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2017 Summer. ; Includes bibliographical references. ; The concern for food security is a cornerstone in the development process for every country. This dissertation is examining food security from three perspectives. First, chapter one explores the most important economic and developmental factors leading to food security and combines these factors in an index to measure the change in food security levels over time for different countries. The next chapter then uses this index to determine whether food security is related to dietary diversity. Finally, the third chapter is a descriptive study of food security in Saudi Arabia. The first part of this research employs principal component analysis (PCA) in order to build a food security index. The objective of the analysis is to provide the variables that build a food security index and the method to weigh them, which allows a national-level comparison of countries from different parts of the world. These data will be used in subsequent parts of this research to study the association between the overall food security index and the four pillars of food security with dietary diversity at the national level in different countries. To build the index, PCA was used to evaluate the contribution of all 31 indicators of the four dimensions of food security (food availability, food accessibility, food utilization, and stability) represented in the FAO data set between 1990 and 2011. Standardized measures of different variables were used to make it easy and reasonable to form one index. The results indicate significant effects for 18 of the 31 variables as indicators of food security. Finally, all of these indicators were combined into a single measure to reflect a multidimensional index of food security for the 59 countries represented in the study. The second chapter of this research addresses one important aspect of food security: dietary diversity. The study assumed that a heterogeneous level of dietary diversity across several countries would be related to their levels of food security. There are several indices that can be used to measure the diversity of food on a countrywide level. This chapter uses the Simpson Index to measure the energy intake diversity of six food groups (rice, wheat products, starchy roots, sugars and sweeteners, fruits and vegetables, and animal products) and the multidimensional food security index, constructed in the first chapter, to represent levels of food security. This case study uses the average data between 2000 and 2011 for 59 countries. In conclusion, these correlations and linear regression models have found that dietary diversity is not affected by levels of multidimensional food security, while the sizes of energy intake increase with levels of food security. It is important to realize that this result does not mean that the diversity of food consumption is less important; it means the tools that could contribute to improve food security do not necessarily contribute to change dietary diversity levels but only change the size of food consumption. The third chapter is a descriptive and qualitative study of food security in Saudi Arabia. The country could reach a good standing of food security compared with other countries according to several food security measurements. This refers to several policies of the Saudi government to invest large revenues from the oil industry to achieve development in the country, with food security representing one aspect of development. In the early stages of development planning, the government targeted to guarantee food supplies and achieve self-sufficiency from agricultural products by supporting domestic agricultural production. This led to the development of domestic production and extensive use of technology in domestic agricultural production, which contributed to more production efficiency. Also, the government supported final food prices to make food easier to access for all residents of different income levels. Unfortunately, some government policies were inefficient and contributed threats to food security such as subsidizing domestic wheat production, which consumed a lot of water. Recently, the government has adopted policies to maintain sustainability in food security such as supporting domestic production for crops that consume less water, supporting overseas investment in agricultural production, increasing the capacity of wheat storage, and reducing the wastage of resources. Even so, food security in Saudi Arabia still faces several challenges that threaten sustainability, such as political instability in the Middle East, water scarcity, reliance on food imports, fluctuations and increases in food prices, food consumption habits, and population growth.

AbstractThe present study assesses the impact of the Covid‐19 pandemic‐induced income shocks on dietary diversity in India using eight waves of the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy–Consumer Pyramids Household Surveys data over the period January 2019 to August 2021. Using a two‐stage least squares panel regression model and a specification akin to difference‐in‐differences technique, our results suggest that an income shock of any magnitude reduced the dietary diversity of households across India, though the impact has been more severe in the rural areas compared to urban and during the first year of the pandemic compared to the second. The mediating role of household socio‐economic characteristics, pandemic indicators and food prices is also examined.

In public and academic debates, the linkages between agricultural markets and nutrition across the world are vividly discussed. This paper contributes to the ongoing debate by analyzing the relationship between greater openness to trade and dietary diversity. It focuses on the post-communist countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia where trade reforms as part of the economic and political transition provide a natural experiment for studying the effects of trade openness on agricultural markets and consumer behaviour. Reduction in trade barriers, for instance in the context of the accession to the WTO and the EU, and the gradual integration with world markets after 1991 had implications for diets through changes in production, prices and incomes. We utilize country-level panel data for 26 post-communist countries in the period 1996-2013 to assess the effects of trade costs, openness to trade and incomes on dietary diversity measured by the Shannon entropy index. The results arising from fixed effects and instrumental variables estimation are consistent with previous findings that income growth affects dietary diversity positively and provide novel evidence that trade barriers reduce variety of products available in domestic markets, in particular fruits and vegetables.

In public and academic debates, the linkages between agricultural markets and nutrition across the world are vividly discussed. This paper contributes to the ongoing debate by analyzing the relationship between greater openness to trade and dietary diversity. It focuses on the post-communist countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia where trade reforms as part of the economic and political transition provide a natural experiment for studying the effects of trade openness on agricultural markets and consumer behaviour. Reduction in trade barriers, for instance in the context of the accession to the WTO and the EU, and the gradual integration with world markets after 1991 had implications for diets through changes in production, prices and incomes. We utilize country-level panel data for 26 post-communist countries in the period 1996-2013 to assess the effects of trade costs, openness to trade and incomes on dietary diversity measured by the Shannon entropy index. The results arising from fixed effects and instrumental variables estimation are consistent with previous findings that income growth affects dietary diversity positively and provide novel evidence that trade barriers reduce variety of products available in domestic markets, in particular fruits and vegetables.

Using two rounds of nationally representative Bangladesh Integrated Household Survey (BIHS 2011-12 and 2015) data and Fixed Effects model, this study explores the linkages among household crop diversification, household dietary diversity and per capita nutrients intake of households. This study finds that households with higher crop diversification are more likely to diversify their consumption. In addition, there is a significant association between dietary diversity and per capita intake of calorie, protein, iron, zinc and vitamin A among farm households. Therefore, increasing crop diversification helps increase dietary diversity and dietary diversity, in turn, would decrease macro and micro nutrient deficiencies in Bangladesh.

BACKGROUND: ENGINE (Empowering New Generations for Improved Nutrition and Economic Opportunities) was a US Agency for International Development (USAID)–funded project implemented in Ethiopia from 2011 to 2016. ENGINE used a multisectoral approach to achieve the goals articulated in the Government of Ethiopia's National Nutrition Plan, among which is improvement in the dietary intakes of women and preschool-aged children. OBJECTIVES: The objectives of the present research are 2-fold: 1) to document trends in women's dietary diversity (WDD) and 2) to identify factors associated with dietary diversity for women. METHODS: Descriptive statistics and multivariate, pooled analyses were calculated. RESULTS: Results indicate that WDD was low, ranging, on average, from 3.0 to 4.0 (out of a possible 10). Across the time points covered reflecting pregnancy and 1-y postpartum, only ∼13% to 17% of women met the Minimum Dietary Diversity Score for Women (MDD-W). CONCLUSIONS: The production of both food and cash crops and the rearing of livestock were significant predictors of improved dietary diversity in women. The focus of ENGINE on a diverse set of agricultural activities improved WDD and MDD-W in a population of women where dietary diversity is poor.