The Effect of Price Increases on Food Security in the Rural Society of Iran

Considering the importance of food security and the effect of price increases on its, in this study household consumption pattern of food demand was surveyed and the impact of price increases on food security was considered. To study the effects of rising prices, the elasticities of calories, carbohydrates and protein for households were considered separately. In this regard, all rural household food groups were divided into 16 major groups according to their cost-income and with using censored quadratic almost ideal demand system; own prices, cross and expenditures elasticities of demand were calculated. Finally, nutrients elasticities (calories, carbohydrates, and protein) and percentage change in calories, carbohydrates and protein with respect to the growth of food prices during 2011 to 2013 were discussed. Apart from determining the complementarity and substitution of foods, and categorizing them into luxury or necessary commodities, the results reveal that the prices increase in these years have a large impact on reducing nutrient received by the household. Among commodities, rising the bread prices have the greatest impact on food security in terms of the three nutrients components and chicken and dairy protein in the corresponding group of protein have the greatest impact.