Food is the first basic human need and fundamental right of every

 human being, having constitutional guarantees in almost all

countries. That's why the UN recognized the Right to food in the
Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, vital for the enjoyment of all
other rights.


Although food security has always been a crucial issue, there
is increasing global concern in it after 2007/8 food crises which
is reinforced whenever food prices start rising.


This presentation explains the concept of food security, its

evolution, challenges at country level as well as at global level

and ends with a set of recommendations.
 Food Security is an evolving concept, getting refined after
new developments and greater awareness about its necessity

 During 1970s,food crises created awareness for food security and led
to formal institutional response globally. However food availability
through buffer stocks was considered enough for ensuring food
security
 During 1980s,concern with increased poverty added access to food as
essential as food availability for food security

 During 1990s,interest in human development led to absorption of food

also as an essential component of food security
 During 2000s,recurring food crises necessitated to include stability
as one of the main components of food security
During 2010s, evidence of increasing malnutrition among the
 children/females led to inclusion of nutrition also as an
essential element of food security
Now food security invariably means five things;
Food is available in the country.

It is accessible to people, physically and financially.
People are healthy to absorb it.
Food supplies /prices are stable over period.
It is nutritious enough to sustain a human body.
“when all people at all times have access to sufficient, safe,
nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life”.

Food and Agriculture Organisation,UN

Food insecurity is 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“

United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).[

Demand

 Increasing
population
 Unequal
distribution
 Logistical issue
 Environmental
degradation
 Poverty

6
Trend in World
Population
 Declining birthrate in
developed nations
 Higher birthrate in poorer
regions

7
Distribution &
Logistics
 Adequate food
production
 Lack of
infrastructure
 High cost
 Perishables

8
Environmental
Degradation
 Over dependent
use of:
 Chemical

 Fertilizers

 Insecticides
 Pesticides

9
Challenges in
Food Production
 Sustainable agriculture
 Improved production
 Reduced use of
chemicals
 Improved environmental
condition
 Safe food

10
Halal Policy
(Muslim
countries)
 Holistic
 Availability
 Affordability for all strata
of society
 Purchasing power
 Compliant to standard and
quality

11
Factors Affecting
Food Production
 Lack of land
 Declining farm
labor force
 Climate change
 High input cost

12
FOUR PILLARS OF
FOOD SECURITY
Availability

Availability refers to the physical existence of food. On national level food

availability is a combination of domestic food production, commercial food imports
and exports, food aid and domestic food stocks. On household level food could be
from own production or bought from the local markets.

Regarding food production, water resources are required to produce the crops.

Due to population growth and climate change, the pressure on existing natural
resources, namely land and water, increases. Impacts of climate change are often
leading to land degradation, lack of irrigation water, reduced soil moisture and
therefore losses of economic livelihoods.
Use and Utilization
Use describes the socio-economic aspects of household food and nutrition
security, determined by knowledge and habits. Assuming that nutritious
food is available and accessible, the household has to decide what food to
purchase and how to prepare it as well as how to consume and allocate it
within the household.

Another aspect is the biological utilization. This relates to the ability of the
human body to take food and convert it. This gained energy is very
important when it comes to daily physical activities, for example working in
agriculture
Stability
Stability describes the temporal dimension of food and nutrition security,
respectively the time frame over which food and nutrition security is being
considered. Stability is given when the supply on household level remains
constant during the year and in the long-term. 

That includes food, income and economic resources. Furthermore it is

important to minimize external risks such as natural disaster and climate
change, price volatility, conflicts or epidemics through activities and
implementations improving the resilience of households
Access
Access is ensured when all households have enough resources to obtain
food in sufficient quantity, quality and diversity for a nutritious diet. This
depends mainly on the amount of household resources and on prices. In
addition, accessibility is also a question of the physical, social and policy
environment.

Drastic changes in these dimensions may seriously disrupt production

strategies and threaten food access of affected households. As an
example, developing countries may be affected by severe droughts or
floods more and more frequently. Accordantly, the harvest volume shrinks
and the prices for food increase, affecting on the availability and
accessibility of food for households
 Undernourished Population
1990– 92 2000– 02 2005– 07 2008– 10 2011– *
Millions
World 1 957. 906. 878. 842.
015.3 3 6 2 3

Develop 19.8 18.4 13.6 15.2 15.7

ed
Regions
Developi 995.5 938.9 892.9 863.0 826.6
ng
Regions
Africa 177.6 214.3 217.6 226.0 226.4

Asia 751.3 662.3 619.6 585.5 552.0

Latina 65.7 61.0 54.6 50.3 47.0

America &
Caribbean
Oceania 0.8 1.2 1.1 1.1 1.2

Source: State of Food Insecurity 2013 (FAO)

