Food Poverty

Food Deprivation

FAO Statistics Division used food and expenditure data from Cambodia Socio-Economic Survey 2004 to perform the analysis of prevalence of food deprivation in Cambodia.

The prevalence of food deprivation depends among others on three components. First, the amount of dietary energy contained in the food consumed; second, the inequality in access to food mediated mainly by income, and third, the minimum dietary energy requirement for a low acceptable weight to be healthy enough corresponding to a sedentary level of activity for different groups of age and sex. The weighted overall daily per person minimum dietary energy requirement (MDER) is used as the cut-off point of the distribution function of dietary energy consumption for estimating the prevalence of food deprivation. In case of Cambodia, the MDER was of 1687 Kcal/person/day corresponding to sex/age structure of the population at national level and of 1742 Kcal/person/day for urban population and 1677 kcal/person/day for rural population[1] (FAO, 2007).

According to FAO’s analysis, the prevalence of food deprivation showed that one person out of five persons in Cambodia was undernourished in 2004. At national level, the prevalence of food deprivation was estimated at 21 percent. It is observed from Figure 3.1 and 3.2 that the levels of food deprivation are not the same for sub-national groups of population. The high levels of food deprivation are observed among the groups of the lowest income quintile (64%), among household with more than 6 members (32%) and mainly from Phnom Penh (35%) or the region of Northern Tonle Sap (30%) and female-headed households (25%).

Figure 3.1: Prevalence of Food Deprivation by Income Quintile and Household Sizes

Source: FAO, 2007

Figure 3.2: Prevalence of Food Deprivation by Headed Household Sex and Regions

Source: FAO, 2007

Food Poverty

Food poverty, as measured by FAO, is less restrictive with a cut-off cost of a food basket corresponding to the average dietary energy requirement (ADER) that is the energy required to maintain a healthy life while performing a moderate level of physical activity (FAO, 2007). According to FAO, on average, it costs 1753 Riel for a Cambodian to acquire a food basket corresponding to the ADER of 2120 Kcal/person/day. Compared to the average daily income of 1944 Riel/person, this established the level of food poverty to 57 percent at national level. The levels of food poverty are observed to be higher with the households with more than 6 members (67%), rural areas (53%), Kampong Cham (68%), other Tonle Sap (58%) and Northern Tonle Sap (55%).

Figure 3.3: Percentage of Food Poverty by Urban/Rural and Household Sizes

Source: FAO, 2007

Figure 3.4: Percentage of Food Poverty by Headed Household Sex and Regions

Source: FAO, 2007

Critical Food Poverty

Critical Food poverty, as measured by FAO, corresponds to the proportion of the population whose income is lower than the cost of food basket corresponding to the minimum dietary energy requirement (FAO, 2007). According to FAO, on average, it costs 1395 Riel for a Cambodian to acquire a food basket corresponding to the MDER of 1687 Kcal/person/day. Compared to the average daily income of 1944 Riel/person, this established the level of critical food poverty to 44 percent at national level. The levels of food poverty are observed to be higher with the households with more than 6 members (53%), rural areas (39%), Kampong Cham (56%), other Tonle Sap (45%) and Northern Tonle Sap (42%).

Figure 3.5: Percentage of Critical Food Poverty by Urban/Rural and Household Sizes

Source: FAO, 2007

Figure 3.6: Percentage of Critical Food Poverty by Headed Household Sex and Regions

Source: FAO, 2007

Food Composite Table

FAO classified food items into 19 food groups. The Asian food composite table supplemented by the USDA were used to build the nutrient conversion table of the CSES 2004 food items (FAO, 2007).

Table 3.1: Energy Contribution of Each Nutrient by Food Commodity Group

Source : FAO/HH Survey