Challenges of the Food Security in the Gulf Cooperation Council
Countries: An Empirical Analysis of Fixed and Random effects
Abstract
This research aims to identify the challenges of the food security
indicators in the GCC countries for the period 2000-2020. The study
applies three alternatives to panel data analysis. The results find that
population is a significant driver of food security challenges in the
GCC countries. Moreover, food price inflation has a significant affect
the food availability and stability but show no significance on food
access and utilization. Fertilizer consumption has significant
challenges the food utilization. The results show that there is evidence
of significant differences in food security across the GCC countries.
The random-effects estimators of regression coefficients of food
availability and stability challenges are more statistically efficient
than those for pooled ordinary least square and fixed effects. While the
fixed effects estimators are most preferred for the coefficients of food
access and utilization challenges. The study recommends that
decision-makers embark on interferences that stimulate food security to
meet the continual increase in population also future research should be
applied on the other factors that challenged food security.