Global Food Security 26 (2020) 100370

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Global Food Security

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/gfs

Mapping the food security studies in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh: Review T
of research priorities and gaps
Muhammad Umar Farrukha,∗, Muhammad Khalid Bashira, Sarfraz Hassana, Sultan Ali Adila,
Marit E. Kragtb
a
Institute of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan
b
UWA School of Agriculture and Environment, Agricultural and Resource Economics (M087), University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, 6009, Australia

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Food security can be achieved by taking concurrent actions performed at macro (national) and micro (household
Food availability and individual) levels. The usefulness of food security studies for situation analysis and policy making is directly
Food accessibility dependent on what dimensions of food security are assessed. This study conducts a systematic mapping of the
Food affordability levels at which food security studies are conducted, methodologies used, and dimension of food security con-
Food security
sidered in the academic literature on Pakistan, Bangladesh, and India, and identifies research priorities and gaps.
Food utilization
The definition of food security has evolved from its traditional focus on food availability and access, to more
Food stability
South Asia inclusive measures of food security such as nutritional value and stability. Most studies focus on estimating food
Systematic review security at individual, household or national level but not combined. South Asian food security challenges de-
mand an integrated approach to bridge the gap between domains and scale of analyses. In addition to national
level food security research, policy makers and scholars need to pay equal attention to household and in-
dividual's food security. Against this background, we call for more inclusive and targeted research on the various
dimensions of food security. To make progress, scholars should collaborate across disciplines and leverage the
utility of multidimensional research design to study the various food security dimensions identified in this
systematic mapping and possible interactions between them. This approach can be starting point to provide
useful insights about food security dynamics for the reflection of vulnerability in methodological implications
and policy decisions.

1. Introduction
South Asia constitutes almost one third of the world's population of
which a large proportion is estimated to be poor and malnourished
(Kohli et al., 2017; Kumar et al., 2018). The cataclysm of food in-
security and undernourishment is constantly high in this region despite
food insecurity decreasing at a global scale. Every third South Asian is
estimated to be malnourished (FAO, 2018) and almost 35 percent of
children under five years (61 million) suffer from stuntedness; the
highest number of stunted children in the world (WHO, 2017). High
population growth rates contribute to an increasing number of mal-
nourished. Achieving food security is thus an issue of great importance
for South Asia.
This study conducts a systematic mapping exercise of studies fo-
cusing on food security in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and India. These
countries are home to one fourth of the world's population (1.73 billion
in 2018; World Bank, 2020) and 40% of the world poor in 2019 (Robles
and Sumner, 2020). Bangladesh has the highest headcount poverty
ratio (44%), followed by India (27%), and Pakistan (22%). Almost 36%
of the global undernourished reside in these three countries (Ahmed
et al., 2013). Moreover, these countries suffer from scarcity of re-
sources, are lower-to middle-income economies, and share a colonial
past. They lag behind in social indicators although they have shown fast
growth in macroeconomic indicators in recent past (FAO, 2016). At-
taining food security is a critical challenge to reap population-wide
benefits of this fast-macroeconomic growth (GOP, 2018; Malapit et al.,
2015). There has been much work in South Asia to support efforts to
achieve food security. To help the policy development in this area,
studies are needed to address the multidimensional food security issues.
In this study, we bring together the large body of research on food
security in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and India through a systematic map-
ping process.
A situation of food security occurs when “all the people, at all the
times, have physical availability and economic access to adequate, safe and

