Food security is an issue of global importance no one should go hungry when there is enough food for everyone. With the right policies in place and efforts from both governments and private stakeholders, we can make sure that all people have access to enough safe and nutritious food now and into the future.
Food security is the ability of a population to access sufficient, safe, and nutritious food to meet its dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. It is influenced by various factors and can be achieved through interventions such as agricultural development, trade policies, and social safety nets.
What is Food Security?
Food security is the ability of individuals and households to have access to a sufficient, safe, and nutritious supply of food, including the ability to grow or purchase food. It also involves having access to financial resources that enable them to meet their nutritional needs over time.
Food security is a measure of the availability of food and individuals’ access to it. Food security includes availability, utilization, and stability aspects in terms of quality, quantity, and continuity across time and space. It recognizes that people have different dietary requirements and preferences. Ultimately, food security means having enough safe and nutritious food at all times for an active life. Access to sufficient and safe food is a fundamental human need and right.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) defines food security as “when all people at all times have physical, social and economic access to sufficient safe, nutritious foods that meet their dietary needs and preferences for an active and healthy life”.
What are the types of food security?
The types of food security are:
- Nutritional security – having access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.
- Physical security – having reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, safe and nutritious food supply at all times.
- Economic security – having adequate income or other resources to acquire appropriate foods in socially acceptable ways.
- Resilience– the capacity of households, communities and countries to anticipate, manage, adjust to and recover from shocks or stressors (natural disasters, economic hardship etc.) in order to maintain or restore food security.
Dimensions of food security:
- Availability: the physical presence of food, either in the form of resources for production or as ready-to-eat foods;
- Accessibility: socio-economic factors that allow individuals and households to acquire adequate food;
- Utilization: the capacity to make use of available food through proper diet, health care, and sanitation; and
- Stability: the ability to maintain consistent access to enough safe and nutritious food over time.
Agriculture’s Role in Food Security
Agriculture plays a major role in food security, as it is the main source of the world’s food supply. Agriculture provides necessary nutrients to individuals and families, creating access to essential vitamins and minerals. It is also responsible for providing employment opportunities to rural populations, helping them achieve financial stability and independence. Furthermore, agricultural practices help maintain a healthy environment by preserving natural resources and reducing the use of chemicals that can be detrimental to human health. Finally, agriculture helps protect biodiversity by providing habitats for wild animals and plants which helps to maintain a balanced ecosystem. By ensuring sustainable production of food and other products, it is possible to reduce malnutrition and improve the quality of life for all people worldwide.
Agriculture plays an important role in food security. By using agricultural techniques, we can get nutritious food. Agriculture is defined as the cultivation of crops, soil management, and rearing of livestock. Farmers are using many practices for soil, fertilizer, and irrigation management. They are using balanced fertilization in the soil. Farmers are also using drip irrigation methods to irrigate crops. They avoid flood irrigation.
The current economic and agricultural problems are related to food security because the population is increasing day by day and farmers are unable to produce more food to serve humanity. The population is expected 9 billion in 2050. Our farmers cultivate different types of crops to meet food security. Wheat is the staple food of Pakistan.
Farmers grow wheat to meet food security. We don’t need to import wheat from other countries. We also grow rice, sugarcane, and maize to meet food security. Many farmers who cultivate the crops also rear livestock. Through livestock, we can get milk, meat, eggs, and butter to meet food security. In this way, food production can meet food security issues.
What are the causes and effects of food insecurity?
Food Insecurity causes include poverty, lack of access to healthy food options, lack of education about proper nutrition, unemployment or underemployment, natural disasters, inadequate infrastructure and transportation systems, and government policies. Additionally, factors such as chronic illnesses or disabilities, membership in a minority group, and unstable housing can play a role in exacerbating food insecurity.
Causes of Food Insecurity:
- Natural disasters, such as droughts and floods, can disrupt food production and make it difficult for people to access food.
- Poverty is a major driver of hunger, as those living in poverty cannot afford to purchase enough food to meet their nutritional needs.
- Income disparities between countries can lead to reduced access to food, as some countries may not have the means to produce or purchase enough food for their population.
- Conflict in some parts of the world has resulted in displacement and poverty, leading to difficulty accessing food resources.
- Poor infrastructure in rural areas can limit access to transportation and storage facilities that are necessary for getting adequate amounts of nutritious foods and storing them properly for consumption.
Effects of Food Insecurity:
- Malnutrition due to insufficient or lack of access to nutritious foods can lead to serious health complications including anemia, growth issues, vitamin deficiency etc., which can negatively impact a person’s overall well-being in the long term if not addressed timely.
