The Impact of Subsidy Policy Change on Food Poverty in Rural community in Fars Province of Iran, 2008-2014

In Iran, the subsidy policy, in December 2010, changed from a public approach to a targeted approach. Obviously, this policy change affects the food poverty status in the rural community. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effect of this policy change on the food poverty in rural community of Fars province in Iran. For this purpose, the food pyramid was used as a balanced food program guide; and the food poverty indices in the framework of the multidimensional poverty approach were used to calculate the food poverty rate and the food poverty gap indexes. The required data were extracted from the Household Expenditure Survey (HES) for rural households of Fars province, covering 2008, 2010, 2011, and 2014. The results indicated that subsidy policies (irrespective of their types) were effective tools in reducing the rate and depth of rural food poverty as far as the food items were considered; in addition, the change in subsidy policy led to an increase in the rate and depth of food poverty of the fats group by 10.98 and 23.02 percent, respectively and an increase in the rate and depth of the sugars group by 10.10 and 29.31 percent, respectively as well as a decrease in the rate and depth of food poverty in cereals group by 31.03 and 38.17 percent, respectively. Accordingly, in order to enhance the effectiveness of the targeted subsidy policies to tackle the food poverty, focusing on the complementary policies such as compensatory measures and increasing the nutritional literacy of households are recommended.