∗
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: umarfarrukh@outlook.com (M.U. Farrukh).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gfs.2020.100370
Received 22 February 2019; Received in revised form 27 January 2020; Accepted 3 April 2020
Available online 20 July 2020
2211-9124/ © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
M.U. Farrukh, et al.
healthy food to fulfil their food preferences and dietary needs for an active
and healthy life” (FAO, 1996). This FAO definition involves four key
dimensions of food security analysis: food availability, food access, food
utilization, and food stability (Schleifera and Sun, 2020; Gross et al.,
2000). The first dimension of ‘food availability’ refers to the physical
quantities of food of appropriate quality that are supplied and dis-
tributed through domestic production or imports (FAO, 2006). The
mere presence of an adequate supply does not ensure that a person can
obtain and consume food. A person must also have access to the food
(FAO, 2008). ‘Food accessibility’ is a measure of the ability to secure
food, which depends on household and individual's purchasing power
and the evolution of food prices and real incomes (Schmidhuber and
Tubiello, 2007) as well as on legal, political, and social resources. ‘Food
utilization’ is the third dimension and relates to whether or not in-
dividuals or households are able to secure sufficient energy and nutri-
tion from the food consumed (FAO, 2018). The last dimension is ‘food
stability’, which depicts the situation in which a country, individual, or
household is food secure at all the times (FAO, 2006; Gross et al., 2000).
In this article, we review the available studies, analyse the ways in
which food security has been measured, and identify research gaps and
priorities. Through a systematic mapping process, will explore the fol-
lowings research questions: (1) What dimensions of food security are
primarily considered at macro (national) and micro (household and
individual) level, and how are these dimensions operationalised?; (2)
What type of analyses are used in food security research in Pakistan,
Bangladesh, and India (e.g. simulation models, statistical models, de-
scriptive analysis)?; and (3) Are there any differences between coun-
tries in terms of the questions addressed, the dimensions of food se-
curity studied, the research gaps, and main emphasis of existing
studies? Our research examines the usefulness of various food security
dimensions for policy making, and suggests possible modifications to
food security research priorities related to the South Asia.
2. Method
This study performs a systematic mapping of food security related
research in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and India. Systematic mapping has
been used in medical research (Kitchenham et al., 2010) but is not
widely applied in the food security literature. Systematic mapping, like
systematic review, uses a transparent protocol to document each step of
the research process. A systematic mapping review is a secondary em-
pirical study that provides an overview of a research area to identify
which topics are well-studied and which need additional study
(Felderer and Carver, 2018; Fernández-Sotos et al., 2019). The differ-
ence between systematic mapping and systematic reviews is that the
latter focuses on gathering and synthesising evidence, while systematic
mapping studies are used to structure a research field and identifying
linkages rather than results (Petersen et al., 2015). Our review process
drew heavily on PRISMA guidelines for systematic reviews (Moher
et al., 2009) and the reporting standards for systematic evidence
syntheses in environmental research (ROSES; Haddaway et al., 2018).
The stages of our systematic mapping exercise are presented in Fig. 1,
and further explained below.
2.1. Information sources and search strategy
An electronic search was conducted by two authors (UF & SH) be-
tween 20 and 25 November 2018 from three different databases:
Science Direct, JSTOR, and Google Scholar. These three were selected
as they are three of the largest multidisciplinary academic databases
covering scholarly literature (including peer-reviewed papers, theses,
books, preprints, abstracts and technical reports) in the arts and hu-
manities, social sciences, medicine, science, technology, and mathe-
matics. The computerized search was restricted to publications from
January 2000 to November 2018. This period was chosen to focus
specifically on the food security challenges that have arisen during the
2
Global Food Security 26 (2020) 100370
current age of increased regional cooperation and global integration.
All databases were searched following the same search strategy for
keywords in the abstract, paper title, or full text of the publication.
Keywords used were: “food security”, or “food insecurity”, or “national
food security”, or “household food security”, or “individual food se-
curity”, AND “Pakistan”, or “Bangladesh” or “India”. This search in-
itially yielded 581 articles which were uploaded into Mendeley refer-
encing software.
2.2. Screening
Our review was focused on studies that measured food security at
national, household or individual level for three selected South Asian
countries: Pakistan, Bangladesh, or India. The abstracts of the 581
sources found in the internet search were screened independently by
three reviewers (UF, SK & SH) in Step-1 of our systematic mapping
process (Fig. 1). To be included, studies had to (1) have a focus on at
least one of the selected countries; (2) be related to research title of this
study and, (3) be written in English. Studies were classified into either
national level assessments, or household/individual level studies.
2.3. Eligibility criteria
Of the 581 articles initially identified, 281 articles duplicates were
removed from the initial record during Step 1. In Step 2, the remaining
300 studies were reviewed based on the following eligibility criteria:
• Published between January 2000 and November 2018
• Directly address at least one or more research questions of this study
• Clearly focus on at least one of the food security dimensions
(availability access, utilization, stability)
• Describe the indicators and empirical approach/method used to
estimate food security dimension
• If published in more than one journal, the latest version of the paper
is considered
We reviewed 300 studies, of which 184 studies were excluded be-
cause they did not address at least one or more research questions, 28
studies were discarded because they were review papers or book
chapters rather than original studies, and 13 studies were excluded due
to irretrievability of full text article. The remaining 75 research studies
were reviewed in detail in Step 3 (see Table 1A).
2.4. Data exaction for systematic mapping
Before data extraction on the 75 included studies in Step 3, the
quality of each study was independently evaluated by two authors (UF
& SH), following a standard method based on Hawker et al. (2002). The
quality index criteria used to score the methodological rigor of the 75
studies are given in Appendix Table 1A. We assigned a quality mean
score between 1 (poor), 2 (good), 3 (very good) and 4 (excellent) to
each category. The mean quality score across all categories was used to
assess the overall quality of each study. Any article with a quality score
of less than two was excluded from further analysis. Of the 75 studies,
29 with a quality index less than two were rejected after this quality
evaluation (see Fig. 1). Finally, 46 studies were used for the symmetric
mapping exercise.
To facility the systematic mapping, we created an Excel spreadsheet
to classify the final 46 studies by disciplinary fields, the study design
and location, sample type and size, research questions addressed and
methods used, results and conclusions. From the Excel spreadsheet, the
frequencies of publication in each disciplinary field can be estimated
(Fig. 2). Food security research has largely been published in social
science journals (78.4%). Only 12.6% of studies have been published in
