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Living on the edge: Household vulnerability to food-insecurity in the Punjab, Pakistan

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  • Azeem, Muhammad Masood
  • Mugera, Amin W.
  • Schilizzi, Steven

Abstract

This study investigates the prevalence, sources and distribution of household vulnerability to food-insecurity in the Punjab, Pakistan. Applying a multilevel model on a large dataset of about 90,000 households, we find that the share of households at risk of becoming food-insecure (vulnerability) is higher than the share that is current food-insecure. Households in rural areas are least vulnerable. In contrast, residents of cities and urban areas experience high level of vulnerability that exceeds the average in the Punjab. The risk-induced vulnerability is higher than the structural-induced vulnerability and vulnerability to idiosyncratic shock is higher than vulnerability to covariate shocks. Findings imply that households in the Punjab are vulnerable not as a result of poor resource endowments but because of risk. The Pakistani government should go beyond mere observed food-insecurity to address the needs of the relatively larger population that is at risk of being food-insecure in the future.

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  • Azeem, Muhammad Masood & Mugera, Amin W. & Schilizzi, Steven, 2016. "Living on the edge: Household vulnerability to food-insecurity in the Punjab, Pakistan," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 1-13.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jfpoli:v:64:y:2016:i:c:p:1-13
    DOI: 10.1016/j.foodpol.2016.08.002
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    5. Vigani, M. & Berry, R., 2018. "Farm economic resilience, land diversity and environmental uncertainty," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 276979, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    6. Mamoudou Ba, 2020. "Does livestock ownership affect food security? Evidence from rural Mauritania [La propriété du bétail a-t-elle une incidence sur la sécurité alimentaire ? Cas de la Mauritanie rurale]," Working Papers hal-03088715, HAL.
    7. Zhaohua Zhang & Yuxi Luo & Derrick Robinson, 2020. "Do Social Pensions Help People Living on the Edge? Assessing Determinants of Vulnerability to Food Poverty Among the Rural Elderly," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 32(1), pages 198-219, January.

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