MODELLING FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE FOOD SECURITY AMONG WHEAT FARMERS

Abstract

Given the environmental challenges and an urgent need for food security, it is essential to focus on wheat technologies to achieve a better state of food security for wheat farmers. This study aims to develop a model that identifies factors, particularly those involving technology, that influence food security among wheat farmers in East Azerbaijan province in Iran. This study involves the participation of 110 wheat growers in the province. A questionnaire was used to gather data, and expert opinion confirmed its validity. The questionnaire’s reliability was also confirmed by the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient (0.724– 0.949). The results indicated that most wheat farmers viewed the level of food security as low (57.5%). Goodness-of-fit indexes (e.g., chi-square [P > 0.05], RMSEA < 0.024, and GFI = 0.816) showed that the model had an excellent fit for the data. Regression analysis revealed that the most significant factors were related to the profitability of adopting wheat technology (0.621), its impact on improving food security, and the concept of capacity building (0.491)