Food
security is defined as 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. Stages of food insecurity range from food secure situations
to full-scale famine. The World Food Summit of 1996 defined food security as
existing "when all people at all times have access to sufficient, safe,
nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life". Food Security:
The World Food Summit of 1996 defined food security
as existing "when all people at all times have access to sufficient,
safe, nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life". Commonly,
the concept of food security is defined as including both physical and economic
access to food that meets people's dietary needs as well as their food
preferences. Household food security exists when all members, at all times,
have access to enough food for an active, healthy life. Food security
incorporates a measure of resilience to future disruption or unavailability of
critical food supply due to various risk factors including droughts, shipping
disruptions, fuel shortages, economic instability, and wars.
What is
Food Security
Two common definitions of food security come from
the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the UN's Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO):
·
Food security exists when all people, at all times,
have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to
meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.
(FAO)
·
Food security for a household means access by all
members at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life. Food security
includes at a minimum, (USDA):
1) The ready
availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods
2) An
assured ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways (that
is, without resorting to emergency food supplies, scavenging, stealing, or
other coping strategies).
Definition
of Food Security
Defining food security precisely is very difficult.
There are more than 200 definitions and 450 indicators of food security.
Following are some popular definitions of food security:
1996 World Food Summit: "Food
security exists 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."
World Health Organization (WHO): "Food
security means that:
- all
people at all times have both physical and economic access to enough food
for an active, healthy life;
- the
ways in which food is produced and distributed are respectful of the
natural processes of the earth and thus sustainable;
- both
the consumption and production of food are governed by social values that
are just and equitable as well as moral and ethical;
- the
ability to acquire food is ensured;
- the
food itself is nutritionally adequate and personally and culturally
acceptable; and
- the
food is obtained in a manner that upholds human dignity."
Similarly Community Food Security has been
defined as follows:
"Community food security exists when all
citizens obtain a safe, personally acceptable, nutritious diet through a
sustainable food system that maximizes healthy choices, community self reliance
and equal access for everyone." - Public Health Association of British Columbia
(PHABC)
From these definitions, achieving food security
seems utopian (at least ideal) and no country could hope to reach in reality.
Therefore, for specific program/project or particular nation definition of food
security should be something achievable or measurable at least for certain
duration. But, these definitions should cover the basics. No mater how we
define food security, having enough to eat regularly for active and healthy
life is the most essential human need. Many developing countries, especially in
South Asia and Africa, haven't been able to fulfil this vital need even today.
Household
Food Security
A household is food secure when it has access to
the food needed for a healthy life for all its members (adequate in terms of
quality, quantity, and safety and culturally acceptable) and when it is not at
undue risk of losing such access.
Food security at global or national level may not
usually address the household level food security problem. The relationship
between national food security and household food security is less prominent in
developing countries than in developed ones. Therefore, specific policies are
required to address household level food insecurity and these policies should
be contextual and problem-specific.
Characteristics
of household with very low food security
- Members
of household (mainly adult) worried that their food would run out before
they got money to buy more.
- Food
they bought just didn't last and they didn't have money to get more.
- They
couldn't afford to eat balanced meals have to rely on inexpensive
non-nutritious food.
- An
adult had to cut the size of meals or skipped meals because there was not
enough money for food.
- They
had to eaten less than they felt they should because there was not enough
money for food.
- They
had been hungry but did not eat because they could not afford enough food.
- They
had to acquire food through socially unacceptable means such as charitable
assistance, buying food on credit etc.
Types of Food Insecurity
Chronic
Food Insecurity
Lack of minimum requirement of food to the people
for a sustained period of time due to extended periods of poverty, lack of
assets and inadequate access to productive or financial resources can be called
as Chronic Food Insecurity.
Acute or
Transitory Food Insecurity
Sudden lack of food or reduction in the ability to
produce or access minimum requirement of food due to short-term shocks and
fluctuations in food availability and food access, including year-to-year
variations in domestic food production, food prices and household incomes can
be defied as Acute or Transitory Food Insecurity.
Dimensions
of Food Security
Food security is the outcome of food system
operating efficiently. Efficient food system contributes positively to all
dimensions of food security. Following are the dimensions of food security
(figure 2):
Food
availability
This dimension addresses supply side of the food
security and expects sufficient quantities of quality food from domestic
agriculture production or import. This is simple mathematical calculation
weather the food available in certain territory/country is enough to feed the
total population in that particular territory and calculated from the level of
local agriculture production at that territory, stock levels and net import/export.
