LESSON 14

Global Food Security

Desired Learning Outcomes: Explain global food security and its elements.
Analyze how climate change and other factors
distresses global food security.
Identify the factors that contribute to world hunger and
food insecurity.

Topic: Global Food Security

Time Frame: 3 hours (1 week)

I. Introduction:

According to the website of World Population Projections, the planet’s occupants

would have reached 7, 874, 825 with an estimated 1.03% growth rate. Another grave
issue threatening the human populace is – hunger. In the Philippines, price increase
in basic food commodity is plaguing the nation affecting each and everyone of its
inhabitants. Images of how common Filipino folks make ends meet are frequent
topics covered by the media and flashed in our daily televisions screens. The pagpag
phenomena, wherein a number of extremely poor groups “recycle” food scraps and
use it for personal consumption or for enterprise is part of these marginalized group’s
lives. For many, this kind of lifestyle seems to be unbearable, but for some it is a
reality.

II. Inside Content:

According to the Food and Agriculture, “food security exists when all people, at
all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food
to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.”
Basing on FAOs definition, food security is not only about filling the stomach with
food, but an important element of it involves having nutritionally adequate and safe
foods. Consequently, researches conducted by the State of Food Security in the
World reveals that Asia has the largest number of people growing hungry each day.
 In keeping with the Malthusian principle, the steady growth of global population
challenges world leaders and scientists alike on how to produce solutions to meeting
human food and nutritional needs while sustaining the finite resources of the world.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) states that household food
security occurs when all of the members of the unit have access too enough food for
an active and healthy lifestyle. This entails that nutritionally acceptable and safe
foods are readily made available and acquiring this are made through socially
accepted methods and not attained through food scavenging, stealing and the likes.
To put it simply, a family is food secure when they are able to pay food and obtain
nutritious food hence they do not have to live in fear of starvation and hunger. This
strongly urges people to shy away from the consumption of emergency food
supplies such as instant noodles unless totally deemed necessary like during
calamities and other natural disasters.

A number of researches spearheaded by international food insecurity

organizations shows that statistically speaking, almost 900 million people all over the
globe do not have enough to eat meaning one in every four people experience
hunger and starvation. With the growing of people experiencing food insecurity, this
matter is no longer deemed as a developed-developing world issue – it is everyone’s
concern. We are all affected.

Elements of Food Security

In accordance with the recommendation of the World Health Organization, there

are three important elements involved in food security. The first aspect is about the
availability of food, this element demands having adequate supply of quality food on
a steady and reliable basis. Moreover, this component concerns itself with providing
measures and procedures to ensure a continuous and undisrupted food supply in
spite of risk factors involving war, drought, economic instability, and disease
outbreaks involving both livestock and crop production. These foods can be made
available through domestic production or importation from foreign land which is
usually resorted to by communities incapable of producing their own supply due to
several constraints like lack of fertile soil, climate disruption and inadequacy of man
power to engage in agriculture labor. Further collaborations of food security
agencies also included an additional parameter in this element. They strongly
propose that the people are given a wide selection or options of healthy and safe
foods to choose from. And by doing so, both the people’s dietary needs and food
preferences are satisfactorily met.

Studies show that there is a direct relationship between poverty and food
insecurity. This bring us to the second aspect of food security which is access to
food. In a highly commercialized world, almost every commodity come with a price
tag separating population between the haves and have-nots. To become food
secure means having enough resources to enable families to obtain proper foods
leading to a healthy diet. Family units with enough financial stability and resources
stay clear of the threat to poverty guaranteeing their access to available food in the
market. Poor families however often become the victims of habitual hunger and are
considered as the most vulnerable group during food scarcity and famine. Factors
contributing financial constraints resulting to inadequate access to food may include
unemployment, underemployment, or lack of income generating opportunities. It is
such an intermingling of several factors that no single remedy is enough to solution
this problem.

