Livestock Sector and Food Security Situation in Rural Punjab of Pakistan

Abstract

Livestock is an important component of the pastoral economy and performs a compassionate role in plummeting hunger and food insecurity. The past empirical literature has focused on the effect of the livestock sector on different aspects of food safety and food security. This study examines the contribution of the livestock sector to the nutritional security and welfare of rural households in Punjab province of Pakistan. Primary data were collected from 350 households using a simple random sampling technique. Nutritional security in nutrients (both, micro and macro) was premeditated on the basis of weekly food intake. In the second stage, binary logistic regression was employed to analyze the role of livestock in nutritional security. The results showed that around 35 percent of the sample households were found food insecure. It was found that the food security situation is greatly improved by the level of education and ownership of livestock. A one- unit increase in both parameters increases the probability of a household becoming food secure by 0.179 percent and 1.9 percent, respectively. Monthly income is also found as an important parameter in this regard. Furthermore, increasing family size and family structure play a negative role on food security.