Rural House Hold Food Security And Market Accessibility

Food security is a global issue and for developing countries, it has a major threat for development and economic growth. Maintaining national and household food security is still a key challenge. Pakistan being a developing country is facing the issues of malnourishment as about 40 percent of its population is undernourished. Pakistan’s food security mainly depends on its agricultural production. The situation has worsened due to a combination of terrorist activities, natural disasters like floods and economic instability. Rural Household Food Security is of much concerned as rural households face multifaceted problems in the form of credit availability, high quality inputs availability, improved technology and extension services. The main objective of this study is to determine the food security situation, its determinants especially market accessibility and price transmission of major grain markets.First of all, the spatial price transmission and market integration of major wheat and rice markets of the country was explored. For this purpose, secondary data were obtained from FAO sources. The data were analyzed using co-integration test, vector error correction model and causality tests. It was found that wheat and rice market prices were integrated. Furthermore, the Karachi’s wheat market had a negative transmission shock on Lahore’s market while the Peshawar’s market had a positive shock on Karachi’s market. The Peshawar’s rice market showed positive transmission shock to other markets. It was further noted that the Lahore’s rice market prices adjust these shocks faster than other markets. Between the wheat and rice markets, both unidirectional and bidirectional causality were present. Poor infrastructure, government interventions and bad policies were the main factors affecting the price transmission among the markets.For household food security analysis, primary data were collected from 576 households of rural areas of the Punjab province. Transport infrastructure in Pakistan is still a problem for rural people to access output markets. To identify the ways to improve access of small farming households to output markets. To achieve this aim, specific objectives are:to find out the determinants of small farmers’ access to output markets; and to assess impact of these factors on farmers’income. For first objective, logistic regression was used and to analyze the data and for second objective, multiple regression technique was used. The results of the study revealed that the cost of transportation, distance from farm to market and access to market were the factors which determined the accessibility of farmer to output market. A significant impact of these factors was found on the income small farmers. The study suggests that the transportation facilities, market infrastructure and flow of market information should be improved. Small farmers are more vulnerable to household food security and market accessibility is a major factor. To investigate the factors effecting household food security with reference to market accessibility. For the estimation of food security status, dietary intake method was used and to explore the causes of food insecurity binary logistic regression model was used. The result shows that about 22 percent households are food insecure and the problem of food insecurity is 6 percent severe. The empirical results elucidate that the family size, monthly income, food prices, health expenses and debt are the main causes of household food security. Beside these determinants, market accessibility related factors like distance to tarred road and transportation cost to output markets are also significantly effects the small farming household food security. So market accessibility effects the food security of small farmers. Food security can be reduced by employing health and family planning measures, creating off-farm employment opportunities and improving road infrastructure. From these findings, we can conclude that proper and efficient market structure is necessary for proper availability of food in whole country. It was suggested that Government should formulate better policies and develop infrastructure towards better and efficient market function. So, better facilities should be provided for good market functions. To increase agricultural productivity, there is a need to design and implement efficient policies. To improve the food security situation of small farmers, there should be supportive actions to provide facilities regarding credit, inputs and extension services. Appropriate food security plans are required to improve food accessibility at household and national level. This goal can be achievable by increasing food productivity and households’ income by implying better policies.