Role of HDI For the Effect of Urbanisation on Food Security

Food Insecurity is a global issue which is having many determinants in urbanisation. The present study investigates urbanisation in food insecurity through the human development index of developing Asian economies. In the present study, the data of selected Asian developing economies is collected from 1990 to 2016. The panel estimation technique, Generalised Method of Moments (GMM), is applied to analyse the relationship between urbanisation and food insecurity and other explanatory variables. Food insecurity is measured by food security indicators given by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). Average dietary energy supply adequacy (Availability), Prevalence of undernourishment (Access), access to improved water resources (Utilisation) and food imports over total merchandise exports(Stability) have been used as food security indicators. The results support the view that urbanisation holds both opportunities and challenges for a country's development level, which in turn affects food security. The results also claimed that Trade and Foreign Direct Investment have a mixed relationship with food insecurity indicators. The number of disasters increases while Good Governance decreases food insecurity, respectively.