An Assessment of the Household Food Security Status and Local Foods Grown in Rural Bahamas

Jeri L. Kelly and Carlisle Pemberton

No 243181, 31st West Indies Agricultural Economics Conference, August 10-14, 2015, Saint Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands from Caribbean Agro-Economic Society

Abstract: The Bahamas has been faced with an increasing food import bill and a declining agricultural sector. A benchmark of the degree of food insecurity within the country may create the challenge for a national effort to reverse these trends. The focus of this study is to determine a reliable assessment of household food security including the levels of local food availability and access within a rural area of the Bahamas. The paper also seeks to determine whether local food systems have the potential to encourage rural development within The Bahamas. The USDA Household Food Security Survey Module provided a reliable measure for the estimation of the household food security index for rural East Grand Bahama. ANOVA and regression models determined the associations between the food security index and households’ socioeconomic and local food factors. High monthly income was the most significant determinant of a food secure household as income was highly and positively correlated with the household food security index. The results offer evidence that it is plausible that local food systems, such as farmers’ market, community supported agriculture, and community gardens, can have a positive impact on the area’s economy.

Keywords: Agribusiness; Agricultural and Food Policy; Agricultural Finance; Farm Management; Financial Economics; Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety; Food Security and Poverty; Labor and Human Capital; Land Economics/Use; Marketing; Production Economics; Productivity Analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 15
Date: 2016-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr and nep-dev
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:cars15:243181

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.243181

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