Solving Food Insecurity
Food insecurity remains a significant global concern. Ensuring food security for all will have a profound impact worldwide. We invite to you view the below video, in which world leaders and experts discuss what achieving food security would mean for the world.
We would like to conclude our discussion on food security by highlighting initiatives aimed at solving the problem of food insecurity, with a particular focus on strategies involving agriculture and food production. Many of these initiatives have already been implemented across the world with great success. However, it is clear that a continued, concerted, and coordinated effort is required to ensure that food security for all becomes a reality.
The Declaration of the World Summit on Food Security in Rome in 2009 outlines key principles which underpin the national, regional, and global actions towards achieving global food security. Based on these principles and other overarching frameworks, the Committee on World Food Security, jointly funded by the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, and the World Food Programme, annually produces the Global Strategic Framework for Food Security and Nutrition (GSF). The GSF provides numerous practical guidelines and recommendations for government policymakers, development partners, international and regional organisations, and other stakeholders for cohesive action in tackling food insecurity and undernutrition across the world. These recommendations include:
The twin track approach involving direct, immediate action to tackle hunger and medium to long term actions to address the underlying causes of hunger
Promoting responsible investment in agriculture and food systems
Strengthening sustainable smallholder farming and food production by increasing investment and support to those involved in smallholder agriculture
Addressing excessive volatility of food prices
Increasing agricultural productivity and production of safe and nutritious food in a manner which is socially, economically, and environmentally sustainable
Addressing the effects of climate change on food security
Improving food security and nutrition in protracted crises, such as conflict and recurrent natural disasters
Addressing gender issues in food security and nutrition
Reducing food losses and waste in order to improve the sustainability and resilience of agriculture and food production
Ensuring equitable access and use of land, fisheries, and forests
From the GSF recommendations, it is clear that improvements in agriculture and food production are central to achieving food security. It is often smallholder farmers and their families that are first affected by food insecurity and malnutrition, so boosting smallholder agriculture, particularly in developing countries, is crucial. Smallholder farming describes households that are involved in agriculture on a relatively small scale. In many developing countries, smallholder farming is the dominant form of agriculture. The above video shows the story of an onion farmer in Senegal, and highlights the enormous benefits that improving smallholder agriculture had for her and her family. Various strategies for boosting smallholder agriculture have been implemented around the world, including:
Improving soil fertility
Low-cost soil management technologies adopted in western Kenya increased the yield of maize crops by 2-3 times within only one growing season
Improving water management
A community irrigation scheme in southern Malawi allowed the growth of diverse food crops and year-round harvesting, increasing yield and income
Improving market access and price stability
Better handling and marketing of citrus fruits in the northern Philippines enabled farmers to sell high quality produce to supermarkets and hotels
Developed countries, by contrast, obtain their food supply from large-scale domestic production and imports. Hence, the focus in developed countries is on improving food security at the community and household level for vulnerable population groups. Initiatives which provide free or subsidised food to people experiencing food insecurity, known as community food programs, are many and varied, including community gardens, food parcels, breakfast clubs, soup vans, and meal programs. At a national level, maintaining robust social safety nets are also important for vulnerable population groups in developed countries. In the United States, for example, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program provides nutrition assistance to low-income households, and has been found to reduce food insecurity by 5-10 percent among individuals and families who participated in the program for six months.
Though much progress has been made in reducing global food insecurity, there are many challenges, both now and in the future, that must be addressed in order to achieve food security for all. A major challenge is addressing protracted crises, such as climate change and conflict, which exacerbate food insecurity. Other future challenges identified by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations include the need to meet the increased demand of safe, nutritious food by a growing global population, ways to increase economic growth in developing countries to alleviate poverty and its effects on food insecurity, the need for trade systems to better address food security concerns, ways reduce post-harvest food losses and food waste, especially in developed countries, and research and development of technologies to enhance the sustainability of agriculture and food production. Our discussion has explored the concept of food security, outlining who is affected by food insecurity, its causes, health effects, and strategies to achieve food security. With a sustained global effort, it is hoped that food security will be ensured for all people, at all times, to allow them to live a healthy, active life.
Sources:
1. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Declaration of the World Summit on Food Security [Internet]. World Summit on Food Security; 2009 Nov 16-18; Rome (Italy). Rome (Italy): Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; 2009 [cited 2016 Apr 8]. Available from: http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/templates/wsfs/Summit/Docs/Final_Declaration/WSFS09_Declaration.pdf
2. Committee on World Food Security Plenary. Global strategic framework for food security and nutrition [Internet]. Rome: Committee on World Food Security; 2015 [cited 2016 Apr 8]. Available from: http://www.fao.org/3/AV031e.pdf
3. High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition of the Committee on World Food Security. Investing in smallholder agriculture for food security [Internet]. Rome: High Level Panel of
Experts on Food Security and Nutrition of the Committee on World Food Security; 2013 [cited 2016 Apr 9. Available from: http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/user_upload/hlpe/hlpe_documents/HLPE_Reports/HLPE-Report-6_Investing_in_smallholder_agriculture.pdf
4. Jama B, Pizarro G. Agriculture in Africa: strategies to improve and sustain smallholder production systems. Ann N Y Acad Sci [Internet]. 2008 [cited 2016 Apr 9];1136(1):218-232. Available from: Wiley Online Library
5. Kilpatrick K. Oxfam case study: supporting irrigation for food security in Malawi [Internet]. Oxford: Oxfam International; 2011 [cited 2016 Apr 9]. Available from: https://www.oxfam.org/sites/www.oxfam.org/files/cs-irrigation-food-security-malawi-100611-en.pdf
6. Asia-Pacific Association of Agricultural Research Institutions. Linking farmers to market: some success stories from Asia-Pacific Region [Internet]. Bangkok: Asia-Pacific Association of Agricultural Research Institutions; 2008 [cited 2016 Apr 9]. Available from: http://www.apaari.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/ss_2008_01.pdf
7. National food plan white paper: our food future [Internet]. Canberra: Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry; 2013 [cited 2016 Apr 9]. Available from: http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/141295/20130719-0940/www.daff.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/2293328/national-food-plan-white-paper.pdf
8. SecondBite. Fact sheet: what is food security? [Internet]. SecondBite [cited 2016 Apr 6]. Available from: http://secondbite.org/sites/default/files/SecondBite%20Fact%20Sheet%20Series_Food%20Insecurity.pdf
9. Mabli J, Ohls J, Dragoset L, Castner L, Santos B. Measuring the effect of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participation on food security [Internet]. Alexandria: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service; 2013 [cited 2016 Apr 9]. Available from: http://www.fns.usda.gov/sites/default/files/Measuring2013.pdf
10. FAO, IFAD, WFP. The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2015. Meeting the 2015 international hunger targets: taking stock of uneven progress [Internet]. Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations [cited 2016 Mar 29]. Available from: http://www.fao.org/3/a-i4646e.pdf
