GEN005

LESSON:13 SUSTAINABLE WORLD:

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
What is meant by the global food security?
Food security as defined by the United Nations’ Committee on World
Food Security; means that all people,at all times ,have physical,social
and economic access to sufficient,safe,and nutritious food that meets
their food preferences and dietary needs for an active and healthy life.
Importance of Global Food Security
1. Food insecurity - often rooted in poverty.
2. Poverty decreases the ability of countries to develop their
agricultural markets and economies.
3. Access to quality ,nutritious food is fundamental to human existence
4. Increased global security and stability. Improved health and
healthcare.
Why is food security a global issue?

Need to have sufficient incomes and resources to obtain food .

but with proper nutrition,sanitation,and hygiene ,many
diseases-especially those caused by food and waterborne
contaminants-are less likely to occur. Food security is an issue
both globally and at home in the United States. The 1996
World Summit on Food Security declared that ‘’food should
not be used as an instrument for political and economic
pressure’’
 Pillars of Food Security
Growth of World Food Supply (caloric base) per
capital. The WHO states that three pillars determine
food security: food availability ,food access,and food
use and misuse. The FAO adds a fourth pillar;the
stability of the first three dimension of food security
over time. In 2009 the World Summit on Food
Security stated that the ‘’ four pillars of food security
are availability,access,utilization and stability.
1.Food Availability
Food Availability relates to the supply of food
through production ,distribution and exchange.
Enough nutritious food of sufficient quality needs
to be available to people for their consumption
Availability can be affected by.
Production ,distribution and exchange.
Production: how much and what types of food
are available through produced and storage
locally. Crop production is affected by rainfall,
land use ,management ,harvesting ,etc.Not all
countries can have food like Japan and
Singapore.

Goats are an essential part of global food

security because they are relatively low-
maintenance and easy to raise and farm.
Distribution : how is food made
available (physically mode),in what
form,when,and to whom. It also involves
storing ,processing, transport, packaging
and marketing foods.
Exchange: how much available food can
be obtained through exchange mechanisms
such as barter, trade,purchase,or loans. The
exchange of food requires efficient trading
systems and market institutions, which can
affect food security. Per capita world food
supplies are more than adequate to provide
food security to all , and thus food
accessibility is a greater barrier to achieving
food security.
2. Food Process
Food access refers to the affordability and
allocation of food and the preferences of
individuals and households.
Individuals and Households must acquire
sufficient food to eat a healthy, nutritious diet or
have access to adequate resources needed to
grow their food (e.g.,land). Food access can be
affected by:
Affordability is the ability of individuals,
households, or communities to afford the
price of food or land for producing food
relative to their incomes. Location can affect
access to food and which type of access a
family will rely on? A households assets,
including payment, land, products of labor,
inheritances and gifts can determine a
households access to food.
Allocation: the economic ,social and
political mechanisms are governing
when,where and how food can be
accessed by consumers and on what
terms. For examples , food may be
unequally allocated according to age
and gender within households.
Preference: social,religious and cultural norms and
values that influence the consumer demand for
certain types of food (e.g.,religious prohibitions or the
desire to follow a specific dietary pattern such us
vegetarianism,weight management sets aside a
specific group of foodstuffs)

