Development of a composite measure for mapping rural food and nutrition security: application and validation in the drought-prone Bundelkhand region of India

The present paper advances a multi-dimensional composite measure to map rural food and nutrition security (FNS). The proposed measure was applied to the rural areas of the thirteen drought-prone Bundelkhand districts of India for validation. We adopted a theory based holistic approach, used district level secondary data, and utlized the FAO framework to develop a composite index, the food and nutrition security index (FNSI) which comprises forty seven different indicators under relevant themes. The studied districts were thematically mapped using QGIS software, and ranked based on their index values. The analysis indicates to a distinct disparity as prevailing among the studied districts in terms of food availability, accessibility, utilization, and overall FNS. In light of the index, the findings further imply that the Bundelkhand districts Hamirpur, Sagar, and Mahoba require larger attention in terms of FNS interventions whereas, the districts Datia, Lalitpur, and Chitrakoot are perhaps in the safest position in comparison to the other districts in the region. The proposed method of FNS estimation can be readily adopted with several advantages for the rural areas across the country as a tool for prioritizing and targeting FNS interventions.