2 Measuring Food Security Using Respondents' Perception of Food Consumption Adequacy

Abstract

Food security is a complex and multi-dimensional phenomenon. As such, its measurement may entail and benefit from the combination of both 'qualitative-subjective' and 'quantitative-objective' indicators. Yet, the evidence on the external validity of subjectivetype information is scarce, especially using representative household surveys. The aim of this paper is to compare information on self-perceived food consumption adequacy from the subjective modules of household surveys with standard quantitative indicators, namely calorie consumption, dietary diversity and anthropometry. Datasets from four countries are analysed: Albania, Indonesia, Madagascar and Nepal. Simple descriptive statistics, correlation coefficients, contingency tables and multivariate regression show that the 'subjective' indicator is at best poorly correlated with standard quantitative indicators. The paper concludes that while subjective food adequacy indicators may provide insight on the …/.

The impacts of food price and income shocks on household food security and economic well-being: Evidence from rural Bangladesh

“…A considerable debate persists about the superiority of qualitative versus quantitative measures in the face of their weak empirical correlation (Migotto et al, 2006). Research has shown, for example, that subjective indicators are susceptible to overestimation bias (Devereux, 2003;Heady, 2013).…”

“…Proponents of subjective indicators claim that the biases can be eliminated by using sophisticated context-specific modules that are developed through in-depth research and extensive field testing (Migotto et al, 2006;USDA, 2005).…”

“…In addition to the self-assessed indicators, the dataset includes a range of quantitative indicators that are commonly used as measures of objective food security (or accessibility), such as income and expenditures (Migotto et al, 2006). These indicators are also frequently used as measures of economic well-being (or welfare) (Meyer and Sullivan, 2003).…”

7 Food Security in Vietnam During the 1990s: The Empirical Evidence

“…This decelerating rate of growth confirms the change in the composition of commodities evidenced in the previous section. We test this hypothesis using the Simpson index (Table 4), an index of food diversification (Migotto, Carletto and Davis 2005).…”

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“…Essa primeira compreensão da S.A. levou o Fundo das Nações Unidas para a Alimentação (FAO), a propor um indicador de medida padronizado a partir da disponibilidade calórica per capita, com a finalidade de acompanhar tendências históricas e estabelecer comparações entre os países [1,2] . Progressivamente e à medida que o conceito de segurança alimentar ganhava complexidade, outros indicadores foram sendo introduzidos visando captar e mensurar as novas dimensões da segurança alimentar incorporadas [3] .…”