Socio‐Economic and Environmental Drivers of Food Security in Low‐Income Countries: A 32‐Year Cross‐National Analysis for Sustainable Development

ABSTRACT Ensuring countries meet their basic food security needs has been a long‐standing challenge. Despite numerous attempts to tackle this issue, it remains unresolved. Hence, considering the broad reach of this concern, our study aims to collectively analyse how urbanisation, greenhouse gas emissions, renewable energy consumption, population growth, agricultural land, and gross domestic product per capita impact food security across countries. This study tests a stepwise panel‐ordered probit model, utilising data from 17 low‐income countries from 1992 to 2023. The research categorises the food production index into three categories: low, moderate, and high food security, allowing for the analysis of the likelihood of falling into a category of the food production index. The outcomes reveal that in low‐income countries, urbanisation, greenhouse gas emissions, population growth, and agricultural land have a positive impact on the food production index, whereas renewable energy consumption has an insignificant negative impact. This analysis contributes distinctively to the existing body of knowledge by comparatively analysing the probabilities over the given period, together with the financial crisis and the COVID‐19 pandemic, thus providing insights into both events. Furthermore, this report highlights the effectiveness of policies implemented, focusing on the efficient use of agricultural land through technological advancements, promoting modern farming techniques, encouraging youth engagement in agriculture, managing population growth, and innovating climate‐resilient strategies, which are directly aligned with the research findings. These recommendations address specific challenges identified in the highlighted countries, helping improve their food security and promote sustainable development.