Food security facts for kids
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Food security means that all people, at all times, have enough safe, healthy, and affordable food to live an active and healthy life. It's about having reliable access to food, no matter who you are or where you live. When a family has food security, everyone in the family can consistently get enough food. People who are food secure don't have to worry about being hungry or starving. Food security also means being ready for future problems that could stop food supplies, like droughts, floods, shipping issues, or wars.
Food insecurity is the opposite. It means that there is limited or uncertain access to enough good food. This can happen for many reasons, like high food prices, problems with global food supplies (for example, due to war), climate change, or not enough water. Food insecurity can also affect people with low incomes and cause health problems.
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Understanding Food Security
The idea of food security has changed over time. Now, it has six main parts, often called "pillars." These are: food availability, access, utilization, stability, agency, and sustainability. These ideas help us understand the right to food. In 1996, the World Food Summit said that "food should not be used as a tool for political or economic pressure."
What is Food Security?
The World Food Summit in 1996 defined food security as "when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life." This means you can physically get to the food, and you can afford it. The food must be safe, healthy, and what you like to eat, so you can live an active life.
What is Food Insecurity?
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) defines food insecurity as "limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods or limited or uncertain ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways." This means you might not always have enough good food, or you might have to get it in ways that aren't normal, like relying on emergency food.
Different Types of Food Insecurity
- Chronic food insecurity means a long-term, constant lack of enough food. Families are always at risk of not being able to get the food they need.
- Transitory food insecurity means food is unavailable only at certain times. If this happens often, it can make families more likely to face chronic food insecurity.
Beyond Just Calories: Nutrition Security
Around 2015, the idea of food security started to focus more on the quality and nutrition of food, not just how many calories people get. Nutrition security means that everyone in a family always has enough protein, energy, vitamins, and minerals. This is also linked to nutrition education and avoiding nutrient shortages.
How We Measure Food Security
We can measure food security by looking at how many calories a person can get each day based on their family's budget. The goal of measuring food security is to understand how much food is available, how easy it is to get, and how well people use it. It's easier to measure how much food is produced and how well people are nourished. But it's harder to measure how easy it is for people to get food, because this often depends on where they live and their specific situation.
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) created the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES). This helps measure food insecurity in a way that can be compared across different countries. Since 2015, the FIES has been used to track progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), especially Goal 2: Zero Hunger.
Organizations like the FAO, WFP, IFAD, WHO, and UNICEF work together to publish a report called The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI report). This report tracks how many people are chronically hungry (undernourished) and how many face moderate or severe food insecurity. It helps track progress towards ending hunger and guides international actions.
Other ways to measure food security include:
- Household Food Insecurity Access Scale: This measures how much food insecurity a family faced in the last month.
- Household Dietary Diversity Scale: This counts how many different types of food groups a family ate over a short time.
- Household Hunger Scale: This measures how much a family experiences hunger based on their reactions to not having enough food.
- Coping Strategies Index (CSI): This looks at what families do when they don't have enough food or money to buy it.
A Look at Food Security History
Throughout history, famines have happened often. Some famines have killed millions of people. While droughts and other natural events can cause famines, how severe a famine becomes, or if it happens at all, often depends on what governments do or don't do. For example, in the 20th century, some government policies, like in the Soviet Union (Holodomor) or People's Republic of China (Great Leap Forward), actually made food security worse for their people. Mass starvation has also been used as a weapon during wars, like the blockades of Germany in World War I and World War II.
The Six Pillars of Food Security
Experts agree that food security stands on several important pillars. The WHO first talked about three: food availability, food access, and food use. The FAO added a fourth: stability over time. In 2020, two more pillars were suggested: agency and sustainability.
Pillar 1: Food Availability
Food availability is about having enough food supply through production, distribution, and trade.
- Production: This means growing crops and raising animals. Factors like land ownership, soil management, crop choices, and breeding methods all affect how much food is produced. Changes in rainfall and temperature can also impact crops. Land used for farming can be lost to cities or become desert due to poor farming practices. However, a country doesn't have to grow all its own food to be food secure, as seen in countries like Japan and Singapore.
- Distribution: Food needs to be stored, processed, transported, packaged, and marketed to reach people. Bad transport systems can make food more expensive.
- Exchange: Most people don't grow all their own food, so they need ways to trade or buy it. Good trading systems and markets are important for food security. Globally, there's enough food for everyone, so getting access to it is a bigger challenge than just having it available.
Pillar 2: Food Access
Food access means people can afford and get food, and it also considers their food preferences.
- Poverty: The UN notes that hunger often comes from not being able to get available food, usually because of poverty. Poverty limits how much food people can buy and makes them more vulnerable to sudden price increases.
