Comparing the cost and affordability of nutritious and sustainable food baskets by zone of Iran: 2016-2019

Background & aims: Sustainable diets are characterized by being culturally acceptable, economically fair, affordable and accessible to all, nutritionally sufficient, safe and healthy, and are efficient in their utilization of human and other natural resources. The aim of the present study was to determine the difference in the cost and affordability of providing nutritious and sustainable food baskets in different zones of Iran 2016 through 2019.

Material & methods: In this repeated cross-sectional study, the expenditure and income data of 128,716 Iranian households that participated in the "Household Income and Expenditure Survey" 2016 through 2019 were used. The data were categorized into 11 zones according to the zone classification of the previous National Integrated Micronutrient Survey. The sustainable and nutritious food baskets were modeled using linear programming and ideal programming. The cost of the baskets was calculated by summing the average price of each food item based on the amount (in grams) of each item in the food basket. Affordability was estimated based on the total cost of each basket compared to the average monthly disposable income of the household. Data were analyzed using R software (version 4.3.0). One-way analysis of variance and posthoc statistical tests were used to compare the difference between the average cost and affordability of food baskets in different zones.

Results: In all zones, the cost of a nutritious food basket was higher than the cost of a current food basket, and the cost of a sustainable food basket was lower than the cost of receiving the current food basket. The highest cost of current and sustainable food basket was in Zone 1 (93001.89 and 73290.27 Rials, respectively) and the lowest cost of those baskets was in Zone 10 (81484.38 and 63655.62 Rials, respectively). As for the nutritious food basket, the highest cost basket was seen in Zone 1 (116277.05 Rials), but the lowest cost one was in Zone 3 (29210.98 Rials). In terms of affordability, for all three food baskets, households in Zone 5 had the highest (74.34%, 57.49%, and 92.12%, respectively) and households in Zone 8 had the lowest (24.28%, 19.20%, and 30.00%, respectively) percentage of income spent on preparing food baskets.

Conclusion: The findings indicate that, overall, in all different zones of Iran, the cost of the nutritious and sustainable food basket was higher and lower than the current food basket, respectively. Regarding affordability, households in Zone 5 allocated the largest percentage of their income to preparing food baskets. These findings emphasize the importance of future planning and policy implementation focused on food support, particularly in drought-affected and deprived zones. Additionally, targeted interventions could focus on enhancing the affordability of the nutritious and sustainable food basket for vulnerable populations.