Analysis of Challenges and Strategies for Improving the Food Security in Iranian Rural Households Using Hierarchical Analysis

Access to adequate and favorable food and optimal nutritional health is one of the main axes of development. Over recent decades, the issue of nutrition has taken new dimension while the concept of human development has been highlighted. The increasing population and the need for further expansion of communities due to human food supply caused experts and scientists to adopt different solutions for this problem. This research applied a hierarchical process to prioritize options and criteria for improving the food security among rural households in Iran. For this purpose, first, according to the identified criteria and options, the required data were collected from 20 selected samples of the faculty members who were experts in the issues related to the livelihoods and food security, based on paired comparisons of data, through a questionnaire; and then, the data were analyzed. The results showed that the weakness of support system for the agricultural sector was the main challenge of food security among the rural communities, followed by the challenges of rising food prices, climatic and environmental changes, underdevelopment of the rural communities, etc.; in addition, the livelihood diversification was found to be the main strategy for food security among the rural communities, followed by some other strategies including the improvement of manufacturing and compilation patterns, improving supply chain and food value, increasing financial and physical efficiency in production patterns, better farm management and adaptation to climate change, empowerment of rural communities, empowerment of rural communities, sustainability, etc.