- Income and Resources: Access depends on whether a family has enough money to buy food or enough land and resources to grow their own. Families with more resources can handle bad harvests or local food shortages better.
- Types of Access:
* Direct access: A family grows their own food using their own resources. * Economic access: A family buys food grown by others.
- Socially Acceptable Ways: The USDA adds that food access must be in socially acceptable ways. This means not having to rely on emergency food, scavenging, or stealing.
Pillar 3: Food Utilization
Food utilization is about how your body uses the food you eat.
- Safety and Nutrition: For food security, the food you eat must be safe and provide enough nutrients for your body's needs. Food safety is key, and it's affected by how food is prepared, processed, and cooked.
- Health and Sanitation: Your health affects how your body uses food. For example, intestinal parasites can take nutrients from your body. Good sanitation can prevent diseases that affect how you use food.
- Education: Learning about nutrition and how to prepare food can help people use food better and improve this pillar of food security.
Pillar 4: Stability
Food stability means being able to get food consistently over time.
- Temporary Problems: Food insecurity can be temporary. For example, natural disasters or conflicts can stop food from being available. Sudden increases in food prices can also cause temporary food insecurity. Losing a job or getting sick can also temporarily affect food access.
- Seasonal Changes: Food insecurity can also be seasonal, following the regular patterns of growing seasons.
Pillar 5: Agency
Agency means that individuals and groups have the power to make their own choices about the food they eat, how it's produced, processed, and distributed. It also means they can be part of decisions that shape food policies. This idea is similar to Food sovereignty.
Pillar 6: Sustainability
Sustainability is about making sure that food systems can provide food security and nutrition for a long time, without harming the economy, society, or environment for future generations.
What Causes Food Insecurity?
Many things can lead to food insecurity.
High Food Prices
When food prices go up, it becomes harder for people, especially those with low incomes, to afford enough food.
Pandemics and Disease Outbreaks
Large-scale disease outbreaks, like the COVID-19 pandemic, can disrupt food supplies. They can make it harder to produce and distribute food, especially for people who are already struggling. For example, the Ebola outbreak in 2014 caused food prices to rise in West Africa. Lockdowns and travel limits during COVID-19 also made it hard to move food and get workers, affecting the whole food supply chain.
Reliance on Fossil Fuels
Modern agriculture, especially since the Green Revolution (from 1950 to 1984), relies heavily on fossil fuels. These fuels are used to make fertilizers, pesticides, and power irrigation systems. For example, natural gas is key for making nitrogen fertilizers, which help feed almost half the people on Earth today. If fossil fuel prices rise, so do food production costs.
Agricultural Diseases
Diseases that affect farm animals or crops can severely reduce food availability. For instance, a wheat disease called Ug99 can destroy entire wheat crops. This disease is spreading and could cause a worldwide wheat shortage. The Avian Flu has also affected the U.S. poultry industry, leading to higher egg prices.
Wars and Global Food Supplies
Wars can greatly disrupt global food supplies. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has impacted food production, sourcing, and distribution, especially for countries that depend on imports from Ukraine. This has made basic foods and fertilizers more expensive, particularly in Asia and the Pacific, where many people already struggle to afford healthy diets.
Environmental Problems
Land Degradation
Intensive farming, where land is used very heavily, can wear out the soil and reduce crop yields over time. Other causes of land degradation include deforestation and overgrazing. About 40% of the world's farmland is seriously degraded. While the Green Revolution helped feed more people, it also led to soil erosion and pollution from pesticides. This can reduce biodiversity and make land less fertile for future farming.
Water Scarcity
Water scarcity means not having enough clean water. In Sub-Saharan Africa, many countries face severe water stress. By 2030, millions of people in Africa could live in areas with high water stress, possibly forcing them to move. Since most rural families in Africa rely on farming for food, water scarcity directly leads to less food security.
Overfishing
Catching too many fish (overfishing) can harm food security. It reduces the amount of fish available for people to eat and also affects the fish that other food fish depend on. The United Nations has warned that the industries making fish oil and fishmeal have a "considerably negative impact" on food security in West Africa.
Food Loss and Waste
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A lot of food is lost or wasted from farms to our tables. The FAO says that food loss and waste affect all parts of food security. While reducing waste is good, some loss is natural. For example, ensuring food safety means throwing away unsafe food. Also, having extra food (buffers) helps keep supplies stable, but this means some food might be lost or wasted. The impact of reducing waste depends on where it happens in the food chain and where people who need food are located.
