Food Security Assessment Based on GIS Spatial Analysis in the Rural Area of East Azerbaijan Province, Iran

Abstract

GIS is an exploration tool into the use of spatial reasoning methods, to identify regions at risk, due to inadequate food and water resources, which are a result of inherent environ- mental scarcity. The purpose of this study is to lay an evidentiary foundation to assess food security in rural area of East Azerbaijan Province. We estimate vulnerability of food avail- ability by approximating local food supply. Food availability was estimated by determining local supply through agricultural and industrial activities. For this to happen, relevant crite- ria were considered for food security assessment, and GIS multi-criteria analysis was em- ployed for producing food security maps. Based on the obtained food security map, very high and highly secure zones include 544 villages (22.15% of rural area), while 1,905 vil- lages (57% of rural area) were classified as being in insecure zones. The results of this research are of great importance to decision makers, and, in particular, to government de- partments such as the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Water Resource Manage- ment, and the Ministry of Natural Resources for the East Azerbaijan Province of Iran.