health and medical science journals. Surprisingly, only a limited
number of papers was published in economics and management
M.U. Farrukh, et al.
Fig. 1. Flowchart representing our systematic mapping process (based on ROSES guidelines).
journals (3.4%) and other domains (5.6%). The high number of pub-
lications in social sciences journals indicates that research may have
largely focused on food availability and access while medical and
health-related research on food utilization, safety, and stability are
more sparse.
3. Results
The review process yielded 46 studies for final synthesis. Section 3.1
reports the results on national level food security studies, followed by
household and individual level studies in Section 3.2.
3.1. National-level food security
A total of 22 studies report findings about food security at a national
3
Global Food Security 26 (2020) 100370
level, of which eleven focussed on India, six on Pakistan, and five on
Bangladesh (Table 1). Out of 22 studies, 16 (73%) were designed to
estimate the food availability dimension, i.e. short and long term ag-
gregate demand and supply analysis through country food balance
sheets or agricultural production portfolios. It is important to observe
that most studies focused on the physical availability of food, which
does not necessarily represent adequate nutrition availability. Three
studies (13%) investigated food security through the dimension of food
accessibility. The food access dimension has mostly been examined
using proxies such as per capita GDP, monthly income, family size, and
income-calories elasticity. Two studies (9%) specifically focused on
food stability by examining how sustainable agriculture and potential
climatic threats influence food security. One study (5%) focused on
food utilization at a national level (Mahadevan and Suardi, 2013).
Reviewing the main findings of these 22 studies, most find a positive
M.U. Farrukh, et al.
Fig. 2. Mapping of selected studies (n = 46). Source: First author's own calculations.
effect of food availability on a country's welfare - with eight of them
making a direct link to achieve national food security (Khanal and
Mishra, 2017; Ben and Huchet-Bourdon, 2016; Abid et al., 2016;
Zulfiqar and Hussain, 2014; Headey and Hoddinott, 2016; Singh, 2008;
Bouis, H. E., 2000; Hossain and Singh, 2000). Literature on food access
(Headey et al., 2014; Singh et al., 2013; Panda, 2009) suggests that
limited food availability increases food inflation and could conse-
quently worsen food security in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and India be-
cause local populations have limited income and purchasing power.
With the bulk of studies at national level focusing on the food avail-
ability and access dimensions, there is insufficient empirical evidence to
understand how chronic problems such as food insecurity and poverty
are related to issues around food utilization and stability.
Most studies observed the link between agricultural growth or
productivity to increase food availability. Only three studies explored
other pathways such as international trade or structural changes
(Panda, 2008, 2009; Dorosh, 2001). Eight studies used descriptive
statistics (such as observed discrepancies between food demand and
supply, or country food balance sheets) to depict national food security.
Although most existing studies were time series, a few panel studies
(Ben and Huchet-Bourdon, 2016; Panda, 2009) assessed the relation-
ship between agricultural growth and food security. The main short-
coming of such panel data is that it provides a static picture of the
interrelationship between food security and other variables, but cannot
analyse causal influence between policy or other changes and food se-
curity indicators over time.
3.2. Household- and individual-level food security
A total of 24 studies report on household and/or individual level
food security in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and India (Table 2). Most of
these articles used cross-sectional data (n = 21), with a few panel or
mixed cross-sectional and time series data (n = 3). Empirical articles
frequently used household survey data such as household integrated
economic survey data (n = 14) or primary data (n = 10). The studies
based on primary data generally had limited scale and may not be
generalizable to the wider population. Thirteen studies reported find-
ings for both urban and rural areas, while nine papers reported for rural
population. Only two papers reported for solely the urban population.
Some studies examined household food availability by assessing the
caloric availability with the help of 7-day or 30-day recall diaries, per
capita caloric availability, carbohydrate, protein and energy avail-
ability, or number of meals per day or per week (e.g. Humphries et al.,
2017; Fledderjohann et al.,. 2016; Bashir and Schilizzi, 2012c; Bashir
et al., 2012a; Bashir et al., 2012b). These studies were mainly focused
4
Global Food Security 26 (2020) 100370
on short run food availability dynamics within and between household
and mostly these measurements depend on data collected from house-
hold surveys. Food utilization and nutritional value was also measured,
for example through the quality of food intake, dietary diversity, or
intra-household food distribution (Fledderjohann et al., 2016; Saha
et al., 2015; Fiedler et al., 2012; Fiedler, J. L., 2017).
Twelve studies (50%) examined food utilization by including var-
ious anthropometric factors as proxy indicators for assessing household
food security. Commonly used indicators included, for example, per
capita caloric intake, BMI (body mass index), household health ex-
penditure and sanitation systems, which were shown to be positive
correlated to household and individual food security. One set of argu-
ments claims that poor-quality diet is the main cause of under-nutrition
in Bangladesh (Sraboni et al., 2014). Ten studies (42%) measured food
availability at household/individual level by including per capita ca-
loric availability, carbohydrate, protein and energy intake, dietary di-
versity, or the number of meals per day or per week (Bashir et al.,
2012b; Bashir and Schilizzi, 2012c; Fledderjohann et al., 2016; Ali and
Erenstein, 2017a; Masood et al., 2016; Masood et al., 2016, 2016;
Bashir and Schilizzi, 2012c; Bose and Dey, 2007; Minuzzaman and Less,
2005). Only three studies (8%) measured the role of food accessibility
in achieving household food security. Household food access was
measured indirectly with help of proxy indicators as access to adequate
resources i.e. education, health care, or clean water (Humphries et al.,
2017; Faridi and Wadood, 2016; Ali and Khan., 2013). Most existing
studies use regression approaches to study the relationship between
household food security and selected indicators. Like national level
studies, these empirical analyses mostly provide a static picture.
Household and individuals’ food security analyses require a more dy-
namic approach to enrich a deeper understanding of factors that cause
the food insecurity.
4. Research priorities and gaps
Fig. 3 summarises what dimensions of food security are considered
in studies at the national, household, and individual level in Pakistan,
Bangladesh, and India. We identified research priorities and gaps by
green (representing “mostly studied”), yellow (“partially studied”) or
red (“mostly neglected”), which serves to demonstrate which dimen-
sions of food security, and at which level (national, household, or in-
dividual) there is a shortage of publications.
We identified that, although large number of studies have examined
food availability at a national level, there was only limited focus on
assessing the food availability dimension at household-individual level.
The focus on national level stems partly from the type of indicators used
 M.U. Farrukh, et al.
Table 1
Tabulated review of national level food security studies.
Reference Designa Time horizon / Sample Size Dimension FS Empirical modelb Findingsc Quality indexd

