Determining the resilience of rural households to food insecurity during drought conditions in Fars province, Iran

Abstract

Climate change and drought have greatly affected the food security of rural families. Regarding to importance of the resilience approach in food security, this study aimed to examine the resiliency determinant factors based on six indicators included income and food access, access to basic services, assets, social safety net, adaptive capacity, and stability. The above-mentioned indicators were extracted from the food and agricultural organization’s resilience index. This research was of the survey type, and data were collected from a sample of population based on a stratified random sampling. The sample population was 270 respondents from the Fars province who faced food insecurity due to drought. Based on the factorial analysis, the model presented in this research had a high predictability of resilience among rural households. The validity and reliability of this model were tested and verified. The results showed that the stability variable was considered the most important resiliency determinant toward food insecurity. Cluster analysis suggested two groups: High- and low-resilience households. The results revealed that more than half of rural families had a lower resilience to food insecurity, while less than 45 percent of rural households in this study had higher resiliency, which was characterized by a series of features. The verified model in this study identified a standard framework for assessing the resiliency of households to cope with food insecurity and to recover from shocks related to drought.