importance of food security essay

What is Food Security?

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What is Food Security

Based on the 1996 World Food Summit , food security is defined when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.

The four main dimensions of food security:

Physical availability of food: Food availability addresses the “supply side” of food security and is determined by the level of food production, stock levels and net trade.
Economic and physical access to food: An adequate supply of food at the national or international level does not in itself guarantee household level food security. Concerns about insufficient food access have resulted in a greater policy focus on incomes, expenditure, markets and prices in achieving food security objectives.
Food utilization : Utilization is commonly understood as the way the body makes the most of various nutrients in the food. Sufficient energy and nutrient intake by individuals are the result of good care and feeding practices, food preparation, diversity of the diet and intra-household distribution of food. Combined with good biological utilization of food consumed, this determines the nutritional status of individuals.
Stability of the other three dimensions over time: Even if your food intake is adequate today, you are still considered to be food insecure if you have inadequate access to food on a periodic basis, risking a deterioration of your nutritional status. Adverse weather conditions, political instability, or economic factors (unemployment, rising food prices) may have an impact on your food security status.

For food security objectives to be realized, all four dimensions must be fulfilled simultaneously.

The World Bank Group works with partners to build food systems that can feed everyone, everywhere, every day by improving food security, promoting ‘nutrition-sensitive agriculture’ and improving food safety. The Bank is a leading financier of food systems. In fiscal year 2022, there was US$9.6 billion in new IBRD/IDA commitments to agriculture and related sectors

Activities include:

Strengthening safety nets to ensure that vulnerable families have access to food and water–and money in their pockets to make vital purchases
Delivering expedited emergency support by fast-tracking financing through existing projects to respond to crisis situations
Engaging with countries and development partners to address food security challenges. Instruments include rapid country diagnostics and data-based monitoring instruments and partnerships such as the Famine Action Mechanism and the Agriculture Observatory
Promoting farming systems that use climate-smart techniques , and produce a more diverse mix of foods, to improve food systems’ resilience, increase farm incomes and enable greater availability and affordability of nutrient-dense foods
Improving supply chains to reduce post-harvest food losses, improve hygiene in food distribution channels, and better link production and consumption centers
Applying an integrated “One Health” approach to managing risks associated with animal, human and environmental health
Supporting investments in research and development that enable increasing the micronutrient content of foods and raw materials
Advocating for policy and regulatory reforms to improve the efficiency and integration of domestic food markets and reduce barriers to food trade
Working with the private sector, government, scientists, and others to strengthen capacities to assess and manage food safety risks in low and middle-income countries
Supporting long-term global food security programs: The Bank houses the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP) , a global financing instrument that pools donor funds and targets additional, complementary financing to agricultural development across the entire value chain. Since its launch in 2010 by the G20 in response to the 2007-2008 food price crisis, GAFSP has reached over 13 million smallholder farmers and their families with over $1.3 billion in grant funding to 64 projects in 39 countries, $330 million to 66 agribusiness investment projects in 27 countries, and $13.2 million in small-scale grants to support producer organizations. Most recently, in response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, GAFSP allocated over $55 million of additional grant funding to on-going public sector and producer organization-led projects to support COVID-19 response and recovery.
The Bank also supports the CGIAR which advances agriculture science and innovation to boost food and nutrition security globally.

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Food security: what is the importance of food security.

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Read this article to learn about the importance of food security for a country!

Food security refers to the availability of food and one’s access to it. A household is considered food-secure when its occupants do not live in hunger or fear of starvation. According to the World Resources Institute, global per capita food production has been increasing substantially for the past several decades.

Image Courtesy : foodgrainsbank.ca/images/uploads/Ms.%20Bourphou.jpg

Food availability, food utilization, and food access are the principle variables that define household food security and should guide interventions:

i. Food Availability:

Sufficient quantities of appropriate, necessary types of food from domestic production, commercial imports, or donors, are consistently available to individuals, are in reasonable proximity to them, or are within their reach.

ii. Food Access:

Individuals have adequate incomes or other resources to purchase a appropriate food needed to maintain consumption of an adequate diet and nutritional level.

iii. Food Utilization:

Food is properly used and many suitable techniques are employed for storage. At the global level, Hunger results from political and economic inequality, environmental degradation, unjust trade policies, inappropriate technology, and other factors depending on local context. At the local level, the food inequality results by the lack of nutritional education, poor quality of food, and from inadequate quantities of the rights kinds of food.

Weaknesses in the variables of access, availability, and proper utilization of food lead to what individuals and households experience as hunger. There are considered to be two types of food insecurity: chronic and temporal.

Chronic food insecurity results from inadequate food intake over a longer period of time and is constant. Temporal food insecurity results from a temporary decrease in food intake due to price changes, production failures, or a loss of income. Temporal food insecurity can also be related to the hungry season.

i. The poor and rural are most likely to be hungry in any given country and situation.

ii. Production, income, and the high price of food are the variables that contribute to hunger in rural areas.

Poverty leads to hunger and vice-versa; families caught in a cycle of hunger and poverty find their opportunities and resources further diminished in other areas.

iii. Hunger and malnutrition lead to poverty, which leads to:

a.) Unsustainable use of natural resources b.) Reduced capacity to access markets and resources c.) Reduced school attendance and learning capacity d.) Less education and employment for women and girls e.) Weakened immune systems and rising child mortality f.) Impaired maternal and infant health g.) Risky survival strategies, spread of HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases

1. Food Insufficiency:

There are 6 groups of nutrients: carbohydrates, protein, fat, minerals, vitamins and water. It is essential to consume a percentage of each nutrient everyday for overall health, without any of these nutrients a person will be malnourished, undernourishment & malnourishment.

