Determining Socio-economic Factors Associated with Household Food Security in Rural and Urban Areas in Khuzestan Province

Improving food security status through  socio-economic ‎determinants is always important at the household level. In this study, ‎after assessing the food security level of households in urban and rural ‎areas of Khuzestan province, associated factors including economic, social, and racial with food security were identified in 1397. To achieve the goals, 1876 and ‎‎1495 questionnaires were collected in urban and rural areas ‎respectively. The logistic regression model was used to identify effective ‎factors. The results showed that 63 % and ‎‎68 % of households in urban and rural areas face food insecurity respectively. Hamidiyeh county with 18 %, Omidieh 25 % ‎, and Dezful 28 % had the least percent of food secured households in the urban areas of Khuzestan province, respectively. Also, ‎the cities of Shadegan with 13 %, Izeh with 15 %, and Mahshahr port with ‎‎18 % had the least percent of food security households in ‎rural areas, respectively. The results of the quantitative estimated model in the present study showed that employment of the head of the household, income, number of rooms and personal car ownership were significantly and directly associated with food security in urban and rural areas of Khuzestan province. Therefore, due to the weakness of income policies which are applying as the only ways to ameliorate food security status in Iran, paying close attention to socio-economic factors related to improving the level of household food security before any intervention is necessary.