Advancing a new index for measuring household vulnerability to food insecurity

Abstract

This paper develops a Vulnerability to Food Insecurity Index (VFII). Currently, there is no standard indicator of vulnerability analysis in food security research, and this paper responds to this challenge. The primary objective in this paper is to demonstrate how to develop a potential indicator and establish its validity through comparison with other traditional food security indicators, such as per capita calorie consumption (PCC), food consumption score (FCS) and the coping strategy index (CPI). Structurally, Vulnerability to Food Insecurity Index is a multidimensional index of the probability of covariate shock occurring (exposure), the accumulative experience of food insecurity (sensitivity) and coping ability of households (adaptive capacity). The paper applies the index to households in southern Nigeria, using the World Bank's generalised household panel dataset. The results show 61% of households in the study to be highly vulnerable to food insecurity, 12% mildly vulnerable and 27% not vulnerable. Traditional and single indicators, such as FCS and PCC are not good indicators of vulnerability to food insecurity whereas CPI is a better indicator of vulnerability to food insecurity compared to FCS and PCC. The VFII developed in this paper includes components of FCS, PCC, and CPI and regarding ranking, the VFII was found to be reliable. Most importantly, the analysis using the VFII reveals how dietary diversity or calorie consumption indicators can exclude some households who are vulnerable to food insecurity. The paper concluded that accurately target long-term support to vulnerable households, policymakers who seek to address the underlying causes of food insecurity cannot rely on single indicators, and for this type of goal, the VFII makes a useful contribution.

Determinants of household vulnerability to food insecurity during COVID-19 lockdown in a mid-term period in Iran

“…To reduce the spread of the virus, the Iranian government executed several coping strategies, including quarantine, isolation and social distancing. Unlike the previous studies which assessed the vulnerability of households in different countries in a stable and non-viral environment (7)(8)(9)(10) , the present study assesses the vulnerability of households to food insecurity during the COVID-19 outbreak.…”

“…Vulnerability is the level to which a human population is sensitive to the effect of a threat and a catastrophe arises when a susceptible population is exposed by the impact of a hazard (10,11) . Vulnerability is the conditions determined by economic, social, physical and environmental factors or processes, which augment the susceptibility of a community to the effect of threats (12,13) .…”

“…Some contend that vulnerability should be assessed by considering several aspects including social, economic, environmental and human capital (19) . Other identified natural and physical capitals as important factors for measuring vulnerability to promote disaster-resilient societies (5,10,11,(20)(21)(22) .…”

Assisting Towards a Healthy Diet for the Most Deprived in Post-Crisis Greece: An Evaluation of the State Food Provision Program

“…More longitudinal data on FEAD would greatly improve the capacity to evaluate the program's implementation over time and monitor potential changes through beneficiary feedback or improvements made by the FEAD managing authority and their impact on the beneficiary evaluation. Overall, the study highlights important short-term steps required to improve the program's implementation and maximize its impact but nonetheless greater initiatives addressing the underlying causes of food insecurity should also be put in place in order to decrease dependency on governmental aid and promote societal prosperity (46).…”

Food Trade Openness and Enhancement of Food Security—Partial Equilibrium Model Simulations for Selected Countries

“…Furthermore, Ibok et al (2019) developed a vulnerability to food insecurity index (VFII) to argue for long-term support for vulnerable households. The multidimensional index is based on the probability of exposure to supply and economic shocks, the experience of food insecurity, and the coping ability of households [25]. Figure 3a shows the selected countries' average dietary energy supply (ADES) from 1999 to 2019, expressed as a percentage of the average dietary energy requirement (ADER) in each country, as calculated by FAOSTAT.…”