Impact of Household Socio-Economic Factors on Food Security: Case of Adana

Abstract

Food insecurity is the situation where people do not have access to sufficient, stable and safe food that meets their dietary needs for an active and healthy life. The objective of this study was to determine the status of food security in the Adana metropolitan area by using, for the first time in Turkey, Household Food Security Survey Module (HFSS). Household’s food security levels and socio-economic factors affecting the food security were analyzed using the ordered logistic regression technique. The household food security level surveys in the Adana metropolitan area indicated that hunger was not in a serious condition, however food insecurity was critical. While the rate of food insecurity in households with children was 69%, food insecurity rate of households without children was 39.6%. It was a highly worrisome situation that hunger and food insecurity rates were more frequent in households with children. In this study, it has been found that among the socio-economic variables, the income level was the most decisive variable for food security. The gender of household head, employment status, education level and household count were the other variables affecting food security.