Informations et ressources scientifiques
sur le développement des zones arides et semi-arides

Titre : Agrarian Transition and Food Security in the Village of Nahle, Northern Bekaa

Auteur : Yahfoufi, Fatima

Université de soutenance  : American University of Beirut

Grade : Master of Science (MS) to the Food Security Program 2023

Résumé partiel
My thesis addressed agrarian transition and livelihood diversification and how they contribute to remarkable changes in the survival of rural households in parts of the developing world, in Lebanon and particularly in the Lebanese village Nahle. It included these issues in the rural African countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, Nigeria and Ethiopia, in the Vietnamese rural area, and in the rural communities in Rwanda and Honduras. Literature reviews on livelihood diversification identified many reasons behind its prevalence amongst rural households in developing countries. Agrarian transition and its accompanying livelihood diversification can have various impacts on the agricultural sectors and food and nutrition security of most developing countries including Lebanon. In this regard, agricultural transformation and livelihood diversification can strengthen food and nutrition security and livelihood resilience to predicaments such as pandemics, wars and economic crises and be pro-poor. To test the validity of this hypothesis, a sample of 150 heads of households in the Lebanese village of Nahle was selected. The following survey tools were used based on a system of indicators for assessing food and nutrition security : 1) Livelihood Questionnaire, 2) Food Consumption Score (FCS), 3) Household Expenditure Module, and 4) Food Insecurity Experience Scale. Using Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) software, the results were statistically analyzed. The findings indicate that most of the permanent residents in Nahle shifted from full-agrarian to non-agrarian sources of livelihood between the 1960 period and the recent crises’ period which extends from September 2019 and June 2021. The village of Nahle witnessed a decline in the cultivation of wheat and barley used for the preparation of staple foods in the Lebanese diet. The study also found out that using both scales, the Lebanese scale and the global scale categories’ grouping of FIES raw scores, about 70 percent of the sample studied in Nahle experiences food insecurity. Thus, this decline negatively impacted the food security and the socio-economic status and well-being of Nahle villagers.

Présentation

Version intégrale (1,2 Mb)