Food Security
Food Security
Food Security
According to World food summit report of 1996, Food security refers to a situation where all
people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food
that meets their dietary requirements and food preferences for an active and healthy life.
Populations or individuals who are food secure live in no fear of hunger or starvation.
Therefore food insecurity will mean a situation where there is limited access or uncertain
availability of adequate nutritious and safe food resources that are acquired in socially
acceptable ways. Food security consists of four major pillars namely: Availability, Access, Use
(utilization) and Stability.
Availability
Availability relates to food supply through production, distribution and exchange. Food
production is determined by a number of factors such as:
Crop and animal production is not necessarily sufficient for populations and countries to
achieve food security. Food must be distributed to or from different regions within a country or
to other countries. The chain of food distribution is affected by
Processing
Packaging
Storage
Marketing
Transport
Food access can be classified as Direct Access where individuals and households produce their
own food and Economic Access where food is bought from elsewhere. Economic access is
affected by location and preferences. Preference of food can be affected by demographics,
level of education, gender, health and social status and culture.
Use or Utilization
The quantity and quality of food that reaches the households and individuals and the food
choice are affected by various factors:
Food safety
Food preparation
food processing
cultural preferences
education and awareness
Nutritional value
health status
Food Stability
This refers to the ability of individuals to obtain enough food over time
Focuses on the number of different food groups consumed over a given specified period ( 24
hrs/ 48 hrs/ 7 days)
3. Household Hunger Scale (HHS)
Measures the experience of household food deprivation based on a set of predictable reactions
captured through a survey
Assesses the household behaviours and rates them on the basis of a set of varied established
behaviours on how household deal with food shortages
Food insecurity can be transitory, seasonal or chronic. Transitory food insecurity arises from
natural disasters like floods, storms, droughts etc. these result in crop failure and animal\
livestock death. Civil conflicts also cause instability in market supply. This lead to food prices
spikes that can cause transitory food insecurity.
+Infrastructure + Standards
1. Drought and other extreme weather conditions such as frost and hail result in crop failure or damage
hence poor harvest.
2. Pests, crops and livestock diseases. These lead to loss of livestock and produce hence loss of food
resources. It also involves use of money that will have been otherwise used for buying food
3. Climate change leads to unpredictable weather conditions and recurrent extreme droughts and other
conditions that adversely affect crop and livestock performance such as frost, hail damage, floods etc.
4. Rapid population growth which will put strain on existing food resources
6. AIDS and related challenges reduces available workforce and loss of revenue to AIDS related costs
9. Cash crops dependence has taken much of the land that will have been used for farming food crops
5. Investing in relevant agricultural and technological research such as crop and animal breeding,
biotechnology etc
6. Investing in irrigation
8. Diversify diets
9 Agricultural insurance
CHALLENGES TO ACHIEVING FOOD SECURITY
1. Water crisis/scarcity or shortage
8. Politics