Determinants of Food Insecurity in Rural Households: The Case of the Paute River Basin of Azuay Province, Ecuador

Otilia Vanessa Cordero-Ahiman, Jorge Leonardo Vanegas, Pablo Beltrán-Romero and María Elena Quinde-Lituma
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Otilia Vanessa Cordero-Ahiman: Grupo de Investigación en Economía Regional (GIER), Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Administrativas, Universidad de Cuenca, Cuenca 010107, Ecuador
Jorge Leonardo Vanegas: Grupo de Investigación en Economía Regional (GIER), Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Administrativas, Universidad de Cuenca, Cuenca 010107, Ecuador
Pablo Beltrán-Romero: Grupo de Investigación en Economía Regional (GIER), Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Administrativas, Universidad de Cuenca, Cuenca 010107, Ecuador
María Elena Quinde-Lituma: Grupo de Investigación en Economía Regional (GIER), Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Administrativas, Universidad de Cuenca, Cuenca 010107, Ecuador

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 3, 1-18

Abstract: Eliminating food insecurity is one of humanity’s greatest global challenges. Thus, the purpose of this research was to analyze the factors that determine food insecurity in households in the rural area of the Paute River Basin, Azuay Province, Ecuador. Stratified sampling was used as the sampling method, with proportional affixation. Moreover, we employed the Latin American and Caribbean Household Food Security Measurement Scale (ELCSA). We estimated the main determinants of household food insecurity using two binomial logit models and one ordered logit model. For the analysis of the data, the respective statistical and econometric tests were employed. The results show that housing size and access to food security information are the most important determinants of food insecurity in the three predictive models applied in this research. This research contributes to the existing literature on food insecurity and provides important information for policymakers, especially regarding food insecurity in rural areas, which has profound economic and social implications.

Keywords: food insecurity; rural households; ELCSA; binomial logit model; ordinal logit model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:3:p:946-:d:313817

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