Pathways leading women in farming households to food security: an empirical study in Central Tunisia

This paper examines the complex relations between farm, household and individual characteristics with the food insecurity of women living in the rural area of Sidi Bouzid, cradle of the 2010 Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia. According to the Individual Food Insecurity Index and based on a survey of 290 women living in farming households, more than 40% of women in the area reported experiencing some form of food insecurity. The results of econometric models have highlighted that an increase in farm production is essential but will not allow women to sufficiently reduce the food insecurity risks they face. Women’s individual factors, describing their labour and income, play a fundamental role in this process. Women working and earning an income from agriculture, on and off the family farm, were more often food insecure than other women. Generating non-agricultural income reduced their exposure to food insecurity. Moderate and severe insecurity risks were also reduced by household-level factors, such as access to off-farm income by family members other than women.