Pakistan
Abbas et al. (2007) III 2002-2005/ 90 farmers Availability TA Food security largely depends on wheat production 3.01
Abid et al. (2016) I 2008-2014/n = 450 Availability RA Adaptation strategies to CC have positive impact on FS 2.19
Bandara, and Cai (2014) II 2000-2014 Availability TA CC is more likely to have negative impact on food prices and production 3.07
Kirby et al. (2016) II 1960-2010 Availability TA Food yield is declining due to inefficient water use 2.24
Mushtaq et al. (2011) II 1990-2010 Availability CA Real money and trade openness have positive impact on FS 2.40
Zulfiqar and Hussain (2014) II 1951-2012 Availability ARIMA Food demand will increase by 31% in 2025 compared to 2013 2.55
Bangladesh
Ahmed et al., (2012) II 1990-2010 Availability CA Food distributions programs have significant impact on FS 2.50
Bouis, H. E. (2000) II 1980-1998 Availability RA Agriculture plays a key role for FS 2.30
Dorosh (2001) II 1980-1998 Availability TA Trade openness has great potential to improve FS 2.01
Headey and Hoddinott (2016) II 1996-2011 Availability RA Bangladesh has highest numbers of malnutrition among children 3.20
Headey et al.,.(2014) II 1997-2001 Accessibility RA Income generating opportunities are key drivers for FS 2.31
5

