Food Security and Global Agriculture

Everyone needs food, yet only some individuals have enough to get by. This global crisis is caused by various factors.

Markets play a critical role in improving food security by mediating access to resources, incentivizing resilient production practices and spreading risk across geographies. Unfortunately, they also pose systemic risks like risk cascades and loss of local control that should be considered carefully before acting upon.

Climate Change

Climate change poses one of the greatest threats to food security globally. Already it is having an adverse effect on farmers’ ability to produce enough food, contributing to increased poverty and hunger levels worldwide.

One challenge to food security is accessibility of available food supplies, which may depend on factors like pricing and household proximity to suppliers; quality and utility also play a significant role; this depends on nutrition as well as taste of available foods available for consumption.

Food insecurity often impacts those at the lowest levels of society most directly. Small-scale farmers rely on predictable weather patterns to produce enough yields to feed themselves and their families, but when natural disasters or climate change disrupt this pattern they are forced to leave their fields in search of work elsewhere, leaving them susceptible to extreme hunger. Global communities can improve food security by encouraging people to produce their own food while simultaneously decreasing waste during production processes.

Natural Disasters

One natural disaster can kill thousands, while hundreds more become homeless and suffer irreparable damage, creating long-term economic consequences in affected nations.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, natural disasters caused an estimated $96 billion in agricultural losses between 2005 and 2015. Drought was particularly costly with 83% of losses being weather-related events.

Droughts may be compounded with other threats like pandemics, further complicating food security challenges. Last year alone, 45 million people across 13 southern African countries became food insecure due to drought and coronavirus (Mukeredzi, 2020). Understanding their impact is vital in order to build resilience against such challenges.

Malnutrition

One of the earliest global documents addressing food security and malnutrition was the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). This Declaration established that everyone has the right to an adequate standard of living, including access to sufficient, nutritious foods.

Unfortunately, many people around the world still struggle to meet their nutritional needs. Some cannot afford a diet which would provide all essential nutrients while others face challenges in terms of preparing, storing and consuming their food safely due to factors like poverty or lack of education.

However, there are ways to increase global food security. These strategies include encouraging healthier eating habits and the adoption of sustainable agriculture techniques; incentivizing agricultural production; and decreasing food waste. Examples include lowering prices of healthy produce; taxing sugary drinks and advocating for nutrition education using labeling on food packaging or electronic media; as well as efforts to promote alternative protein sources like cricket flour that may provide healthy yet environmental nutrition sources.

Food Waste

Food insecurity – defined as accessing sufficient, safe, nutritious foods at all times – is one of the world’s most pressing problems. Economic disasters, natural catastrophes or war which hinder production or disrupt communities can often lead to hunger and malnutrition resulting in hunger and malnutrition for millions around the globe.

Food waste occurs at all points in the food system – from farm to fork. It ranges from hundreds of tons of broccoli remaining unharvested on farms to leaving half-eaten potatoes on your dinner plate at dinnertime.

IFPRI conducts cutting-edge research on global food security using cutting-edge technologies and practices, while supporting countries, agribusinesses, and smallholder farmers with financial and technical resources through its Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP) – from farm to fork.