Linkages between Food Security and Human Well Bing in South Asia: An Empirical Analysis

A specific amount of food and safe drinking water are basic necessities of living human-beings. The study analysis the impact of agriculture, inflation, food import and food export on food production index for four South Asian countries, namely; Pakistan, Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka. For statistical analysis, data used from 1990 to 2014 and data are collected from the World Bank data base, namely; World development indicator (WDI). Levin Lin Chu unit root test is used for exploring the stationary of the variables of the model. The result shows that inflation and food import have positive and significant relation with food production index in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. The result shows that food export has a negative and insignificant relationship with the food production index in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lank. Agriculture has negative and insignificant relation to food production index. Government should adopt the agriculture policies to increase the production of food. The success in ensuring food security, or the lack of it, was conditioned by macro-economic developments as much as specific policies and programs addressed to resolve this problem. Macroeconomic policies in the countries in this region were pursued in the context of progressive liberalization, rather than de-bureaucratization, careful sequencing of reforms (starting from the industrial and financial sector reforms), and concern for stable price levels (i.e., curbing excessive inflation). This distinguished the growth experience of this region from that in the developing countries of Africa and Latin America.