Food Insecurity among Small-Scale Farmers in Poland

Agnieszka Poczta-Wajda (), Agnieszka Sapa, Sebastian Stępień and Michał Borychowski
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Agnieszka Sapa: Department of Macroeconomics and Agricultural Economics, Poznan University of Economics and Business, al. Niepodległości 10, 61-875 Poznań, Poland
Sebastian Stępień: Department of Macroeconomics and Agricultural Economics, Poznan University of Economics and Business, al. Niepodległości 10, 61-875 Poznań, Poland
Michał Borychowski: Department of Macroeconomics and Agricultural Economics, Poznan University of Economics and Business, al. Niepodległości 10, 61-875 Poznań, Poland

Agriculture, 2020, vol. 10, issue 7, 1-24

Abstract: The problem of food insecurity is generally associated with developing countries, but at the household level it also occurs in developed countries, especially in socially vulnerable groups, such as small-scale farms. However, the issue of food insecurity in developed countries, especially at the household level, is rather neglected in the scientific literature. This study was conducted to fill this gap and examine the level of food insecurity among small-scale farms in Poland. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire from 710 small-scale farms in Poland. The incidence and degree of food insecurity was measured with the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS). The study found that about 43% of the respondents were exposed to food insecurity, including almost 9% to severe food insecurity, which is well above the average for the entire Polish population. By applying cross-tabulation and the zero-inflated Poisson regression model, the study found that the higher age and secondary or higher education of the farm manager, having children in the household and higher land productivity have a statistically significant negative influence on households’ food insecurity (i.e., decreased HFIAS score). On the contrary, family size of five or more and production type “permanent crops” and “dairy cows” have a statistically significant positive influence on households’ food insecurity (i.e., increased HFIAS score).

Keywords: food insecurity; HFIAS; small-scale farmers; zero-inflated Poisson regression (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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