World Food Policy Volume/Issue 2-2/3-1 Fall 2015/Spring 2016 | Page 14

Food Security in Rural Cambodia and Fishing in the Mekong in the Light of Declining Fish Stocks

Figure 2: Comparison of Nutrition Indicators in the past week between whole sample, fishers and non-fishers in Stung Treng, Cambodia. Two-sided t tests were used
for different variable means between fishers and non-fishers, pooled sample 2013 and
2014. Significance Levels: *p<0.1, **p<0.05, ***p<0.01. Depicted data points are standardized around their mean. Kilocalories and Proteins are calculated as per capita in
adult equivalents
differences. Looking at the different
components of the FCS in the whole
sample gives an idea about the relative
importance of different foods. According
to the average FCS across all households,
staples are eaten daily in nearly every
household. This is complemented by
animal proteins on ~5.5 days in the week5
in the average household. Out of these,
fish is eaten on ~4 days as can be seen
from the FCSs from total animal protein
and fish. The FCSs from vegetables and
fruits6 are low, which is typical of the
average Cambodian diet. Looking at the
make-up of the FCS also sheds light upon
the potential impact of changes in the

availability of fish on the total FCS. As
the average weekly score of 54 points in
fishing households contains ~17.5 points
from fish, the disappearance of fish from
the diet would let the average fishing
household drop below the threshold to a
borderline diet7 and hence into the food
insecure area of the FCS. However, fish
also plays an important role in the makeup of the FCS for non-fishers. When fish
becomes rarer and hence more expensive,
a reduction in animal protein intake of
non-fishers could be the result–despite a
redistribution of food expenditures. This
is because other sources of animal protein
may be more costly than fish is today.

5

Animal protein scores in the FCS are calculated as the number of days animal protein is eaten weighted
by 4.
6
The scores for fruit and vegetables are weighted by 2.
7
The high sugar consumption-adjusted upper threshold of borderline food consumption is set at 38.5.
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