Undernourished – a person is lacking some essential nutrients.

Malnourished – they are almost without many essential nutrients to the point where it has become very dangerous for their health

i. Undernourishment:

Undernourishment is the lack of sufficient calories in available food, so that one has little or no ability to move or work. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations estimated that on an average minimum caloric intake on a global scale is 2500 calories/day. People receiving 2000-2200 calories/day are said to be undernourished, who suffer from various deficiencies and health problems.

ii. Malnourishment:

Malnourishment is the lack of specific components of food such as proteins, vitamins or essential components. It is possible to have excess food and still suffer from malnourishment due to nutritional imbalance caused by a lack of specific dietary components

iii. Malnutrition:

Malnutrition is the lack of one or more essential nutrients in food. About 15-20 million deaths occur annually due to malnutrition. Human nutrition is the provision to humans to obtain the materials necessary to support life.

In general, humans can survive for two to eight weeks without food, depending on stored body fat. Survival without water is usually limited to three or four days. Lack of food remains a serious problem, with about 36 million humans starving to death every year.

Childhood malnutrition is also common and contributes to the global burden of disease. However global food distribution is not even, and obesity among some human populations has increased to almost epidemic proportions, leading to health complications and increased mortality in some developed, and a few developing countries. Obesity is caused by consuming more calories than are expended, with many attributing excessive weight gain to a combination of overeating and insufficient exercise.

Major causes of malnutrition include poverty and food prices, dietary practices and agricultural productivity etc. Malnutrition can also be a consequence of other health issues such as diarrheal disease or chronic illness etc.

Poverty and food prices:

As much as food shortages may be a contributing factor to malnutrition in many countries

Dietary practices:

A lack of breastfeeding can lead to malnutrition in infants and children. Possible reasons for the lack in the developing world may be that the average family thinks bottle feeding is better

Agricultural productivity:

Food shortages can be caused by a lack of farming skills such as crop rotation, or by a lack of technology or resources needed for the higher yields found in modern agriculture, such as nitrogen fertilizers, pesticides and irrigation.

As a result of widespread poverty, farmers cannot afford or governments cannot provide the technology. The World Bank and some wealthy donor countries also press nations that depend on aid to cut or eliminate subsidized agricultural inputs such as fertilizer, in the name of free market policies even as the United States and Europe extensively subsidized their own farmers. Many, if not most, farmers cannot afford fertilizer at market prices, leading to low agricultural production.

iv. Future Threats:

A healthy diet is one that helps maintain or improve health. It is important for the prevention of many chronic health risks such as: obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. Coronary heart diseases are a very common health problem and they are closely linked to a diet that is high in unhealthy fats. Decreasing one’s intake of fatty foods, especially fried food, will

go a long way in preventing heart diseases. On the other hand, a healthy diet chart with an adequate amount of high fiber foods is seen to prevent heart diseases. People who suffer from heart problems are often advised to follow a specific high fiber diet for heart diseases that is rich in raw fruits and vegetables.

While genetics does play an important role in the onset of diabetes, an unhealthy lifestyle and bad eating habits are also contributing factors. A diabetes diet chart is a diet plan that is high in fiber and low in fat with a minimum amount of saturated fats.

Anaemia is generally caused by nutritional deficiencies and is most commonly associated with a diet that is low in iron. Iron rich foods such as green leafy vegetables should be included in a diet for anaemia. In addition to these diseases, conditions such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure, gout, and even cancer are affected by the individual’s diet. There is several diet plans such as the Alkaline Acid Diet plan, the Low Glycaemic Index diet that are meant to treat specific medical conditions.

A healthy diet involves consuming appropriate amounts of all nutrients, and an adequate amount of water. Nutrients can be obtained from many different foods, so there are a wide variety of diets that may be considered healthy diets. A healthy diet needs to have a balance of macronutrients / energy (fats, proteins, and carbohydrates) and micronutrients to meet the needs for human nutrition without inducing toxicity from excessive amounts.

Dietary recommendations:

There are a number of diets and recommendations by numerous medical and governmental institutions that are designed to promote certain aspects of health.

World Health Organization:

The World Health Organization (WHO) makes the following 5 recommendations with respect to both populations and individuals:

i. Achieve an energy balance and a healthy weight

ii. Limit energy intake from total fats and shift fat consumption away from saturated fats to unsaturated fats and towards the elimination of trans-fatty acids

iii. Increase consumption of fruits and vegetables, legumes, whole grains and nuts

iv. Limit the intake of simple sugar

v. Limit salt / sodium consumption from all sources and ensure that salt is iodized

Other recommendations include:

i. Sufficient essential amino acids (complete protein) to provide cellular replenishment and transport proteins. All essential amino acids are present in animals. A select few plants (such as soy and hemp) give all the essential acids. A combination of other plants may also provide all essential amino acids. Fruits such as avocado and pumpkin seeds also have all the essential amino acids.

ii. Essential micronutrients such as vitamins and certain minerals.

iii. Avoiding directly poisonous (e.g. heavy metals) and carcinogenic (e.g. benzene) substances;

iv. Avoiding foods contaminated by human pathogens (e.g. E. coli, tapeworm eggs).

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