Comparison between Experience-Based and Household-Undernourishment Food Security Indicators: A Cautionary Tale

Abstract

Food security is a multi-dimensional concept that requires multiple indicators to measure it correctly; however, single food security indicators are often used individually or interchangeably. The misinterpretation of individual food security indicators can have important implications for policy design and implementation. The general objective of this paper is to show the discrepancies that may arise when using two different food security indicators that operate in the same dimension of the food security concept and yield the same outcome (food security status of the household) in three of the scenarios that they might be used: (1) for measuring the prevalence of food insecurity, (2) for understanding its drivers, and (3) for estimating the potential impact of a policy. The specific objectives of this paper are (1) to measure and compare the prevalence of food insecurity in a country using the Latin America Food Security Scale (ELCSA, by its acronym in Spanish) and the household undernourishment indicator, (2) to compare the factors associated with households’ food security status using the two indicators, and (3) to assess the potential use of the two indicators for ex ante policy analysis. Data for the study comes from the 2011 Survey of Living Standards from Guatemala, which collected all the data for estimating the ELCSA and the household level data required for calculating the household undernourishment indicator. Our results indicate considerable differences in the estimated prevalence of food insecurity at the national and regional levels using the two alternative indicators, with ELCSA resulting in higher estimates. Logistic regression models estimated to assess and identify household food insecurity drivers also found large differences in both the direction and magnitude of factors affecting food insecurity using the alternative food security indicators. Finally, the magnitude of the simulated impact of a cash transfer policy varied depending on the food indicator used.

A systematic literature review of indicators measuring food security

“…A household is considered as food insecure if the available calorie is lower than the household’s calorie requirement. This indicator has been used in the literature to assess the prevalence of food insecurity [ 35 , 36 , 60 – 67 ], for programme evaluation [ 68 , 66 ], and to analyse food security determinants [ 35 , 60 , 66 , 67 , 69 – 71 ]. Some studies addressed the main drawback of the calorie adequacy indicator (its failure to account for diet quality) by measuring both calorie and micronutrient adequacy [ 54 , 65 , 70 , 72 ].…”

“…a household’s food insecurity state as an independent variable) on household’s energy and nutrient supplies by using the ordinary least squares (OLS) model. Sandoval et al [ 66 ] compared ELCSA and the household calorie adequacy indicator in food security analysis: prevalence estimation, determinants analysis, and program evaluation. They concluded that the two indicators provided very different food insecurity prevalence estimates, and the determinants were shown to vary significantly.…”

Medición de la situación de inseguridad alimentaria a nivel del hogar en los municipios de cobertura del Ejercicio Profesional Supervisado de la Escuela de Nutrición de la Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala

“…Esto puede estar relacionado con la forma en que padres de familia con menores de 18 años enfrentan y visualizan la crisis alimentaria derivada de escasez de alimentos y empleo, dado que la ELCSA captura la ansiedad y preocupación con relación a la situación alimentaria del hogar, ambos aspectos psicológicos que se pueden exacerbar cuando el hogar está integrado por menores de edad. Si bien la presencia de menores en el hogar es visto como un agente protector a largo plazo, lleva a los demás miembros de la familia a recurrir a estrategias de supervivencia para mantener las necesidades alimentarias de los menores (Sandoval et al, 2020).…”

Food Security Status and Coping Strategies of Households in Inland Fisheries: Evidence from Fishermen from Niger River Basin

“…In previous studies, indicators are jointly used taking into account not only their advantages and weakness but also food security multi-dimensions [36,45,46,47,48]. For example, [49] applied the household food Insecurity access scale, Dietary diversity score (DDS), and Coping strategies index [50] to measure household food security in Taraba State, Nigeria. Food security index, Coping strategy index, Food consumption score and Food expenditure share to investigate food security [51,52,53].…”