FOOD ACCESS

According to the VAM Conceptual Framework [1], food access is the ability of households to regularly acquire adequate amounts of food through a combination of their own stock and home production or collection, purchases, barter, gifts, borrowing or food aid.

Households’ access to food is linked to food production and managed access to natural resources (see the Food Availability - Natural Resources and Agriculture Section), but also to access to markets which are a primary or secondary source of food for Lao families. Therefore, food access in Laos is strongly linked to physical access as well as to purchasing power. The dimensions that need to be taken into account are households’ livelihood strategies, levels of poverty, physical access to market centres and food prices trends, and finally access to natural resources [2].

[1] VAM Standard Analytical Framework: Role and Objectives of VAM Activities to Support WFP Food-Oriented Interventions, June 2002

[2] Lao PDR: Comprehensive Food Security and Vulnerability Analysis (CFSVA), December 2007, WFP Lao PDR, Vulnerability Analysis and Mapping Branch