Abstract

Household food security has attained significance due to mounting food crisis.  Food, being one of the most basic needs for living, has become one of the most vital concerns for the world, as more and more people are living in poverty and hungry. The present study examines the dynamism of quality food availability, access and affordability by the rural households in two selected districts, that is, Bhandara and Chandrapur in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, India. Two blocks each from Bhandara (Sakoli and Pauni) and Chandrapur (Bhadravati and Warora) districts were selected randomly. Furthermore, two villages from each block were selected randomly. Twenty-five (25) respondents were selected randomly from each of the sampled eight villages. Thus, a total of 200 respondents from two districts constituted the sample for the study. The study revealed that household food security status of the rural households was found low (59%) followed by very low (20%) and medium (16.50%) status of household food security. The overall household food security status was found low among below poverty line (BPL) household as compared to above poverty line (APL) households.

Key words: Household food security, food availability, food accessibility.