Impact of Cash Transfer on Food Security: A Review

Cash transfer (CTs) is an increasingly popular social protection mechanism used by many developing countries to improve the food security and nutritional status of lower socio-economic groups. This paper is a review of the literature regarding the impact of CT programs on the food security of recipient households in the developing countries, including Iran. We looked for all original studies, performed in the developing countries and published in any language, containing at least one outcome related to food and nutritional security of the beneficiary population using Pub Med, Iran Medex, SID (Scientific Information Database), ISI (Information Sciences Institute) database, INP (Iran’s Nutrition Publication) Abstracts, IRANDOC and Magiran. Searches used the following terms or keywords: “household food security”, “household food insecurity“ and “cash transfer” on any publication published within 1990-2015. A total of 12 studies evaluating the influence of CT programs on the recipients’ food and nutrition security were identified. CT programs have the potential to deliver a range of benefits not only through reducing extreme poverty but also by providing effective support for broader human development objectives, including better nutrition, as well as health and education outputs and outcomes. The extent to which programs can have these different impacts will depend critically on the availability of complementary services, the local context, and the specifics of program design, including the transfer value. However, findings in Iran suggest that the replacement of staple food subsidies by CT has led to a significant increase in household food insecurity (especially marginal or mild food insecurity).