Reducing the waste of agricultural products; An optimal strategy to improve food security

The health and food security of a country depends on the production of the agricultural sector, and any disturbance in the production process of this sector can threaten the food security of households. Among the challenges affecting the agricultural sector, climate change is of double importance due to its direct impact on crop yield and water resources. This is despite the fact that, climate change will be a visible phenomenon in most arid and semi-arid regions such as Iran, in the coming decades. Therefore, considering the importance of food supply in the process of economic development, it is necessary to examine the welfare effects of the climate change phenomenon and to provide solutions to adapt it. Based on this, the present study was planned to evaluate the management strategy of reducing the waste of crops in order to deal with the consequences of climate change on the food security of farmer households in Hamedan-Bahar plain. The results indicated with the considering a middle approach in predicting climate changes, along with the increase in extraction of underground water sources by 25%, the increase in average price of crops by 39% and the decrease in production by 13% in the 20-year planning period of the research compared to the base year, the present value of net producer income would decrease by 22% and the undernourishment index would increase by 47% in the agricultural sector of the region. However, the adoption of management strategy to reducing the waste of agricultural products would result in the improvement of the food insecurity conditions of the plain up to the level of 25 percent.