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Food Insecurity


6 minutes| 826 words
If the world produces enough food to feed 7 billion people on the planet, why do people still go to bed hungry?
The 2017 report on the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the world released by the World Food Program (WFP), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development revealed that the number of undernourished people increased from 777 million in 2015 to 815 million in 2016. The report identified that most conflict affected countries such as South Sudan, Somalia and Yemen were hit by Famine.
Food insecurity is a situation where people do not have physical and economic access to sufficient and nutritious food.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) defines food insecurity as a state in which consistent access to adequate food is limited by a lack of money and other resources at times during the year.

Read What is Food Security?

Causes of food insecurity
The causes of food insecurity differ from  country to country, however the main factors that cause and exacerbate food insecurity are drought and conflict, and these factors worsen the distribution, access and production of food.
The state of food and nutrition in the world (2017) report highlights that the vast majority of the chronically food insecure and malnourished live in countries affected by conflict; an estimated 489 million of 815 million undernourished people and an estimated 122 million of 155 million stunted children.
Natural catastrophes such as droughts, storms and floods leave the land unsuitable for  food production which leads to a huge gap in ratio of people to natural resources and a catalyst for conflict. Fighting forces people to flee their countries and end up in situations where they cannot feed themselves.
The State of Food Security and Nutrition report  points out that in fact  competition over productive land and water has been identified as a potential trigger for conflict, as loss of land and livelihood resources, worsening labour conditions and environmental degradation negatively affect and threaten household and community livelihoods. Sources estimate that over the past 60 years, 40 percent of civil wars have been associated with natural resources.
In areas affected by conflict, it is difficult to produce, distribute and even access food which leads to food insecurity. Consequently, food insecurity is caused by and triggers conflict.
Other causes of food insecurity include population growth, water scarcity and climate change.
As the population grows, so does the demand for food, land and water. The demand leads to additional use of limited resources and the expansion of cropland. If there is no sustainable use of the land, it could lead to future generations having limited or no resources to grow their food.
The African population is projected to more-than-double by the middle of this century, adding 1.3 billion people despite the ravages of hunger, disease, and civil conflict according to Population connection.
Climate change greatly affects food security and is expected to have even greater impact in the coming years. Climate change according to climate and capitalism affects food security in four ways:
·         Higher temperatures lead to heat stress for plants, increasing sterility and lowering overall productivity. Higher temperatures also increase evaporation from plants and soils, increasing water requirements while lowering water availability.
·         In many places, growing seasons are changing, ecological niches are shifting, and rainfall is becoming more unpredictable and unreliable both in its timing and its volume. This is leading to greater uncertainty and heightened risks for farmers, and potentially eroding the value of traditional agricultural knowledge such as when to plant particular crops.
·         Rising seas contaminate coastal freshwater aquifers with salt water. Several small island states are already having serious problems with water quality, which is affecting agricultural productivity. Higher seas also make communities more vulnerable to storm surges which can be 5-6 meters high.
·         The interactions between climate change, water scarcity and declines in agricultural productivity could lead to regional tensions and even open conflict between states already struggling with inadequate water supplies due to rising populations and over-pumping of groundwater.

Types of food insecurity
The Food and Agriculture Organization identifies two types of food insecurity, chronic and transitory.
Chronic food insecurity is long – term and arises when people are not able to meet their minimum food requirements over a sustainable period of time.  It results from extended periods of poverty, lack of assets and inadequate access to productive or financial resources. Chronic food insecurity can be overcome with long term development measures that can also address poverty.
Short term inability to produce enough food to maintain a nutritional status as a result of fluctuations in food availability and food access including year to year variations in domestic food production, prices and household incomes is defined as transitory food insecurity.

What is Food Security?

Read more on Food Insecurity here:

The state of food security and nutrition in the world 
How climate change threatens food insecurity 
 An introduction to the basic concepts of food security
 WHAT CAUSES HUNGER
Five worst spots for hunger

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