Access

Food access refers to the household’s ability to get food in the marketplace or from other sources (transfers, gifts, etc.). Food access depends largely on household purchasing power, which varies in relation to market integration, price policies and temporal market conditions.

On a macro-economic level, constraints to individual food access include high unemployment and under-employment in the region;   negative impacts of national economic policies; lack of credit facilities or other means to exchange assets or income streams and food losses associated with ineffective and inefficient harvesting, storage, processing and handling;

It is now universally accepted that food availability alone does not provide food security. In many developing countries food insecurity is a function of low availability and low access. A good agricultural season will result in higher yields resulting in greater food availability. However for a poor household, this availability of food does not translate into food security as they lack the means to access food.

In Cambodia poverty is the main factor behind lowered access to food.