Reconceptualizing Food Security in Malaysia: Integrating Household Food Affordability and Resilience Among B40 Households

With the continuous rise in food prices, the cost of living, and economic uncertainties, food security has become a serious public policy issue in Malaysia, especially for the B40 group. Despite its many dimensions, the existing research on food security has focused on food availability, food access, food utilization, and food stability, while being less focused on the factors of household food affordability and resilience that determine long-term food security outcomes. This conceptual paper proposes to broaden the definition of food security to reflect the situation faced by low-income households in Malaysia. This paper introduces an integrated conceptual model where food affordability is the proximal determinant of household food security and household resilience is the family's ability to "take a hit" and "bounce back" from economic shocks. This paper not only offers a conceptual framework for studying food security from the perspective of affordability and resilience, but it also offers insights for policymakers to consider in order to design more effective interventions. The proposed model is also a basis for future empirical studies.