Climatic changes and vulnerability of household food accessibility : A study on Malaysian East Coast Economic Region
International Journal of Climate Change Strategies and Management
ISSN: 1756-8692
Article publication date: 15 May 2017
Abstract
Purpose
Sustainable food security at the household level is one of the emerging issues for all nations. Several factors such as social, economic, political, demographic, natural and livelihood strategies cause vulnerability in the status of household food security. This study aims to examine the vulnerability of the factors of household food accessibility and its linkage with the climatic changes in Malaysia.
Design/methodology/approach
The study is based on primary data collected in the months of July-October, 2012, through a questionnaire survey on 460 low-income households from the East Coast Economic Region (ECER) in Malaysia. The samples were selected from E-Kasih poor household database, based on the cluster random sampling technique. The questionnaire uses a five-point Likert scale, and the data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and ANOVA F statistics for chi-square two-sample test.
Findings
The study finds that the vulnerability of the factors of household food accessibility has increased statistically and significantly over the past five years in Malaysia, whereas the contributions of climatic factors are low on these changes. This study suggests that the food security programs in Malaysia need to be integrated with the climatic change adaptation programs to ensure more effective and sustainable household food security in the future.
Originality/value
This study is an original work based on primary data that empirically measures the vulnerability of the factors of household food accessibility, one of the important dimensions of household food security, and its linkage with climatic changes.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors are thankful to the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment of the Government of Malaysia for generously funding the research, under the Research University Grant Project UKM-GUP-PI-08-34-081, AP-2014-017 and FRGS/1/2012/SS07/UKM/01/3.
Citation
Alam, M.M., Siwar, C., Talib, B.A. and Wahid, A.N.M. (2017), "Climatic changes and vulnerability of household food accessibility : A study on Malaysian East Coast Economic Region", International Journal of Climate Change Strategies and Management, Vol. 9 No. 03, pp. 387-401. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCCSM-06-2016-0075
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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