Stability of Food Security in Iran; Challenges and Ways Forward: A Narrative Review

Abstract

Food security, which is considered to be a public health-related socioeconomic factor, ensures the health of society's people and plays a significant role in improving governance. This concept is closely related to the concept of stability of food. The stability of food means that there should be adequate, quality, and nutritious food for all human beings, in all places and at all times, and no factor should prevent this important issue. Stability in food production and supply is at the heart of food security and makes food systems resilient in times of crisis. The negative impact of climate change on agricultural production, intensified inflationary trends, high food prices, increasing food waste, increasing the need for food imports, and, more significantly, ongoing international sanctions make it difficult to access affordable food and pose challenges to Iran's food security. Moreover, the COVID-19 crisis has reduced the incomes of families and government by intensifying economic pressures on government incomes as well as rising unemployment, which has directly exacerbated food insecurity. The link between indicators of food stability and food security in Iran is the subject of this article. The key indicators selected are the percent of arable land equipped for irrigation, the cereal imports dependency ratio, the value of food imports over total merchandise exports, per capita food production variability, and, per capita food supply variability. Results show Iran is vulnerable to the arable land equipped for irrigation, food imports over total merchandise exports, and the cereal imports dependency ratio while being resilient per capita food production and food supply variability.