India
Ben and Huchet-Bourdon (2016) II 1995-2009 Availability RA Foreign capital inflow has positive impact on FS 2.90
Belton and Thilsted (2014) II 1980-2010 Availability FA Systematic transformation of seafood sector has significant impact on FS 2.40
Hossain and Singh (2000) II 1960-1998 Availability TA Positive relationship exists between Agri input application and FS 2.30
Khanal and Mishra (2017) II 2008-2012 Availability FA Climatic risk has negative impact on risky food crops 3.28
Kumar and Sharma (2013) II 1980-2009 Availability RA Climate variability has negative impact on FS 2.01
Mahadevan and Suardi (2013) II 1998-2006 Utilization RA Caste and religion contributed a lot to FS 3.10
Panda (2009) II 1960-2007 Accessibility CGE Trade openness improves food access 3.80
Panda (2008) II 1980-2005/ 1990-2007 Stability CGE Trade liberalization 3.68
Singh et al. (2013) II 1980-2012 Accessibility TA Water management has positive impact on FS 2.40
Singh (2008) II 1980-2007 Availability CA Limited availability has adverse effects on child nutrition 2.02
Singh (2017) II 2000-2016 Availability RA Agricultural growth rate plays a key role for sustainable FS 2.10

a
I = Qualitative research design, II = Quantitative research design, III = Mixed.
b
RA = Regression Analysis, TA = Trend Analysis, ARIMA = Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average models, FA= Factor analysis CA= Co-Integration analysis, CGE= Computable general equilibrium modelling.
c
CC= Climate change, FS= Food security.
d
Quality Index: Peer review paper quality assessment index is calculated using the criteria given in Appendix 1A.

