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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Sustain. Food Syst.
Sec. Nutrition and Sustainable Diets
Volume 9 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2025.1453271
This article is part of the Research Topic Sustainable Diets with Sociocultural and Economic Considerations View all 16 articles
Cost and Affordability of the Food Basket in the Republic of Moldova
Provisionally accepted- Technical University of Moldova, Chișinău, Moldova
Food and nutrition security remain among humanity's most urgent challenges, with 23.5% of Moldova's population experiencing food insecurity. Despite this pressing issue, national-level research on nutritional security remains scarce. This study evaluates the cost and accessibility of minimum consumption and healthy food baskets in Moldova by calculating the cost of these baskets as a proportion of the country's minimal subsistence amount and assessing affordability using the International Poverty Line (IPL) criterion. The results revealed that approximately 52% of the population lacks access to a Minimum Consumption Food Basket (MCFB), while 78.6% cannot afford a Healthy Food Basket (HFB) without reallocating non-food expenses. Affordability gaps were most evident among lower-income households, exposing significant vulnerabilities in specific sociodemographic groups. These findings provide a strong evidence base for policies targeting food security, particularly those aimed at aligning national strategies with Sustainable Development Goals 2 (Zero Hunger) and 3 (Good Health and Well-being). By addressing affordability and ensuring equitable access to nutrition, these strategies can help guide national development priorities.
Keywords: Nutritional security, affordable, minimum food consumption basket, minimum quantum of existence, food poverty threshold
Received: 22 Jun 2024; Accepted: 13 Feb 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Siminiuc, Turcanu and Siminiuc. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Rodica Siminiuc, Technical University of Moldova, Chișinău, Moldova
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