Food Security and Vivacious Circle of Poverty Among Rural Households in Pakistan

Abstract

Food security and poverty are interrelated as well as important factors for determining the household’s development. We conducted this study in District Muzaffargarh of Punjab Province to analyze the food security and poverty nexus. District Muzaffargarh was selected purposively as a study area because it is food insecure and the poorest district in the Punjab province. The sample was selected using a multistage random sampling technique. A total of 349 respondents were selected from 8 villages. This study was quantitative. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlation, cost of calorie method, FGT poverty index and logit regression. Results indicated that agriculture was a profound source of income and a heft dependency of families was seen attached to agriculture. This can be deduced that food security in the study area was directly associated with agricultural growth. The majority of the respondents in the study area were food insecure, especially in terms of food accessibility and utilization. The majority of constituents of the sample were poor as their expenditures were found to exceed their earnings. As result, the families were trapped in the vivacious circle of poverty. Households had no proper coping strategies or safety nets to confront poverty and achieve food security. This study established that food insecurity was mainly caused by persisting poverty. Thus, eliminating poverty among households through governmental efforts, subsidies, technical support, training, skill development opportunities and microfinance loaning to initiate micro-level businesses.