Assessment of food security status among rural and urban households in Kuching district, Sarawak, Malaysia
Background and objectives: Food security can be defined as the availability of and accessibility to food, acquired in an acceptable means at any given time and place in a way that could maintain health and wellbeing. Research on food security in Malaysia is still in its infancy stage, and the ex...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2013
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://irep.iium.edu.my/65515/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/65515/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/65515/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/65515/1/2013%20ICN%20ABSTRACT%20GRANADA%20pg870%20only.pdf |
| Summary: | Background and objectives: Food security can be defined
as the availability of and accessibility to food, acquired in an acceptable
means at any given time and place in a way that could
maintain health and wellbeing. Research on food security in
Malaysia is still in its infancy stage, and the extent of food security
situation in Sarawak, a part of Borneo Island, remains
unexplored.
Methods: This cross-sectional study aimed to measure the
prevalence of food insecurity and to examine the associations
between food security status with demography, socioeconomic
factors and coping strategies. A total of 127 mothers from low
income households in Padawan and Petra Jaya areas in Kuching
District, Sarawak were interviewed. Structured questionnaire
was used to collect the data and information. The Radimer/
Cornell Hunger and Food Insecurity measures were used
to assess food security status.
Results: The information gathered from this study indicated
that majority of households in this study were food insecure.
The results show that 75% of the respondents interviewed
were experiencing household food insecurity, whereas 58.3%
having individual food insecurity and 48.8% with child hunger.
Higher prevalence of household food insecurity was observed
in the urban area. Meanwhile, individual food insecurity and
child hunger were more prominent in the rural area. From the
variables available in this study, household income, income per
capita and coping strategies showed a significant associations
with food security status (p<0.05). onclusions: The findings suggest
that food insecurity among household in this study were
primarily a direct result of inadequate income to buy sufficient
foods for the household members. This further suggests why
more households were found to rely on non-food related coping
strategies in order to acquire enough foods to feed their
family. |
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