‘Food insecurity is primarily a product of a country’s level of development’ Discuss
Introduction
Food insecurity exists whenever the availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods or the ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways is limited or uncertain (www.who.int). The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) further defines food security as being built on four pillars; food availability, food access, food utilization and stability. Each of these aspects arguably depends on the development of the country, therefore it can be said that food security is ‘a complex sustainable development issue’ (www.who.int). A country’s level of development takes into consideration factors such as its economic state (GDP etc.), political state, population size, education and technological advances. Each of these factors defining a countries development are crucial is sustaining food security, as a result a correlation can be drawn between food insecurity and development. On the other hand, development levels do not always determine food security of a country. It must be realised that even within developed countries food insecurity is still a problem, especially with widening gaps between the rich and poor. Furthermore external factors, such as war, can hugely disrupt food security in both MEDC’s and LEDC’s. Aid, usually given to food insecure LEDC’s, can also improve a less developed country’s food security, however usually this is not a long term or sustainable solution. Climatic conditions also impact upon country’s food security, for the short term or the long term. Climatic extremes, such as drought and natural disasters, which are arguably worsening with climate change, make it hard for countries to grow a sustainable amount of crops. Overcoming such factors in association to climate is a challenge for both MEDC’s and LEDC’s. Therefore such