This dimension of food security at different levels
can be assessed by precipitation record, food balance sheet, food market
survey, agricultural production planet. Similarly, indicators of food security
for this dimension at different levels are fertility rate, food production,
population flows, harvesting time, staple food production, food storage,
consumption of wild foods etc.
Food
access
Having sufficient food at national level or at
certain territory cannot be taken as the proof that all the household or
individuals in the country/territory have enough food to eat. Food access is
another dimension of food security which encompasses income, expenditure and
buying capacity of households or individuals. Food access addresses whether the
households or individuals have enough resources to acquire appropriate quantity
of quality foods.
Some of the indicators of this dimension at
different levels are food price, wage rate, per capita food consumption, meal
frequency, employment rate etc. and the dimension can be assessed by
Vulnerability Analysis and mapping (VAM), Food Access Survey, Food Focus Group
Discussion, Intra- household food frequency questionnaire etc. Interventions to
improve this dimension of food security are inter alia on-farm, off-farm and non-farm
employment creation, school-feeding program, breast –feeding campaign etc.
Food utilization
Food utilization is another dimension of food
security which addresses not only how much food the people eat but also what
and how they eat. It also covers the food preparation, intra-household food
distribution, water and sanitation and health care practices. The nutritional
outcome of the food eaten by an individual will be appropriate and optimum only
when food is prepared/cooked properly, there is adequate diversity of the diet
and proper feeding and caring practices are practiced.
Stunting rate, wasting rate, prevention of
diarrhoeal diseases, latrine usage, weight-for-age, goitre, anaemia, night
blindness etc are the indicators at different level for this dimensions which
can be assessed by demographic and health survey, immunization chart etc.
Stability
This dimension addresses the stability of the other
three dimensions over time. People cannot be considered food secure until
they feel so and they do not feel food secure until there is stability of
availability, accessibility and proper utilization condition. Instability of
market price of staple food and inadequate risk baring capacity of the people
in the case of adverse condition (e.g. natural disaster, unexpected weather
etc), political instability and unemployment are the major factors affecting stability
of the dimensions of food security.
This dimension of food security can be assessed by
Global Information Early Warning System, Anthropometric survey, weighing chart
of pregnant women etc against certain indicators like food price fluctuation,
women etc. against certain indicators like food price fluctuation, women's BMI,
pre-harvest food practice, migration etc. Interventions to address this
dimension are saving and loan policy, inter-household food exchange, grain
bank, food storage etc.
In summary, Availability covers whether adequate
food is ready at people's disposal while Access ensures if all households and
individuals have adequate resources to obtain the food they need either through
production or purchase. Similarly utilization is about human body function to
adequately ingest, digest and metabolize the food. Stability is about assurance
of continuation of fore-mentioned dimensions.
Things affecting food security today include:
·
Global
Water Crisis - Water table reserves are falling in many
countries (including Northern China, the US, and India) due to widespread
over-pumping and irrigation.
·
Climate
Change - Rising global temperatures are beginning to have a ripple effect
on crop yields, forest resources, water supplies and altering the balance of
nature.
·
Land
Degradation - Intensive farming leads to a vicious cycle
of exhaustion of soil fertility and decline of agricultural yields.
·
Greedy
Land Deals - Corporations and Governments buying rights to millions of acres
of agricultural land in developing countries to secure their own long-term food
supplies.
Sources
·
Food and Nutrition Security Policy (2013) Department of Agriculture,
·
FAO. (Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations).1983. World Food security: a reappraisal of
the concepts and approaches. Director General’s Report. Rome. -----.2002.
Measurement and Assessment of Food Deprivation and Undernutrition. Proceedings
of an international scientific symposium, 2002. Rome: FAO
·
Households Food and Nutrition Security Strategy (2013).
·
Demetre L, Mchiza, L , Steyn N,P, Gericke G, Maunder EMW, Davids
YD, & Parke W (2014) Food security in South
Africa: a review of national surveys.
·
National Food and Nutrition Security Plan 2017 – 2022
·
South African National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2014
·
StatSA 2015 Community Survey
·
World Bank annual report 2013: end extreme poverty, promote shared
prosperity
·
USDA (United States Department of Agriculture), 2005. Food Security
Assessment, 2005 Making Strides in Achieving Food Security:
·
Comments
Post a Comment