| Sumario: | Despite recent attention, the concept of food agency has been largely overlooked in academics as a food security dimension.
In this study, we define lack of food agency as the inability to make food choices and the consumption of non-preferred and
undesirable foods, and examine its relation to other food insecurity domains and household characteristics. Our analysis
is based on data collected from 486 households in the impoverished regions of northern Burundi. Specifically, we use the
responses to two questions of the Household Food Insecurity Access Score scale that examine the consumption behavior of
non-preferred and undesirable foods. The results highlight a worrying lack of food agency in this area of research, as more
than 80% of households admitted to consuming such foods. Our study also shows that only households with additional off
farm income are able to avoid non-preferred foods. This study serves to highlight the critical issue of food agency, particularly
among low-income consumers in the Global South, and underscores the widespread nature of this problem.
|
|---|