1 Khairul Haff Maidin and Tapsir Serin Economic and Technology Management Review, Vol. 9a(2014): 1 – 9 An analysis of food security in selected ASEAN countries (Analisis keselamatan makanan di negara ASEAN terpilih) Khairul Haff Maidin* and Tapsir Serin* Keywords: food security, food production, per capita income, access women status Abstract This study examined the annual food security situation and its determinants in selected ASEAN countries for the period of 1967 to 2009. The data analysis techniques involved both descriptive and econometric analyses, where ordinary least square procedure of regression was used in the econometric analysis. The results of the study revealed that the selected ASEAN countries were food secure, although, the long run sustainability of food security remains to be an issue. This was based on per capita food availability and dietary energy supply as well as dietary energy requirement. The determinants of food security were analysed in the empirical analysis. Total food production, per capita income and access women status were signifcant factors in explaining the level of food security in the long term in the selected four ASEAN countries. The regression model showed that 1% increase in total food production would result in increase food security by 0.036%, whereas each 1% increase in per capita income increases the food security by 0.027%. Similarly, access women status has positive relationship with food security, 1% increase in access women status would result in increase food security by 0.397%. *Economic and Technology Management Research Centre, MARDI Headquarters, Serdang, P.O. Box 12301, 50774 Kuala Lumpur E-mail: khairulhaff@mardi.gov.my ©Malaysia Agricultural Research and Development Institute 2014 every individual has the capability to access enough food and utilises it in a correct way (Bello 2004), while FAO (2003) described food security as a situation where the population has, at any time, social, economic and physical access to an adequate quantity along with quality of food to meet up every day requirements and food preferences. The availability of food varies over time (season) and space (geographic location). Food availability can be abundant in some areas and critically scarce in some other areas during certain season. According to Barrett (2002), suffcient food supplies at the national level or global production and stocks do not promise for the household food security as this might be due to ineffcient in distribution of resources Introduction There has been a long-standing interest in understanding the relationship between booming in demand side and constraints in supply side and its relation with food insecurity. Since industrial revolution, large part of national investments have been made in industrial sectors, whereas proportion of investment in agricultural production decrease signifcantly. Besides that the increasing per capita income, population growth, bio fuel production, climatic change and depleting resources are among prominent reasons for food insecurity. These issues have caused more concern about food security. Food security could be defned as suffcient food availability per capita and