Food and nutritional vulnerability of the households in Jalpaiguri District, India

We have estimated the food and nutritional security of sample households in Jalpaiguri district on the basis of primary level data. The primary data was collected through a household survey by using a multi-stage stratified random sampling method. The food security of the sample households has been estimated by using Household Dietary Diversity Index (HDDI) with the reference of 24 hours recall period and the Household Food Insecurity Access Index (HFIAI) with the reference of 30 days recall period. We have used poisson regression method for the measurement of the relationship between food security and select socioeconomic indicators, like average monthly income, caste, types of job, costs of education, expenses on addiction, family head type, income from livestock, loan taken from bank, distance of market from houses etc. We have used the Variance Inflation Factor for identifying the multicollinearity problem, which has been suitably taken care of, if necessary. The measure of the household dietary diversity index establishes that only 12.33 percent of the sample households are enjoying an excellently level of food security while the household food insecurity access index also signifies that the food security status of 18.33 percent households is excellent in the district. Further HDDS and HFIAS have been evaluated for sensitivity and specificity by Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) Curves using nutritional status as the benchmark. The area of the ROC curve of HFIAS is observed to be higher in compared to that of HDDS in the district.