Abstract: The ability of the household to access adequate quantity and quality of food is essential to ensure food security. Experience based Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) is a simple measure of quality and quantity of food intake to examine the food security status of the household. The present study examines the reliability and validity of HFIAS to measure food security status of rural and urban households of Assam. The reliability statistic Cronbach’s α is used to test the internal consistency of the scale and it is found to be consistent in the context of Assam with α value greater than 0.7. Multitrait Multiitem Correlation matrix validates the scale and external validity is shown in terms of association of this scale with factors affecting household food security. A multistage random sampling was carried out and HFIAS questionnaire was administered among 310 rural and 426 urban household of four districts of Assam, namely Tinsukia, Sivasagar, Jorhat and Lakhimpur. The study makes an attempt to identify and compare the food security status of rural and urban households. Food insecurity among rural households are found to be higher than its urban counterpart. There is need of study and research to identify the context specific factors of generating food insecurity in the state and thereby to ensure that people will enjoy the basic right to food.
Keywords: Food Security, Household Food Insecurity Access Scale, Reliability, Validity, Insufficient Quality, Insufficient Quantity.
Title: Reliability and Validity of Household Food Insecurity Access Scale in Assam, India
Author: Surabi Dutta, Dr. Nayanmoni Borgohain Baruah
International Journal of Interdisciplinary Research and Innovations
ISSN 2348-1218 (print), ISSN 2348-1226 (online)
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