THE SYSTEMIC REVIEW OF FOOD SECURITY ASSESSMENT INDICATORS: UNDERSTANDING THE STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF THE INDICATORS
ABSTRACT
This paper was conceived to review the concept of food security in terms of assessment by putting together some of the indicators that have been previously used to bridge the existing gap in the utilization of these indicators and ultimately serve as guidance for future studies on food security and for stakeholders particularly those involved in fighting hunger in the world. The findings based on the comprehensive reviews confirmed that the issue of food security in terms of assessment is still a complex and controversial one that no single indicator can capture completely all the known dimensions of food security. However, it was discovered that not much attention has been devoted to the importance of accurate capturing of food security considering its importance in determining the appropriate intervention needed to address food insecurity. It is on this note that the paper concluded by making strong case for adoption of self-report food security assessment based on perception of the concerned people going by its successes in few studies it has been used particularly in the area of food preferences among people which the traditional indicators have not achieved as outlined by FAO.