Sociodemographic and institutional factors as determinants of access to food among rural households during COVID-19 pandemic in India
Indian Growth and Development Review
ISSN: 1753-8254
Article publication date: 26 August 2024
Issue publication date: 6 November 2024
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to analyze the nature, magnitude and determinants of access to food among rural households in India during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Design/methodology/approach
The study is based on the World Bank’s Rural Impact Survey, which has documented the shocks of COVID-19 among 2,787 rural households across six states in India. The chi-square test and binary logistics regression have been used to analyze the data.
Findings
About 49.7 % of rural households have reported the incidence of food inaccessibility and shortage, and the majority of them reported a reduction in food intake during the COVID-19 outbreak. However, the magnitude of food accessibility varied across the states and the sociodemographic characteristics of the households. Furthermore, regression analysis indicates that family size, social category and occupation as sociodemographic variables and membership in self-help groups, wage employment under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and Cash transfer under Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi and Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana as institutional support factors have a significant effect on access to food among rural households.
Practical implications
The findings of the study have far-reaching policy implications for developing an effective food distribution system in crisis situations like the COVID-19 outbreak. The study also provides directions for extending the research on determinants of access to food during crisis.
Originality/value
The study is based on a large survey data from the rural households in India and provides empirical evidence on access to food faced by rural communities during the COVID-19 lockdown.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to extend sincere thanks to the Rural Impact Survey Team of the World Bank for providing the valuable data set for this research.
Declarations.
Funding – There was no funding for conducting this research.
Conflicts of interest/Competing interests – The authors declare that there is no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Availability of data and material – Microdata on COVID-19-Related Shocks in Rural India 2020, Rounds 1–3 is available at https://microdata.worldbank.org/index.php/catalog/3830
Code availability – Not applicable.
Authors' contributions (CRediT) – Jabir Ali: conceptualization, methodology, accessing the microdata from the World Bank Database, writing – review and editing; Waseem Khan: formal analysis and investigation, writing – original draft preparation; writing – review and editing.
Citation
Ali, J. and Khan, W. (2024), "Sociodemographic and institutional factors as determinants of access to food among rural households during COVID-19 pandemic in India", Indian Growth and Development Review, Vol. 17 No. 3, pp. 405-421. https://doi.org/10.1108/IGDR-07-2023-0088
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2024, Emerald Publishing Limited