Abstract
Introduction
Food security, as a fundamental component of public health, refers to, physical and economic access by all people to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food at all times. It is one of the principal targets of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. Fighting hunger is confronted with inequality of attention by states, population growth, poverty, economic crises, wars, migration, and political-social problems that impact the world economy.
Food security affects everything from production to consumption and needs special policies at food production, processing, packaging, and supply in countries. Defining food security is complex and varies with countries' geographical location, climate, and development. the concept of food security has a quantitative component (availability of wholesome and safe food) and a qualitative component (hygienic quality of production and processing).

Materials and Methods
This study was conducted in 2025 in Lorestan Province with the aim of examining food security challenges from the perspective of agricultural jihad experts. The statistical population included 130 experts in the areas of water and soil, crop production, horticulture, and agricultural extension. Based on the Krejcie and Morgan table, 100 participants were selected using simple random sampling. Data were collected using a two-part questionnaire: the first section captured the respondents’ demographic characteristics, and the second section assessed their perceptions of food security challenges across five components, namely food utilization/benefit, physical access to food, stability of access to food, economic access to food, and food availability. In total, 56 items were measured using a five-point Likert scale. The items were developed by the researcher through integrating and localizing concepts from prior studies, and the questionnaire’s content validity was confirmed through the opinions of professors at the University of Tehran. Reliability was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha and composite reliability. For data analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and Partial Least Squares (PLS) structural equation modeling were employed. Discriminant validity, path coefficients, the bootstrap procedure, the coefficient of determination (R2), the VIF statistic, and the (Q2) predictive relevance index were used to evaluate the model.
Results and Discussion
The current study considers food security problems on five fundamental dimensions: availability, physical access, economic access, utilization, and stability. the research determines "Stability/Sustainability of Food" (coefficient 0.688) as a significant variable, which is greatly influenced by non-resilience of farmers towards climate change, lack of insurance for food systems, and financial volatility. "Food Utilization" (coefficient 0.669) is highly related to food security and is responsive to the quality of agricultural inputs, climate change, low productivity of farming, and land fragmentation. "Food Availability" (coefficient 0.642) is mainly confronted by water resource degradation, inappropriate management of water, lack of capacity to process agricultural products, and land fragmentation. "Physical Access to Food" (coefficient 0.614) is influenced by poor weather, unsafe water, inadequate storage, and lack of good transport facilities. Lastly, "Economic Access to Food" (coefficient 0.430) is controlled by inability to afford food over income, limited access to credit, and high food taxation.

Conclusion
These results indicate the complex interaction of all the components of food security and demonstrate how anything that affects just one element creates instability in the entire system. Climate change, financial volatility, and poor infrastructure all have an impact on the availability and accessibility of food. A holistic, multi-faceted approach to food security is needed that addresses agricultural production and distribution, the economic ability to afford food, as well as the resilience against external disruptions. Such an approach includes creating a sustainable agricultural system through strategic investment, creating a system of supply chain integration, and enhancing the livelihoods of farmers and other underprivileged groups. Thus, recognizing and capitalizing on the synergies between these elements will be necessary for the successful development and implementation of increased, stronger, and more sustainable food security programs.