Prevalence and Factors Associated with Food Security from Rural Community of Parbat District

Abstract

Food security exists when all people at all times have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. Similarly food insecurity at household level refers to the inability of the household to secure adequate food for meeting the dietary needs of its members. The study aimed to assess the prevalence and factors associated with food security from rural community of Parbat district. A community based cross-sectional study was conducted among 385 participants of 21 wards from seven different Village Development Committee of Parbat district. A systematic random sampling technique was used to select the participants. Data were collected through face to face interview using the Nepalese version of Household Food Insecurity Access Scale. Ethical approval was taken from Nepal Health Research Council. Bivariate analysis was done to identify the associated factors of food security. The study revealed that more than half of the households were food insecure. There for ecommunity based food security program is recommended to improve the food security condition of the rural communities of Parbat district. The key factors associated with food security were: availability and accessibility factors as: land availability, amount of land,irrigation unavailability and allocation of money not enough for food. Sustainable agriculture production through the promotion of technologies to enhance crop by proper water management in the land and alternative solutions as provision of livestock farming to those who have less land are recommended.

Key words: Food insecurity, availability, accessibility, rural areas