The USDA adds that access to food must be available

in socially acceptable ways. Without,for
example,resorting to emergency food
supplies,scavenging,stealing or other coping strategies.
3. Food utilization:
Food utilization: people must have
access to a sufficient quantity and
diversity of foods to meet their
nutritional needs and must also eat and
properly metabolize such food.
Utilization can be affected by:
Nutritional value : the nutritional value
provided by the foods that are consumed, as
measured in calories, vitamins, protein and
various micronutrients ( e.g., iron, iodine,
vitamin A). Education about nutrition and
food preparation can affect food utilization
and improve this pillar of food security.
Health status: Access to healthcare is
another determinant of food utilization since
the health of individuals controls how the
food is metabolized. For example, intestinal
parasites can take nutrients from the body
and decrease food utilization. Sanitation can
also reduce the occurrence and spread of
diseases that can affect food utilization.
Food Safety: Food safety affects food
utilization and can be affected by the food
preparation,processing and cooking in the
community and household. Nutritional
values of the family determine food choice
and access to food free from food spoilage or
toxic contamination introduced during the
production,processing,packaging ,distributio
n or marketing of food ,and from the food-
borne disease such as salmonella.
Preparation and consumption:
sanitation and hygiene are essential in
food preparation. The resources (e.g.,
cooking tools and fuel). Knowledge and
ability to prepare and consume food in a
healthy and hygienic way.
Food stability
Food stability refers to the ability to
obtain adequate food over time. Food
may be available and accessible to all
people at all times ,access,availability
and utilization should be stable over
time.
The concept of stability can therefore
refer to both the availability and access
dimensions of food security. People
should not risk long access to food due to
sudden shocks ( e.g.,economic or climatic
crisis ) or cyclical events such as seasonal
food insecurity.
Buffer stock-A buffer stock is a system or scheme
which buys and stores stocks at times of good harvest
to prevent prices falling below a target range (or price
level) and releases stocks during bad harvests to avoid
prices rising above a target range (or price level). A
buffer stock scheme attempts to use commodity
storage to stabilize prices in an entire economy or an
individual market. Specifically, commodities are
bought when a surplus exists in the economy, stored,
and sold from these stores when economic shortages
occur.
Public distribution system- is a government-
sponsored chain of shops entrusted with distributing
basic food and non-food commodities to the needy
sections of the society at very low prices.
Advantages are:
(1) it has helped in stabilizing food prices and making
food available to consumers at affordable prices.
(2) it has helped in avoiding hunger and famine by
supplying food from surplus regions of the country to
deficient regions are the two important components of
food security system in a state.
How can food security be assessed?
The state of food security varies over a range of
scales, ranging from the individual to global.even
where food security is present at a particular
individual or household level, it may not be so
regional conversely, while a nation or region may
be generally considered food secure certain
(groups of) individuals may still suffer from food
insecurity.
Food Insecurity -food insecurity , on the
other hand , is defined by the United States
Department of Agriculture (USDA) as a
situation of limited or uncertain availability
of nutritionally adequate and safe foods or
limited or uncertain ability to acquire
acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways.
 EFFECTS OF FOOD INSECURITY
1. Famine and hunger are both rooted in
food insecurity. Chronic food insecurity
translates into a high degree of vulnerability
to famine and hunger ensuring food security
presupposes elimination of vulnerability;
 EFFECTS OF FOOD INSECURITY
2. Stunting and chronic nutritional deficiencies among
children with symptoms of low calorie and low protein
intake results to decreasing body size (stunted growth).
This process starts in utero if the mother is
malnourished and continues through approximately
the third year of life. It leads to higher infant and child
mortality, but at rates far lower than during famines.
Once stunting has occurred, improved nutritional
intake after about two years is unable to reverse the
damage;
 EFFECTS OF FOOD INSECURITY
3. Premature failure of vital organs during
adulthood. For example, a 50-years-old
individual might die of heart failure because
his/her heart suffered structural defects during
early development; stunted individuals suffer a
higher rate of disease and illness than those who
have not undergone stunting;
 EFFECTS OF FOOD INSECURITY
4. Severe malnutrition in early childhood
often leads to defects in cognitive
development . it,therefore, creates
disparity among children who did not
experience severe malnutrition and
those who share it;
 EFFECTS OF FOOD INSECURITY
5. Depression ,anxiety and sleep disorders - a
recent comprehensive systematic review showed
that over 50 studies have shown that food
insecurity is strongly associated with a higher risk
of depression ,anxiety and sleep disorders. For
depression and anxiety, food insecure individuals
have almost a threefold risk increase compared
to food secure individuals.
 QUESTIONS
1. What is the definition of global food
security?
2. What are the pillars of food security?
3. How does poverty affect food security?
4. How does food access relate to food
security?
5. What factors can affect food availability?
 QUESTIONS
6. What is the role of food utilization in food security?
7. How does food stability contribute to food security?
8. What is a buffer stock scheme?
9. What is the role of the public distribution system in
food security?
10. How does food insecurity affect individuals and
communities?
GEN005
LESSON:13 SUSTAINABLE WORLD:
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Joanne Banog
Princess Prades
Nena Hermosa