Global Food Security 26 (2020) 100370

 M.U. Farrukh, et al.
Table 2
Tabulated review of household- and individual-level food security studies.
Reference Study Designa Data / Sample Size Population Dimension of FS Empirical Methodb Findingsc Quality Indexd

Pakistan

Ali et al. (2015) I 108 Urban Utilization FA 20% of street kids were stunted and 12% had malnutrition 3.25
Ali and Erenstein. (2017) I 950 Rural Availability RA Farmers adopting more adaptation practices had 8–13% higher food security 3.50
levels
Ali and Khan. (2013) I 234 Rural Accessibility RA Role of livestock is important 2.12
Bashir et al. (2012a) I 1,152 Rural Availability & Utilization RA 31% of households were food insecure 3.10
Bashir et al.,.(2012b) I 576 Rural Availability FA 19% of total population was food insecure 2.90
Bashir et al. (2012c) I 576 Rural Availability FA 27% of selected population was food insecure 3.01
Cesare et al. (2013) II 24,886 Rural + Urban Utilization FA Stunting prevalence and being underweight adversely effects FS 3.21
Choudhary and Parthasarathy (2007) I 100 Rural Access FA Predominance of unpaid work that adversely effects FS 2.50
Masood et al. (2016) II 89,329 Rural + Urban Availability RA High vulnerability (risk) to food-insecure household 3.12
Mahmood et al. (2014) I 410 Rural + Urban Availability RA Literacy rate has a positive relationship with FS 3.14
Bangladesh
Ahmed (2002) I 600 Rural Utilization TA Considerable scope for improving targeting poor households 2.40
6

Bose and Dey (2007) II 7,440 Rural + Urban Availability & Utilization FA Food poverty is still remaining high 2.10
Faridi and Wadood (2016) II 2058 Rural + Urban Accessibility RA Daily wage earners, are worse off in terms of FS 2.14
Hossain and Shahabuddin (2005) I 250 Rural Availability FA 21% of rural population are food insecure 2.60
Minuzzaman and Less (2005) II 2,160 Urban Availability ANOVA Home gardening improves water efficiency and FS 2.05
Rah et al. (2010) II 276 Rural + Urban Utilization FA One-half of the children were stunted 2.15
Saha et al. (2015) I 1,343 Rural Utilization RA Household FS is a determinant of child growth 2.30
Shahabuddin et al. (2008.) I 1,023 Rural + Urban Utilization RA One-third of population is food insecure 2.60
Sraboni et al. (2014) III 5,503 Rural + Urban Utilization RA Water efficiency positive associated with calorie availability 2.44
India
Fiedler (2017) I 450 Rural + Urban Availability RA Collecting data on meals can help to reduce food insecure 2.32
Fiedler et al. (2012) II 7,000 Rural + Urban Utilization RA 31% of population is food insecure 2.01
Fledderjohann et al. (2016) III 20,764 Rural + Urban Utilization FA 46% of breastfeeding women are nutritional insecure 2.65
Humphries et al. (2017) II 6,993 Rural + Urban Accessibility RA Dietary diversity was inversely associated with BMI-Z 2.40
Rahman (2016) II 2,973 Rural + Urban Availability RA Households consuming below the recommended dietary 2.10

a
I= Primary data research, II= Secondary data research, III = Mixed.
b
RA = Regression analysis, FA= Factor analysis, TA = Trend Analysis, ANOVA = Analysis of Variance.
c
CC= Climate change, FS= Food security.

