Leen Almukaddem ^(1)*, Wael Habib ⁽²⁾ , and Jamal Alali ⁽³⁾

(1). Tartus Center for Scientific Agricultural Research, General Commission for Scientific Agricultural Research (GCSAR), Syria.

(2). Department of Agricultural Economy. Faculty of Agriculture, Albaath University, Syria.

(3). Latakia Center for Scientific Agricultural Research, General Commission for Scientific Agricultural Research (GCSAR), Syria.

(*Corresponding Author: Dr. Leen Almukaddem. E-Mail: leeno1411@yahoo.com)

Abstract

As Syria enters its eleventh year of the crisis, the problem of food insecurity has increased, and become a very important issue at the local and global level. The aim of this research is to measure the farm households’ food security status in the coastal area, using a set of internationally approved measures, which are the Food Consumption Score (FCS), the Reduced Coping Strategies Index (rCSI), and the Food Security Index (FSI). The research relied on collected preliminary field data using a questionnaire form during last quarter of 2019, the research was conducted on a random stratified sample of 382 farm households distributed between Lattakia and Tartous governorates based on their percentage of the total number of households. The results showed that FCS gave the lowest level of food insecurity among households, followed by the FSI, while rCSI gave the highest level of household food insecurity, where the value of these three indicators was (20.6, 21.6, and 47.2%) respectively. The study recommended the necessity of using multiple indicators to measure the different dimensions of food security, and using a combination of indicators can improve the measurement of food insecurity, as this reduces the false possibilities, whether positive or negative and the misclassification of households’ food security status.

Keywords: Food Security, Food Security Indicators, Coping Strategies, Food Consumption Score, Syria

Full paper in Arabic: pdf