ZULKIFLI KHAIR, PhD, MMIM

FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES

UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MALAYSIA
SEKUDAI JOHOR (MAIN CAMPUS)
 FOOD INSECURITY

 USDA: “Consistent access to

adequate food is limited by a
lack of money and other
resources at times during the
year.”
 “Struggling to avoid hunger,”
“hungry, or at risk of hunger,”
and “hungry, or faced by the
threat of hunger.”

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 KEYWORDS
 Food insecurity (FI), food insecure,
food security, food acquisition, food
insufficiency, nutrition insecurity, poor
nutrition and malnutrition.
 Higher education institutes (HEI),
university, college, campus, post-
secondary education, and tertiary
education.

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Within last decade, study on food
insecurity in higher education
context has been significantly
increased, through academic
journals and theses.
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Food Insecurity Phenomenon

‘PEACE’ &
‘WEALTH’
ECONOMIC
CRISIS

WAR &
DISASTER

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 • Level: Local, comparative
CONCEPTUAL • Method: USDA…
FRAMEWORK
• Issues; with/without scholarship,
LEVE with/without parent, race,
L household income…

• Food Bank
•
FI
Pantry
INTERVENTIO FACTOR • Low
• Hamper NS
S Income
• Issues; social
• National
stigma, lack
Economy
info…
• Farm-to-
university
programs • Health
IMPACT • Academic
• Personality

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 FI LEVEL
 United States Department of
Agriculture (USDA) Adult Food
Security Survey.
 Almost higher than national rate, even
double in USA (Bentley, 2017) and
Australia (Mansour, 2014).

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 COUNTRY FI RATE (%) REMARK
USA 15-59 Including in Hawai’I;
10 literatures
Canada 30-46 4 literatures
Australia 12.7-60.8 4 literatures
Greece 45 A literature
South Africa 34.7-60 2 literatures
Malaysia 67.1 A literature
Sri Lanka 73.1 A literature

Literature is between 2009 and 2017

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 FI LEVEL (2)
 Foodinsecurity among higher
education institute students is
happened:
› In developed and developing countries.
› In high and low Global Food Security
Index.
› In big cities (including in New York) and
small cities.

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 RELATED ISSUES
& VARIABLES
 FI rate: Living without parent > living with
parent.
 FI rate: Living with single parent > living
with not single parent.
 Others: With/without scholarship,
with/without parent, start/end of
semester, race, and household income.

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 CONCEPTUAL
FRAMEWORK
 Wolfe et al. (1996): Focus among
older adults.
 Habicht et al. (2004): Associated with
nutrition and wider context.
 Layder (1998): Adaptive theory –
human being as unique creature in
adaption.

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 CONCEPTUAL
FRAMEWORK (2)
 Alaimo et al. (2001)  Alaimo (2005):
Food insecurity risk factors, experiences
associated with food insecurity, coping
mechanisms, and potential
consequences, as influenced by several
factors; poverty and financial hardship,
unemployment, and poor cooking skills.

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Food insecurity
determinants and
consequences by
Alaimo (2005)

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 FI FACTORS
 Low income: Danielle Gallegos, Rebecca
Ramsey and Kai Wen Ong (2014),
Roger Hughes, Irene Serebryanikova,
Katherine Donaldson and Michael
Leveritt (2011) etc.
 Living away from home and being an
ethnic minority.

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Tiffany as quoted by Crutchfield and
Maguire (2018):
“It’s been difficult. Well, ‘cause in the
beginning when I first got here I didn’t
really have a lot of money and I didn’t
have any grants. So basically what I
used to eat 3 days out of the week was
like Minute Maid and chips and that’d
be it…I had maybe a dollar and then I
had to make it like, stretch out of like, 2
days and then 3rd day…I wouldn’t eat
anything cause I didn’t have any
money.” 15
 IMPACT
 Studies show that food insecurity has an
impact to academic achievement, as
indicate by failure in subject (Dodo, 2018),
low grade or GPA (Dudley, 2017; Dodo,
2018), low class participation and extra-
curricular activities (Silverthorn, 2016), not
buying a required textbook, missing a class
and dropping a class (Dubick et al., 2016),
and unable to concentrate in class or
during an exam (Farahbakhsh et al., 2017).
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DIRECT & INDIRECT IMPACT
TOWARD ACADEMIC
PERFORMANCE

FI Demotivated to study

Less time in sleep

FI Part-time job
and study

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 IMPACT (2)
 Physical health (including obesity)
and mental health.
 Personality issue: Higher conflict with
a partner and lower self-esteem.

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 ACADEMIC &
PERSONALITY
PERFORMANCE

NATIONAL HR
& TALENT
DEVELOPMENT

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 INTERVENTIONS
Food Bank.
Pantry.
Hamper.
Issues: Social stigma and
lack info.
Farm-to-university
programs.

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 CONCLUSION
 Food insecurity is a global issue
around the world, having negative
impact toward health, academic
performance and personality.
 Should have greater awareness
among academicians and
administrators.
 Working together with stakeholders.

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 Research collaborators (USA)
 Kresge Foundation
 Barnes & Noble Education
 Guardian Life Insurance Company of America
 MOHELA
 College and University Food Bank Alliance
 National Student Campaign against Hunger and
Homelessness
 Student Government Resource Center
 Student Public Interest Research Groups in
USA.

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 CONCLUSION (2)
 Nutrition insecurity study.
 Various research methodology.
 For Muslim researchers, this is a
challenge to promote Islamic solution
in food insecurity intervention:
› Infaq and zakat system.
› Food waste management practice.

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 NOT ALL OF US CAN DO
GREAT THINGS. BUT WE CAN
DO SMALL THINGS WITH
GREAT LOVE.

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 THANK YOU

Zulkifli Khair (zuhaka@gmail.com)

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