| Abstrakt: |
Most of the research studies on food security, including Sri Lankan food security studies, focused on the macro-level aspects of poverty and food security. These macro-level studies may not be able to specify the link between poverty and food security at the regional or household level, which is necessary in order to design policies to improve food security in the rural areas. This research study aims to investigate the link between rural poverty and household-level food security and to present policy strategies for improving the food security of farming households. In doing so, it uses household-level data in Moneragala district to estimate the empirical relationship between the Engel coefficient and household income. The estimated empirical model shows that an increase in household income leads to the improvement of food security in the farming households. Policymakers need to implement rural poverty reduction strategies for mitigating the household-level food security problem in the district. To identify the policy strategies for rural poverty reduction and improving food security, this study estimates household income function. It shows that promoting rural education and non-farm employment opportunities, providing electricity to rural areas, providing agricultural credit to farmers, improving accessibility to large-scale land, and increasing physical capital stock for farming households lead to an increase in the level of income of farming households and reduces rural poverty. Policymakers should give high priority to formulating policies for rural poverty reduction and improving the food security of farming households in Moneragala district, Sri Lanka. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