When financial resources are not enough to access nutritious food required for a
healthy lifestyle, the tendency is for people to cut costs and opt for a less nutritive
selection of food such as instant noodles, and canned sardines to get them for the
day. A very familiar scenario that is common to many Filipinos struggling to feed
members of their household with a limited budget. This now leads us to the third
aspect of food security which is food utilization, safety and sanitation. Food
utilization signifies the proper use of food taking into consideration the body’s
needed vitamins and minerals. Nutrition education increases the awareness of the
people with regards to the proper selection of food items to be included in the daily
meal plan. Alongside this, access to sanitation and safe water supply is required in
the preparation of a hearty and nutritious meal for the family. Contaminated water
and neglect for safe practices in the prepping of food leads to gastrointestinal
infections, diseases and in some cases food poisoning. Consuming less nutritious
and unsafe food items become a part of everyday living for many, they unknowingly
put their health at risk of contracting diseases such as high blood pressure, cancer
and diabetes to mention a few.

However, with the growing awareness and realization that the world’s resources
is finite and milking it dry to the bones will be detrimental for our race, another
aspect of food security comes into play. This element is environmental stability
which basically concerns itself with the status of our ecology. Pressures are arising
all over the world as finite resources become smaller by the hour posing problems
to the production of food. International organization boils down measures to mitigate
the causes and effects of pollution, climate change and overpopulation to our food
supply.

Changes to Global Food Security

Global Food Security is a huge problem that concerns each and every one of us.
Today, we might be confident that we won’t get affected by food shortages
experienced by other countries. But who knows? Nowadays, anything is possible.
 The most unthinkable circumstances are quickly becoming part of our reality. Food
availability is not exempted from among these possibilities. The study conducted in
2013 by the FAQ reveals that Sub-Saharan Africa has the largest prevalence of
hungry people. Another study by the WHO in 2012 shows that one in every six
children is suffering from malnutrition and are underweight. These are but a few of
the numerous contemporary issues plaguing the world today.

Some of the Factors that Contribute to World Hunger and Food Insecurity

A. Global Water Crisis

With the demand for clean and safe water growing rapidly each day, water table
reserves are drying out in countries such as Northern China, part of USA, and
India caused by over irrigation and over-pumping. Several underwater reserves,
and bodies of water are also subject to undergoing massive pollution brought
about by irresponsible chemical waste disposals of factories and other
manufacturing agencies.

B. Climate Change
The frequent changes in climate patterns and remarkable increases in
temperatures tend to have a catastrophic effect on the harvested crops,
supplementary land and water resources. Miles and miles of fertile land are now
barren incapable of sustaining produce decreasing food supply that could be
distributed to feed the population. Typhoons and similar catastrophes, flood rice
fields washing away most of the crops and rendering them inedible for the human
populace. Extreme changes in temperature results to massive fish kills affecting
the harvest of fisher folks. Poultry, seafood, and other forms of livestock cannot
escape the crutches of drought caused by climate change – again reducing food
availability for the people. Food supplies move at a downward spiral motion but
the demand for it continues to rise.

C. Land Degradation
Innovation, ingenuity, and the advent of technology gave birth to a lot of
proposed solutions to bridge the widening gap between the supply and demand
of food. Intensive farming modernization processes promising high yields
became the new trend for food production. But as with anything else, success
comes with a price. Fertile lands become exhausted because of an unending
cycle of production. The use of gallons after gallons of chemical pesticides
poison the land while making the crops dependent on the former. Mankind has
mastered the art of exploiting the land for maximum profit without taking a step
back and asking themselves what is the true cost for all these advancements.
D. Greedy Land Deals
Corporations purchase millions of acres of agricultural lands and convert them
into commercial establishments such as shopping malls, gasoline stations, and
fast food restaurants. Agrarian lots allocated for food production are replaced
with concrete structures rendering farmers powerless to use the land for its
original purpose. Urbanization is an impossible force to slow down targeting farm
and pastoral lands alike.