TOWARDS A

Early 21st Century

 Food Production enough to feed 7 Billion

SUSTAINABLE  870 million suffer from hunger

Availability of food to meet demand at macro level

WORLD: FOOD not enough to prevent hunger and malnourishment at
the local level

SECURITY
LEARNING OUTCOMES:

At the end of this Unit, the students are expected to

demonstrate the following:

 Understand the new trend of globalization as

factor to eradicate country’s poverty and
hunger;
 Categorize the issues and challenges of food
security and its solutions;
 Synthesize the concept of food security as part
Global Crop Production (in trillions of Calories)
of Sustainable development.
Food systems comprise a range of socio-
INTRODUCTION
economic, political and ecological activities and
A vital resource for man, regardless of race, outcomes
nationality, religious affiliation, economic status, or
educational attainment, is food, one of the basic
necessities for the sustainment of life. WHAT IS FOOD SECURITY?

It is important for nations to secure a constant
supply of food for the consumption of the people.
DEFINING FOOD SECURITY
Food Security is defined as “physical and
economic access, at all times, to sufficient, safe and
nutritious food (for people) to meet their dietary needs
and food preferences for an active and healthy life”
(Swaminathan, 2003).
It is a worldwide issue which must be given
considerable attention before the issue escalates
further.
ISSUES AND CHALLENGES
One of the contributing factors that further
cripple and weaken food security both in a domestic
and international level is Armed Conflict.
“Food security is the availability at all times of adequate
food supplies of basic foodstuffs to sustain a steady
expansion of food consumption offset fluctuations in
productions and prices.” – FAO (1974)
“Food security exists when all people, at all times, have
physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe
and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and
food preferences for an active and healthy life.” – FAO
(2002)
3 PARADIGM SHIFTS
1. Decline in entitlement cause lack of access to
food - Amartya Sen (1981)
2. Livelihood security as key household priority
and component
3. Access to food that is preferred ()

Hunger also leads into conflict and, as

aforementioned, leads into an increased shortage in
food. Food Shortage is not only limited to rural areas
but is also an issue plaguing urban sectors.
 FOOD SECURITY AND HUMAN SECURITY

Human Security

 Safety from hunger, disease, repression

Food insecurity

 Denies basic functions of life

 Main cause – poverty
 Poor households vulnerable to hunger and
malnourishment;
 Cut spending on education and healthcare

Link between poverty, food security, and human

security:
The changing distribution of hunger in the
world: numbers and shares of undernourished people 1. Food price spikes
by region, 1990–92 and 2014–16 2. May fuel civil unrest

Notes:  The areas of the pie charts are proportional to

the total number of undernourished in each period.
TRENDS (Factors affecting global food security)
Data for 2014–16 refer to provisional estimates. All
figures are rounded *Includes data for Sudan, which are RISE IN FOOD PRICES AND POVERTY
not included in the figure for sub-Saharan Africa,
following the partition of the country when South Sudan
became an independent state in 2011

After being almost stable for 20 years, the FAO food

price index more than doubled between 2007 and 2008.

This was due to:

 high oil prices

The changing distribution of hunger in the world:  low food reserves
numbers and shares of undernourished people by  protectionism
region, 1990–92 and 2014–16 POPULATION GROWTH AND UNBANIZATION
Notes:  The areas of the pie charts are proportional to
the total number of undernourished in each period.
Data for 2014–16 refer to provisional estimates. All
figures are rounded *Includes data for Sudan, which are
not included in the figure for sub-Saharan Africa,
following the partition of the country when South Sudan
became an independent state in 2011
 Over half the world lives in cities, and those People are eating more protein than they need –
cities are responsible for over 80% of global GDP. especially in wealthy regions

The high density of people, jobs, and assets World’s per capita meat and milk consumption is
which make cities so successful, also makes them growing
vulnerable to the wide range of natural and manmade
These foods are more resource-intensive to produce
shocks and stresses increasingly affecting them today.
than plant-based diets.
PROJECTED POPULATION GROWTH IN BILLIONS

Animal-based foods are more resource-intensive than

Population in Asia expected to swell another billion plus plant-based foods
in four decades
THE FOOD GAP
Improvements in health decrease mortality rate, boost
life expectancy

Rural-urban migration: Expansion of cities and slums-

slum dwellers to double in 2030

Increased demand for water, environmental

degradation, pollution

RISING INCOMES AND CHANING DIETS

Taking into account a growing population and shifting
diets, the world will need to produce 69 percent more
food calories in 2050 than we did in 2006.

Biofuel Production, Land Use Change and Access to

Land

Biofuel production triggered in 2004-5: US and EU

adopted policies and incentives to boost biofuel
Average global temperatures to rise by 2-3∘C in the next
consumption – USAID (2009)
four decades
Biofuel reduces dependence on fossil fuels
 Productivity of major crops drop with small
Biofuel responsible for almost half the increase in total increases of average temperatures
consumption of key food crops in 2006-2007
SOLUTION AND CONCLUSION
THE ENERGY-FOOD NEXUS
 Rationing of food is also a form of solution to
Another major challenge is biofuels’ competition for address food security issues, although this
land and crops. solution can lead to even more problems and
may ultimately worsen the food security such as
It would also increase the food gap to roughly 100
the experience of India with its targeted Public
percent.
Distribution System (PDS) in the 1990s
Conversely, eliminating the use of crop-based biofuels (Swaminathan, 2003).
for transportation would close the food gap by roughly  Ensuring that the economy of a country can
14 percent. weather most downturns and busts will help
cushion the adverse effects of food security
issues.
 Establishing an international network with
countries that can respond to food security
challenges of other countries is a goal that all
members of the international community must
strive for.

GLOBAL SOLUTIONS
Producing 10 percent of all transport fuels from biofuels
 Growing more food
by 2050, as planned by some governments, would
 The integration of smallholders into national
require 32 percent of global crop production but
and global food market
produce only 2 percent of global energy.
 Increased agricultural productivity
CLIMATE CHANGE  Global Food Justice Movement
 Food Sovereignty
 dependence on agriculture for livelihood
 geographic location
 lack of adequate infrastructure
 homelessness

Global warming affects human health, livelihood assets,

food production and distribution, purchasing power and
market flows

Impact of climate change uneven across the regions

 Poor, developing countries most affected