- Children are particularly vulnerable and are often at risk for developmental delays due to malnutrition-related issues resulting from limited access to proper nutrition during their formative years.
- Food insecurity can also result in psychological distress among affected individuals and affect mental health negatively by inducing feelings of helplessness or depression, especially among those living in poverty-stricken areas where access is restricted due to various reasons like lack of resources or infrastructural limitations etc.,
Agriculture and Food Security:
Due to agriculture, food prices are stable. Food production is large and is easily accessible for humans. Rural communities depend on agriculture for food and they contribute more than urban communities. It is the source of income and development for rural people.
Climate change is affecting agricultural food production. But our farmers and scientists are producing many varieties to compete with climate change to meet food security. Climate change can reduce crop production and cause food security issues.
We can perform agricultural trade through which we can compensate for the food availability throughout the globe. There are many areas of fruit production and many are vegetable production. We can exchange fruits and vegetables in different areas of the world.
Many countries are facing malnutrition issues. In this way, agriculture plays a vital role in providing them with food. Health issues are resolved through this. Some countries produce more food than they need. So they can export it to other countries. In this way, it also becomes a source of income for some countries.
Technology and innovation also make our food secure because farmers are using improved seeds, balanced fertilization, and better irrigation methods. By doing this, productivity is increasing day by day. Besides using technology, we are also using smart agriculture. In this technique, we use drones for the maintenance of crops. Crops health and disease management is performed. Hence productivity is increased.
In recent eras, there has been the challenge of greenhouse gases. Due to these gases ozone layer is depleting. We have to save the ozone layer to save our environment to make our environment sustainable.it is only possible when we make our agriculture sustainable. We should reduce the use of fertilizers and pesticides for producing sustainable agricultural food.
Pakistan is a third-world country. Its economy depends upon agriculture. On the other hand, it has a large population. Many areas of Sindh province are affected by malnutrition. It is very difficult to support such a large population. We should increase our food production. Now in every area of the country food is available. But we should secure our food for the next generation.
Steps toward Food Security:
If we want to make our food secure, following steps we should have taken
- We should secure our water. Water is a scarce resource. We are wasting most of the water without any hesitation. Industries are using water and releasing effluents. These effluents are also causing environmental hazards. In agriculture, we can save water by using water conservation methods. Instead of using the flood irrigation method, we should use the drip or sprinkler method.
- We should secure our land. Our land is degrading day by day due to soil erosion and floods. Agricultural land is converted into commercial land. In many areas of the country, deforestation is being performed. In this way, we are also putting our environment under threat.
- We should train our farmers to get better production. Our farmers are untrained. They are using conventional methods for crop production. Therefore, their production is low. We should use different tillage implements to increase production.
- We should stabilise the rates of crops. There is instability in rates. The farmers are not confident about growing any crop. When farmers grow a crop, he is not confirmed about its rate decided by the government. Therefore, he hesitates to grow a crop. If every farmer starts to do that, we can face food scarcity for any crop.
- We should make a system of storing our food for the future. Recently, we passed through COVID-19. The whole world was in a bad situation during COVID-19. Imports and exports were cut off. In this way, we had insufficient food. If we had stored food then, we would not have faced this situation.
- There should be a system of food preservation at the government level. As we store wheat in the warehouse, it is affected by rain and stored insect pests. It also reduces our food quality. So less food is available to humans.
- We should make our selection better. In Pakistan, farmers grow crops which have a high rate. In this way, he can earn more. Therefore, he skips the crops that play a role in food security.
- We should improve our soil testing and management. Our farmers don’t test the soil. They use extra fertilizer and pesticides. Due to the higher use of fertilizers cost of production is increased. The higher use of pesticides damages crop quality. In this way, there may be food security issues.
- We should improve our harvesting methods. Our farmers use manual harvesting. They cut the crop by hand. By manual harvesting, there are 3 to 7 % losses and it can be reduced by threshing. We should use combined harvesters to prevent crop losses.
- We should develop heat-tolerant verities. Last year due to heat shock, wheat grains were shriveled. In this way, there was a great loss of wheat. If we do not develop the verities, we will face food security issues.
Agriculture’s Role in Food Security
Food security has become an important issue in different countries of economic development. The Agricultural sector plays an important role in increasing or improving food availability. The greatest or main problems with maintaining food security and observed in developing countries with a high share of Agriculture in their Gross domestic product (GDP).
Based on research results desirable strategies for food security improvement in individual clusters were developed. Promoting investment in Agricultural infrastructure and extension services along with adopting measures increasing the households purchasing power; especially in rural areas for improving both food availability and food access
Agriculture plays a central role in fulfilling food security problems. Food security is easy to access to food for people without any difficulty or shortage.
