Food security

A woman selling produce at a market in Lilongwe, Malawi

Food security is the availability of food in a country (or other geographic region) and the ability of individuals within that country (region) to access, afford, and source adequate foodstuff. The availability of food irrespective of class, gender or region is another element of food security. Similarly, household food security is considered to exist when all the members of a family, at all times, have access to enough food for an active, healthy life.[1] Individuals who are food secure do not live in hunger or fear of starvation.[2] Food insecurity, on the other hand, is defined 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."[3] Food security incorporates a measure of resilience to future disruption or unavailability of critical food supply due to various risk factors including droughts, shipping disruptions, fuel shortages, economic instability, and wars.[4]

The four pillars of food security include: availability, access, utilization, and stability.[5] The concept of food security has evolved to recognize the centrality of agency and sustainability, along with the four other dimensions of availability, access, utilization, and stability. These six dimensions of food security are reinforced in conceptual and legal understandings of the right to food.[6][7] The 1996 World Summit on Food Security[8] declared that "food should not be used as an instrument for political and economic pressure."[9]

The International Monetary Fund cautioned in September 2022 that "the impact of increasing import costs for food and fertilizer for those extremely vulnerable to food insecurity will add $9 billion to their balance of payments pressures – in 2022 and 2023." This would deplete countries' foreign reserves as well as their capacity to pay for food and fertilizer imports."[10][11]

  1. ^ "Food Security in the United States: Measuring Household Food Security". USDA. Archived from the original on 22 November 2019. Retrieved 23 February 2008.
  2. ^ "Food Security". FAO Agricultural and Development Economics Division. June 2006. Archived from the original on 15 May 2012. Retrieved 8 June 2012.[failed verification]
  3. ^ Gary Bickel; Mark Nord; Cristofer Price; William Hamilton; John Cook (2000). "Guide to Measuring Household Food Security" (PDF). USDA Food and Nutrition Service. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 November 2013. Retrieved 1 November 2013.
  4. ^ "The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2013. The multiple dimensions of food security" (PDF). FAO. Archived (PDF) from the original on 22 December 2018. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  5. ^ FAO (2009). Declaration of the World Food Summit on Food Security (PDF). Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 October 2018. Retrieved 15 October 2013.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations 2021 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference HLPE 2020 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ "1996 Summit on World Food Security Report". 1996 Summit on World Food Security Report.
  9. ^ Food and Agriculture Organization (November 1996). "Rome Declaration on Food Security and World Food Summit Plan of Action". Archived from the original on 8 February 2019. Retrieved 26 October 2013.
  10. ^ "Global Health Is the Best Investment We Can Make". European Investment Bank. Archived from the original on 27 January 2023. Retrieved 27 January 2023.
  11. ^ "Global Food Crisis Demands Support for People, Open Trade, Bigger Local Harvests". IMF. 30 September 2022. Archived from the original on 27 January 2023. Retrieved 27 January 2023.