Sociodemographic risk factors for household food security and nutrition in rural inhabitants of arid western Rajasthan

Abstract

The study uses cross-sectional data of a sample of 529 individuals from four villages of Jodhpur district of arid western Rajasthan. Average Household Food Insecurity Access Score of the villages were 0.90, 0.92, 0.83 and 1.03, respectively. Twenty-six to thirty per cent of the surveyed households were food insecure. Households were more likely to have three or more children (12%, OR, 2.77), educational level of secondary school or less (48%, OR, 1.29), have income sources mainly from labour wages (30%, OR, 3.92), nuclear family status (30%, OR, 5.19) and be in the low-income category (32%, OR, 4.14) had a higher risk of food insecurity. Mild type of food insecurity was observed in the area specifically of qualitative nature rather than quantitative. Average per CU intake of calorie and protein was found to be 1882.12 kcal and 56.44 g, respectively. Findings suggested that 31.64 per cent of the selected population had nutritional status below normal.