What are the dirvers of food insecurity?4 answersFood insecurity is driven by various factors. These include poverty and insufficient awareness, environmental degradation and climate change, food price hikes and price instability, conflict, sub-optimal enabling environment for food security, pre-dispositions of the community to disease and intestinal afflictions, large-scale land lease in one country by another, large areas of arable land set aside for biofuel production, food prices, rising demand for food due to population growth, and changing consumption patterns, and a lack of public and private investment in infrastructure. These drivers of food insecurity vary in importance depending on the unique circumstances of each country and region. Additionally, substance abuse and mental illness patterns have been found to be strongly associated with food insecurity, with as many as 70% of those with addiction and abuse being food insecure.
Are there differences in food literacy and food insecurity?5 answersFood literacy and food insecurity are indeed related. Several studies have found differences in food literacy behaviors between food secure and insecure individuals. For example, in Lebanon, food insecure college students reported less frequent behaviors such as buying healthy foods, selecting healthy foods, and cooking healthy foods compared to food secure students. Similarly, in a study of Lebanese adolescents, poor parental food literacy increased the risk of household food insecurity. In Canada, lower health literacy was associated with higher odds of food insecurity among young adults, and women in food-insecure households reported preparing a lower proportion of meals at home. In Iran, food insecure children had lower levels of food and nutrition literacy, including nutrition knowledge and food choice literacy. These findings suggest that improving food literacy may help alleviate food insecurity.
What are the specific gaps in energy poverty research?5 answersThere are several specific gaps in energy poverty research. Firstly, there is a lack of knowledge and understanding of energy poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean, with only 62 scientific articles published on the region since 1991. Secondly, there is a lack of a clear theoretical foundation in the field, with inconsistent and varied conceptual and measurement approaches. Thirdly, there is a need for more qualitative research in the field, as there is a dominance of quantitative approaches that rely on limited survey data. Additionally, there is a need for a more comprehensive understanding of energy poverty as a broader phenomenon, which includes a focus on justice and the social embeddedness of energy. Finally, there are methodological challenges in implementing qualitative research on energy poor households, including operationalizing the concept of energy poverty and engaging with energy poor households in research.
What are the gaps in the research on food insecurity?5 answersResearch on food insecurity has identified several gaps in the literature. These gaps include limited understanding of the magnitude, severity, and persistence of college food insecurity, as well as the negative impacts on health, academic performance, and overall college experience. There is also a need for research on the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of existing programs and initiatives, as well as state and federal policies and programs. In addition, there is a lack of longitudinal and qualitative studies on food insecurity among older adults in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC), and a need for research that addresses the relationship between food insecurity and policy/social structure, institutional, community, and interpersonal levels. Furthermore, there is a need for additional theory-driven research with validated measures of food insecurity and established temporality between food insecurity and violence. Finally, there is a need for research that examines the impact of climate change on food production systems and the social and economic factors that affect food distribution.
How does unemployment and poverty affect food security?3 answersUnemployment and poverty have a significant impact on food security. Studies have shown that there is a long-run relationship between food insecurity, poverty, and unemployment in Nigeria. In developing economies, high levels of unemployment exacerbate the adverse effects of income inequality on food security. In the United States, high levels of unemployment and poverty directly cause high levels of food insecurity. Additionally, low income causes food insecurity through increased levels of poverty. Unemployment is a common cause for both increased levels of food insecurity and poverty. It is important for policymakers to ensure job security in developing economies to lessen the adverse effects of income inequality on food security. Recognizing the complex causality structure, government agencies responsible for designing policies for food assistance, poverty alleviation, and combating food insecurity need to consider the interrelationships among these variables.
What is the research gap between diversification and poverty?4 answersDiversification has been studied in relation to poverty in several contexts. In Batubara Regency, fishing households are heavily dependent on fishing activities, and diversification into non-fishing activities is found to be significant in reducing poverty. In the northern upland region of Vietnam, crop diversification has contributed to rising living standards, particularly among poor households, while higher-income households rely more on non-farm diversification. In India, crop diversification into high-value crops (HVCs) has been found to improve livelihoods, with a positive relationship between the degree of diversification and economic well-being. In the context of energy poverty in developing countries, crop diversification has been shown to decrease household energy poverty, particularly for urban and high-income earning households. In rural Ghana, households have increasingly diversified their livelihoods through migration and non-farm employment, driven by desperation rather than new opportunities, leading to increased income share for low-income households from local non-farm activities.