Food security among farming households: A study in coastal Odisha

Abstract

A total of 350 households were selected for the study from the five coastal districts which had similar agro-climatic zone namely Puri, Khurdha, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapada and Nayagarh during 2016 to assess the food security status among farming households. Based on land holding size households were categorized as semi medium farmers (n=82) small farmers (n=87), marginal farmers (n=94) and landless labourers (n=87). Information on socio-economic status, food security of the respondents from each category were collected by a structured and pre tested questionnaire. The mean land holding size of the marginal farmers was 0.34ha. The small farmers and the semi medium farmers were having mean land of 1.40ha and 3.90 ha respectively. The mean age of the male farmers was 45.94 years and the female farmers it was 38.58years. The mean expenditure (Rs. 3219.77±182.00) was very close to the average monthly income (Rs. 3459.74±274.00) of the households. Majority of the households were found to be food insecure in terms of quantitative availability of foods (59.43%), food preference (60.00%), diversification of foods (60.57%), reduction in frequency of meal consumed (64.85%), choice of foods (65.71%) and reduced quantity of food consumed (68.58%). The mean score for quantitative availability of food (2.68±0.46), food preference (2.44±0.63), diversification of foods (2.38±0.08), reduction in frequency of meal consumed (2.00±0.10), choice of foods (2.33±0.09) and reduced quantity of food consumed (2.12±0.09) was found to be significant higher among the landless labourers compared to other categories of farmers. Majority of the respondents were food insecure both in terms of quality and quantity. It was more prevalent among the landless labourers followed by marginal farmers.