As we know Agriculture needs Land and Management practices
Agriculture plays an important role in food security by
- Provide food to human
- Provide Raw Material
- Provide Food and habitat to animals
- Help in Economic Growth
- Provide a supply chain to avail resources
How Developing countries can fulfil Food Security?
Developing countries can fulfil food security by implementing a series of measures, including the following:
- Promotion of sustainable agriculture and investment in agricultural infrastructure such as irrigation systems, improved seeds, and better storage facilities.
- Strengthening the capacity of small-scale food producers to adapt to changing climate conditions.
- Improving access to financial services and capital for small farmers to invest in innovative production methods that are more resilient to environmental shocks.
- Adopting practices such as agroforestry, intercropping, crop rotation, and proper soil management techniques that increase yields and protect against environmental damage while ensuring biodiversity conservation.
- Investing in nutritional education programs targeting mothers, caregivers and school children about balanced diets and healthy eating habits.
- Focusing on policies that address hunger issues through social safety nets like public feeding programs or cash transfer schemes for vulnerable households as a way to guarantee adequate nutrition levels for the population at large.
Developing countries can also address their food security problems by
- By using smart farming techniques
- Smart use of natural resources
- Introducing high-yield varieties
- Supporting and guiding the farmers
- Starting some Agriculture Farming programs
- By maintaining the prices of products
- Long-term planning by the government to fulfil future needs
- Labour Intensive programs
- Provide farmers with smart machinery that is easy to use, more work done and is time-saving
- Quick import and export
- Making programs to develop better infrastructure
- Reducing the food losses
- Starting environmentally Friendly programs to reduce environmental changes
- Improve maintenance and supply of Natural resources
- Management of rangelands
- Livestock raring Programs
How developed Countries overcome Food Security Problems:
Developed countries can overcome food security problems by investing in sustainable agriculture and food production systems. This includes investing in agroecological methods of farming, such as crop rotation, intercropping, and using natural pest control methods. Developed countries should also invest in infrastructure and technology that can help to improve access to nutritious foods for vulnerable populations. Additionally, developed countries should focus on reducing food waste through better supply chain management and improved storage practices. Finally, they should support global food security initiatives through partnerships with developing countries to ensure a stable supply of safe and affordable food.
Developed countries like Finland And Ireland Overcome Their Food Security Problems By
- Developed long-term planning
- Maintenance of prices
- Maintain their natural resources
- Maintain their Imports and exports
- Introduced High yielding verities
- Introduced Smart farming techniques
- Introduced environmentally Friendly products
Countries facing Food Security problems in the world:
Counties that face food issues all over the world are
- Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
- Afghanistan
- Yemen
- Syria
- The Sahel
- South Sudan
- Sudan
- Somalia
- Northern Ethiopia
- Haiti
These countries facing food issues and hunger. Food security is a complex issue influenced by various factors, including political stability, conflict, climate change, economic conditions, and agricultural practices. Efforts by the international community, governments, and humanitarian organizations are crucial in addressing and alleviating food insecurity in these regions.
Best Food Security Countries:
Counties that overcome food security issues are the
- Finland
- Ireland
- Norway
- France
- Netherland
- Japan
- Sweden
- Canada
- United Kingdom
- Portugal
These are the world’s top 10 countries that overcome food security problems through proper management and proper planning.
How to overcome food security?
One way to overcome food security is to increase access to nutritious, affordable, and culturally appropriate foods. This can be accomplished by improving the availability of healthy food through increased support for farmers’ markets, farm-to-table initiatives, and community gardens. In addition, providing incentives for nutritional education programs and encouraging healthier dietary choices can help improve people’s overall health and reduce their risk of becoming food insecure. Finally, increasing access to financial resources like SNAP (formerly known as food stamps) and other forms of economic assistance can also help individuals and families in need gain access to nutritious foods.
To overcome food security issues
Trade:
Internationally trade is the best way for food security. The country that has extra availability of food can export to the other country and then back they import the other things that they need.
Covenant of countries on specific goals:
Covenant of countries between specific goals to overcome food security issues. Diligences should be sent btw both countries.
Reduce losses:
To overcome the losses that help in food security. Maintain losses that cause food insecurity.
Reducing yield Gap:
Reducing the yield Gap by introducing high-yield varieties that produce more yield and basic nutrients is part of this
Ali Haider, Muhammad Usama, Noor Fatima, Abdul Qayyum, Mazhar Hussain, Shahid Ali
University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Pakistan
