Discover what food security is and how important it is?
Food security is the guarantee of all dimensions that inhibit the occurrence of hunger. Availability and permanent access to food, full consumption from a nutritional point of view and sustainability in production processes.
Therefore, food insecurity is a direct consequence of climate change, soil degradation, water scarcity, pollution, demographic explosion, governance failures, health and socioeconomic crises.
The United Nations (UN), through the Sustainable Development Goals, established a deadline for the end of all forms of hunger in the world. By 2030, governments and civil society must implement actions to mitigate this serious situation that kills and affects the quality of life of so many people around the world.
But is it possible to achieve this goal with so many calamities? In this article, you can see what food security represents in practice and how the concept relates to the reality of hunger.
How was the term Food Security coined and how is it applied?
The term food security emerged shortly after the First. World War — it was realized that the superiority of countries did not depend exclusively on their military capacity, but also on ensuring the food self-sufficiency of their population.
Food security became a military term and was closely associated with national security until the 1970s.
During the World Food Conference promoted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the concept was once again associated with food stock shortages. However, in relation to the agricultural production capacity of the countries.
However, even with the recovery of production, which at the time was scarce, the problems of world hunger continued, seriously affecting a large portion of the world’s population. Click here for L 3 Award in food and safety
Food security is a fundamental social right guaranteed by the Federal Constitution of 1988, through Constitutional Amendment 64/2010, which included food in its 6th article.
What are the types of food insecurity?
Food insecurity can be:
Mild: occurs as a result of the lack of food availability, due to problems such as seasonality;
Moderate: when the variety and quantity of foods available are limited and harm consumption from a nutritional point of view;
Acute: when it is not possible to have a meal for a day or more.
What is the relationship between food security and the reality of hunger?
Food security can also be demonstrated by increasing efficiency in agricultural production and reducing food waste. According to FAO, more than 30% of global production is wasted each year between the post-harvest phases and retail sales.
Furthermore, a lot is lost during production processes. Despite the advancement of technology benefiting precision agriculture and production capacity in increasingly smaller spaces. Currently, around 10 million children under the age of five suffer from acute malnutrition.
This is a huge setback in the fight against hunger. Every day, millions of people have nothing to eat. The rise in food prices and other socioeconomic consequences heightened by the Covid-19 pandemic have further increased the severity of this situation.
Recently, the World Food Program warned that the total number of people who will face food insecurity in the world could be 30% higher than the statistics of victims for the same reason in 2020. Around 31 million people, with the potential to reach a of the highest levels in ten years.
The situation is no different. The devaluation of the currency, the government’s inanition in the face of the challenges posed by the pandemic, the suspension of emergency aid payments and the instability of the economy drove the increase in prices of basic basket products. Click here for award in food and safety in catering
Investment in the agricultural sector cannot only aim at producing commodities. It’s needed:
- Establish a shared income generating cycle,
- Provide incentives to ensure harvest profitability;
- Require the supply of part of the production for sale and consumption on the domestic market.
In this way, it is possible to promote production and supply the domestic market, in order to guarantee food security for the entire population of the country.
Want to know about the most current data on hunger in Middle East? Then check out our page Look at the hunger!