 Despite substantial progress made since the MDGs were
launched in 2000, the number of people chronically
undernourished are more than 870 million, bulk of whom are
in Africa and Asia; almost 15 percent of their population is
undernourished

 Most of the progress made was before 2007/8 food crises. It

means any food crises wipes out a significant proportion of
progress made

 Even the methodology used by FAO needs to be improved

to truly capture the incidence of mal/undernourishment
 • Failed agriculture market regulations lack of anti-dumping
mechanisms export restrictions and panic buying, US
Dollar Depreciation
• increased farming for use in biofuels world oil prices at
more than $100 a barrel global population growth
• climate change
• loss of agricultural land to residential and industrial
development
• growing consumer demand in China and India



 Growth is essential for poverty alleviation which is a crucial
condition for food and nutrition security
 Yet this growth must be inclusive, ensuring the
participation
of poor in growth effort process for substantial improvement
in food security
 Within this framework, contents of growth must target the
food
and nutrition aspects to ensure food security---safe drinking
water, health services, targeted food fortification
 In the broader perspective, it is the agricultural
development
which makes the biggest dent in poverty reduction and
hence food and nutrition security
 Despite the highest growth rates which can be achieved,
there will always remain a significant section of society
which could not reap the benefits of growth for any reason.
 State must create an effective, efficient and transparent
system of Social Safety Nets for these people who are left in
this growth process
 Growth must ultimately accompanied by social and
political structural changes such as people
empowerment, gender balance, good governance, private
sector participation etc
Global Food Security-Major Challenges
 Production -slow rate of growth of food production is adversely
affecting the supply of food grains

 Consumption -increasing consumption and wastages are

putting pressures on food grains stocks

 Distribution - bottlenecks pose threats to its availability even in

normal times

Politics -political Issues also affecting food chains


 Decrease in cultivated area - urbanization, industrialization and
infrastructural projects on lands used for agriculture


Degradation of arable lands due to bad agricultural and irrigation practices

 Stagnant yields due to less than adequate resource allocation for

agricultural R&D

 Climate change and environmental threats

 Increased cultivation of Biofuels crops on areas previously used for food

crops cultivation

 Land grabbing by corporate firms in food insecure countries for cultivation of

food grains and their export to rich countries
 Increasing population - sheer number of people demanding food
is increasing

 Growing prosperity - more meat items in the domestic menu

which needs more food grains

 Changing food habits - urbanization needs more processed

food which consumes more food

 Wastages - over eating, throwing away of food cooked more

than the needs and food getting expired in the domestic
fridges/chain stores
 Access to food-financial constraints due to persistent
poverty, inequality and lack of sufficient job
opportunities

 Access to food-physical constraints, due to bad

governance, infrastructural inadequacies or wrong
policy framework

 Food Denial to people and communities due to

militancy, civil war or proxy wars
 Poor commitment of the ruling elite to ensure this
fundamental right through proper legislation

 Not providing good governance whereby people have

freedom to get food grains without any hassle

 Not improving overall law and order and security situation

in the country for peaceful movement of the food grains
and its convenient availability

 Not making special arrangements for the provision of food

grains in conflict/disaster prone areas
Food Security–Country Responses
 Increase production through horizontal expansion-increase
areas under cultivation through technological
interventions, greater water availability and using it
efficiently

 Saving arable lands from property development and

infrastructural use, more reliance on intercropping and
agro forestry etc

 Increase production through vertical expansion-increase the

total factors productivity by greater awareness and use of
good agricultural practices, availability of quality inputs at
affordable prices
 Reduce production and post production losses and
wastages by encouraging judicious use of chemicals
and improved processing facilities

 Establish food godowns at convenient places to respond to

the needs of vulnerable groups as and when needed

 Establish adequate system to forecast shortages and

timely import of food grains
 Improve financial access of the people to food
through employment creation, skill development and
job clearance information networks

 Provide income support to the extremely poor by

creating social safety nets

 Improve physical access of the people to food by

facilitating free movement of food grains throughout
the country
 Improve general health care by allocating more resources to
promotive and preventive healthcare which is more cost effective
and helpful in the developing countries than the curative

 Population planning for arresting its rapid growth with particular

attention to mother and child healthcare

 Pay special attention to water borne diseases which are

widespread but can be controlled with dedicated efforts

 Food fortification to make it healthy and absorption friendly

 Each country to have sufficient buffer stocks available for emergency in different
parts to ensure their easy availability in emergency situation

 Code of conduct at UNO level not to impose restrictions on the exports of food
by the food exporting countries in times of crises which aggravate the
situation more than the actual crises

 Timely information about the global trends in stocks and production and early
warning in case of looming food shortages must be available

 In time import of food grains whenever a country or a region’s stocks appear to

fall below the danger threshold