Factors Affecting Improving Food Security of Rural Households (Case Study of Villages in Hindijan County)

Food is one of the most basic necessities of life and access to it is the most basic right of every human being, but despite the efforts made to reduce hunger and poverty, there are still many concerns about food security in different societies. Therefore, it is important to conduct studies that can determine the access of rural households to safe and sufficient food. In this regard, This study was conducted with the general aim of factors affecting the improvement of food security of rural households. The statistical population of this study included all rural households in Hindijan city in Khuzestan province (N = 1906). Using Krejcie and Morgan table, 230 heads of rural households were selected by stratified random sampling with proportional assignment for the study. The results showed that the rural households in the study are not in a good position in terms of food security because about 70% of them were in food insecurity. The results of correlation coefficient showed that food security has a significant relationship with the variables of number of small ruminant, large animal, agricultural land, income, adaptability, access to credit, social capital, education level, quality of agricultural land. In addition, the results of stepwise regression showed that the three variables of social capital, farmers' adaptability and level of education could explain 51.7% (R2 = 0.517) of the changes in food security dependent variables of the studied households.