Significance was determined at α ≤ 0.05.

RESULTS

Results demonstrated that during planting season, production of kidney beans decreased the odds of mothers being severely food insecure by 53% (OR = 0.469, 95% CI = 0.228-0.964, p = 0.039). In the same season, sorghum production demonstrated 3.5 times increase in odds of children being severely food insecure (OR = 3.498, 95% CI = 1.454-8.418, p = 0.005). During harvesting season, production of kidney beans was associated with a 62% reduction in the odds of children being severely food insecure (OR = 0.379, 95% CI = 0.190-0.754, p = 0.006).

CONCLUSIONS

Production of some of the selected indigenous foods demonstrated significant odds of predicting mother's and children's food security status across both study seasons. An intervention-based study approach that would best establish causal associations of indigenous food production and food security status is recommended.