ARE THE DETERMINANTS OF FOOD INSECURITY FOR LANDLESS HOUSEHOLDS DIFFERENT FROM THAT OF OTHER RURAL HOUSEHOLDS?

This paper aims to investigate whether or not the determinants of food insecurity for landless households are different from that of other rural households in the Punjab province of Pakistan. Household level data were collected from 576 landless households representing 12 districts of the province. The data were analyzed in two stages: first, we measured households’ food security status by calculating their food consumption; and in a second stage, a binary logistic regression was used to examine the determinants of their food security. The results suggest that about 27% of the sample households were measured to be food insecure. The analysis revealed that level of education of household head had the greatest impact on food security, followed by increases in monthly income. Conversely, family size had the greatest impact on increasing food insecurity, followed by the household head’s age. The analysis further reveals that these determinants of food insecurity are similar to those found for the rural households in the same region and other countries of the world, but their relative importance for food insecurity differs for landless households. These results suggest clear priorities for food security policy in the Punjab.