Food Security

Food Security

Introduction

Food is an essential basic need for the survival of the human being and the population. Food security is all about being able to measure the availability of food and how individuals can access it. Accessibility in matters of food security refers to how accessible food is. Issues of food security have been of global concern for the last many years since famine has been a challenge. Food security does only not entail the availability of food but also ensuring that the available food is nourishing, healthy, balanced and moderate and can be used for human consumption (Frongillo et al., 2017). Individuals being able to demand food and also get a prerequisite for food security. According to the Food and Agricultural Organization, food security is all about ensuring that all individuals have safe and nutritious food required for a healthy life. The discussion about food security is very relevant in today’s world since having a hungry world would mean unproductivity, instability and human suffering.

Food Insecurity and Role of Population Growth

Food insecurity is the unavailability of food for a group of people or the entire nation. In as much as food insecurity might be caused by the unpreparedness of a country or a region on matters of food production. Regions that are unable to produce enough food consistently might fall into a situation of insecurity (Smith et al., 2017). Food insecurity can be caused by many parameters with the most common ones being famine, drought, and war. The failure to control the rate of countries and regions becoming food insecure has in many scenarios led to crisis across the world. The overall population of a country or region has an important role to play in matters of food production. Many factors profoundly influence population growth. One important factor is the amount of available food to the country (Frongillo et al., 2017).

Research has proved that countries that are food insecure not only have risks of having a weak population but as well as slow population growth. Directly population growth has a role to play in the economic growth of a county. Building resilient people requires enough food production and at the same time consistent production of quality food (Bhat, 2017).  Statistics across the world have included nations that have diminishing populations as a result of low food production. Countries like Somalia and Afghanistan have flat population growths because the states are acutely food insecure. The United Nations have presented interesting data on how nations have been struggling with matters of food insecurity since world war one and how this has negatively affected the population growth. Food insecurity and population growth are directly related and that if one does not work well, then the other one is also wanting (Unnevehr, 2015).

 

Factors Interrupting Food Flow

Food flow is interrupted by many factors. Most of these factors are either natural while the rest are human-made. Understanding the causative agents to the shortages of food flow is essential in overcoming issues of food insecurity. Drought and famine are the most common factors that lead to a lack of enough food supply to the population. Nations experiencing droughts and famines are not able to produce food as they are highly dependant on rain-fed agriculture (Bhat, 2017). Global water crisis, land degradation are also to blame for the shortages in food production and the interruption of food flow. Agricultural diseases are also a substantial contributing factor in the disruption of food flow in many countries. In African countries, agricultural diseases contribute to almost 30% of the overall reduction in food production every year. The political climate and bad politics can also be used to blame food insecurity. Failing to implement strong policies means that the inhabitants continue to depend on food aid and not in the actual solution finding (Frongillo et al., 2017).

Climate change has been uncontrollable over the last 20 years. Artificial factors have been at the forefront of contributing to food insecurity. Studies show that global food production has dropped with around 20% since mid 2000. The situation is still going to get worse as the existing climate cannot favor continuous food production. Reversing this will require human beings to start taking care of the fragile environment and probably affect the situation and make it favorable for food production again (Bhat, 2017). Wastages are also to be blamed for food insecurity. In SouthSudan alone farmers waste a lot of food during the production processes, and these cannot be compensated at any sage in the whole cycle. Globally, the rates at which food goes into waste is alarming, and this can only mean harder times soon. The using of land to produce non-food products has also led to a decreased production of food across the world. Some regions in South Sudan do not grow food crops, and this leads to the interruption of food flow.

Technologies to Improve Hunger and Food Security

Increasing food production in the 21st century will require a different approach from which created the problem. Adopting technology and modern methods are, but this has to be done in ways that do not compromise the quality of food produced. Overcoming the menace will also require the input of different agencies as winning the war against food insecurity is not left to a single department. First, using and adopting irrigation-based agriculture is essential in boosting global food production (Unnevehr, 2015). Countries like South Sudan have experienced food insecurity in areas that rains tend to fail farmers. Development of drought-resistant breeds is essential and could help the country overcome the challenges of food production and food insecurity. Improved prediction of weather and pests control is also technology that can be used to minimize instances of inadequate food production across the world. Agriculture technology firms in the world have been able to create a database by which they can help farmers make decisions on what to plant and the production levels to expect. Improving data and information is vital in enhancing food production in different countries. Farmers can be able to produce more, minimize crop failure and build their resilience in matters of food production once they are given the right data and information (Stringer, 2016). Sick and poor policies by the policymakers have a significant role to play in the cycle of food production. To reverse this, developing nice and workable solutions through the strategies will be critical in changing the situation across the world. It is important to note that no single intervention can improve the situation without the interplay of the rest of the solutions. Reversing the effects of food insecurity and ensuring that nations hav enough food for their population will require coordination of all factors. Calling people to action will bring the right results, but this has to be backed by political goodwill and the desire to change the alarming situation(Unnevehr, 2015).

Conclusion

Winning the war of food insecurity is not a one day one agency thing. Producing enough food requires all stakeholders to be allowed to discuss from all perspectives on how to address the issue. Governments should be willing to give support and avail the necessary resources to deal with the problem. Political goodwill is essential in this cases; it is based on this that good policies can be formulated. Farmers across the world are also called upon to reduce wastages while at the same time focus on the production of food crops and not cash crops. Coming together to overcome climate change and land degradation will be vital in reversing the damages and thus boos food production in the coming years. I am however optimistic that soon food insecurity will be a thing of the past.

References

Frongillo, E. A., Nguyen, H. T., Smith, M. D., & Coleman-Jensen, A. (2017). Food insecurity is associated with subjective well-being among individuals from 138 countries in the 2014 Gallup world poll. The Journal of nutrition147(4), 680-687.

Smith, M. D., Rabbitt, M. P., & Coleman-Jensen, A. (2017). Who is the world’s food insecure? New evidence from the Food and Agriculture Organization’s food insecurity experience scale. World Development93, 402-412.

Stringer, R. (2016). Food security global overview. In Food Poverty and Insecurity: International Food Inequalities (pp. 11-18). Springer, Cham.

Bhat, R. (2017). Food Sustainability Challenges in the Developing World. Sustainability Challenges in the Agrofood Sector, 3-4.

Unnevehr, L. (2015). Food safety in developing countries: Moving beyond exports. Global food security4, 24-29.

 

 

Food Security Outline

Thesis Statement: The discussion about food security is very relevant in today’s world since having a hungry world would mean unproductivity, instability and human suffering.