Global Food Security 26 (2020) 100370

d
Quality Index: Peer review paper quality assessment index is calculated using the criteria given in Appendix 1A.
M.U. Farrukh, et al.
Fig. 3. Critical analysis of the indicators based on systematic mapping.
(e.g. agricultural prices and food subsidies), which are better suited to
high-level analyses. To improve food availability research at household
or individual level, smaller scale indicators such as the productivity of
individual farm households could be used.
Similarly, the food access dimension was largely investigated at
national or household level with the help of single dimensional in-
dicators such as food inflation or CPI. We found that several potentially
important indicators such as gender, caste, and religion were often
overlooked in the current analyses, but would be significant factors for
estimating individual or household food access within South Asia
(Lentz, 2018; Mahadevan and Suardi, 2013. The food utilization di-
mension is a gold standard measurement tool to observe nutritional
status at national, household and individual level (Walls et al., 2016),
and is strongly correlated to chronic diseases, morbidity, cognitive
development and mortality outcome. Nevertheless, our systematic
mapping revealed that many studies using a food utilization dimension
ignored the essential factor/information of macronutrients and micro-
nutrients. The food stability dimension has also been under-studied at
all levels. Studies on food stability don't typically specify how food
stability affects other food security dimensions, i.e. availability, access,
utilization at national, household, and individual level. In sum, while
research on food availability and access and their impacts on food
7
Global Food Security 26 (2020) 100370
security has made important progress, limited evidence exists on the
dimensions of utilization and stability in the South Asian context.
Against this background, we call for more inclusive and targeted re-
search on these important dimensions. Fertile avenues for future re-
search would incorporate the multiple dimensions and levels of food
security, as well as the effects on short- and long-term stability of food
systems (Ericksen, 2008).
5. Discussion and conclusion
This study provides a systematic map of the large body of research
on food security in South Asia. The main aim was to offer an overview
of food security research, identify the research gaps and suggests pos-
sible areas for further research. We applied a transparent, qualitative
research method known as systematic mapping to study how definitions
of food security have evolved at national, household and individual
level. Systematic maps aim to be as transparent as possible by doc-
umenting all activities during the conduct of the review (Haddaway and
Macura, 2018). As no specific strategies exist for systematic mapping in
our area of interest, we followed guidelines for systematic reporting in
the field of medicine (PRISMA: Moher et al., 2009) and environmental
synthesis (ROSES; Haddaway et al., 2018). We carefully constructed
M.U. Farrukh, et al.
our searching strategy, reported all our screening and eligibility cri-
teria, and most stages were conducted by multiple authors. Never-
theless, some limitations may have arisen over the course of our re-
search. For example, while we conducted a comprehensive search of
multiple bibliographic databases, our study was limited to the applied
search terms, data bases and time period. It is therefore possible that we
did not pick up all existing studies on food security in Pakistan, Ban-
gladesh, and India. We focussed our selected studies on work published
in English. This means that we will have missed studies that have only
been reported in non-English languages. Given our geographical focus
on South Asia, it is likely that additional work on food security exists in
non-English grey literature such as NGO reports or government data-
bases. Finally, our final quality evaluation stage was inherently sub-
jective.
Despite these limitations, our systematic map provides a snapshot of
the current status of food security research in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and
India. Results show that the definition of food security has evolved from
the traditionally measuring of availability and access to more inclusive
measures of food security such as nutritional value and utilization.
Nevertheless, existing food security challenges demand a more in-
tegrated approach to bridge the gap across domains and scales of
analyses. Sustainable food security can only be achieved by taking
concurrent actions at macro (national) and micro (household and in-
dividual) levels. The usefulness of food security studies for situational
Appendex
Table 1A
Quality Evolution or Scoring the Methodological Rigor used by Hawker et al. (2002).
1. Quality Score 1-Poor 2-Good
2. Abstract and title
3. Introduction and aims
4. Sampling and Method
5. Data analysis Method
6. Ethics and bias
7. Findings/results
8. Implications and usefulness
Mean Value of Quality Index
Comments: Mean value is less then 2 = Paper is Rejected.
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8
Global Food Security 26 (2020) 100370
analysis and policy making is directly dependent on what dimensions of
food security analysis are being assessed. The reliability of food security
evidence can be increased by using dynamic or more robust methods to
measure how food security changes over time. While some studies have
assessed more than one dimension of food security, very few combine
multiple food security dimension at different levels (national, house-
hold, and individuals). Against this background, we call for more
comprehensive and targeted research on these important dimensions.
To make progress on this problem, scholars should collaborate across
multidisciplinary boundaries and leverage the utility of multi-
dimensional research design to study the various dimensions of food
security and possible interactions between them. Notably, our study
reveals the scarcity of data on the utilization and stability dimensions,
and how these effect long term food security outcomes. As policymakers
and researchers become aware of these complex relationships, more can
be done to understand the opportunities and risks for national, house-
hold, and individual food security and sustainable development.
Acknowledgements
Marit Kragt was supported by an Australian Research Council
Discover Early Career Award (Grant DE160101306) while writing this
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