Determinants of Individual Worries on Food Insecurity in Afghanistan

Abstract

According to the United Nations (UN), more than 30 per cent of the world’s population experienced food insecurity moderately or severely in 2020 and Sustainable Development Goal 2 clearly claims to end hunger by 2030. Afghanistan within those regions with severe food insecurity has become prominent as both environmental deterioration due to climate change and ongoing conflict affects this situation twice as much. Using Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES-2018) data that was provided by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), this paper provides evidence on the determinants of individual worry on having enough food with a sample of 998 individuals through a probit model. Findings reveal that having a college degree significantly reduces the probability of being worried not to have enough food. Further, living in a rural area increases this probability, while being in a richer income quintile and having one more adults in the household decreases it. Empirical evidence of this research suggests a few policy implications. Education should be generalised in the society; and production techniques in the rural areas should be improved to increase the level of production and to save the environment. These efforts might increase the wage level that would help to increase household income to alleviate food insecurity.