Climate Change
In 2023, climate change had a big impact on food security. Extreme weather events like droughts, floods, and hurricanes were the main cause of food problems in 18 countries, affecting over 77 million people. That year was the hottest on record, which damaged crops and reduced food availability. This shows how important it is to act quickly to deal with climate change to protect our food sources.
Effects of Food Insecurity
Food insecurity has serious effects on people and societies.
Social and Economic Impacts
Food insecurity is the root cause of hunger and famine. When food insecurity is constant, people are very likely to experience hunger and famine. Food insecurity can also force people to take risky jobs to earn money. The International Monetary Fund warned in 2022 that rising costs for food and fertilizer would add $9 billion in pressure on countries that are very vulnerable to food insecurity. This would reduce their ability to pay for essential imports.
Stunted Growth and Nutrient Shortages
Many countries face ongoing food shortages. This leads to chronic hunger and malnutrition for many people. When children experience chronic hunger and malnutrition, especially from before birth until about age three, their bodies may respond by becoming smaller. This is called stunting. Stunting can lead to higher rates of infant and child deaths. Once stunting happens, usually after age two, getting better nutrition later can't fix the damage. Severe malnutrition in early childhood can also harm a child's brain development.
In 2019, about 21.3% of children worldwide (144 million children) had stunted growth. While there has been progress in reducing stunting globally, Africa and Asia still have the most children affected by stunting, wasting (being too thin), and being overweight.
Mental Health Effects
Food insecurity is linked to mental health. Many studies show that people who are food insecure are much more likely to experience depression, anxiety, and sleep problems. For example, food-insecure individuals are almost three times more likely to have depression and anxiety. Research also shows a link between food insecurity and disordered eating behaviors. Pregnant individuals who face food insecurity are also more likely to experience symptoms of depression and possibly anxiety.
Ways to Improve Food Security
There are many ways to work towards better food security for everyone.
Stronger Agrifood Systems
Resilient agrifood systems are food systems that can handle problems and still provide enough safe and nutritious food for everyone, while also supporting the people who work in them. These systems need to be able to prevent, prepare for, handle, and adapt to disruptions. This means having diverse food production, varied imports, strong transport networks, and making sure everyone can always get food.
The FAO suggests six ways to make food systems better:
- Combine aid, development, and peace-building efforts in areas affected by conflict.
- Increase how well food systems can handle climate change.
- Help the most vulnerable people become stronger against economic problems.
- Work on food supply chains to lower the cost of healthy foods.
- Fight poverty and unfairness, making sure help reaches the poor.
- Improve food environments and encourage healthy eating habits that benefit both people and the planet.
FAO's Approaches
The FAO uses a "twin track" approach: 1. Long-term Development: This involves investing in rural markets and infrastructure to help poor people grow economically. 2. Short-term Hunger Relief: This includes giving out vouchers for seeds or fertilizers to boost farming, or providing food or cash transfers to families in need. The FAO also supports using subsidies to help families afford food. They emphasize that these approaches should respect human rights, focus on the poor, promote gender equality, and help people become self-reliant.
Bangladesh is an example of a country that has successfully improved food security by increasing farm production and having a stable economy. They built Irrigation systems and saw rapid economic growth.
In 2020, the FAO pushed for making healthy diets affordable. They believe that if healthy diets were common, it could save huge amounts of money currently spent on health problems caused by unhealthy diets. The FAO encourages governments to make nutrition a key part of their farming policies and social support systems. They also call for reducing food loss and waste, lowering costs in the food supply chain, and helping small farmers get better access to markets.
The World Food Summit in Rome in 1996 aimed to renew global efforts against hunger. It set a goal to halve the number of chronically undernourished people by 2015. Another summit took place in 2009. The FAO also works with the African Union to end hunger in Africa by 2025.
Boosting Farm Productivity for the Rural Poor
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Improving how we manage rainwater and soil, and using small-scale irrigation, can help many poor people. When farmers can grow more food, it leads to better diets and higher incomes for them.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) suggests several steps to increase farm productivity:
- Invest in agricultural science and technology to improve crop yields.
- Make sure farmers have secure property rights and access to money.
- Improve human capital through education and better health.
- Work on preventing conflicts and promoting fair governance.
Development Aid Activities
Countries and organizations provide aid to help with global food security. In 2022, the United States pledged $2.9 billion for food security efforts. This money goes to humanitarian aid and programs like the Feed the Future Initiative, which helps children in food-insecure countries.
The World Food Programme (WFP) is a UN agency that uses food aid to fight hunger and poverty. The WFP provides food to refugees and people in emergencies. They also work to improve nutrition and help vulnerable people become self-reliant. One WFP program, "Food For Assets," gives food to people who work on projects that improve food security, like building new infrastructure.
In 2012, the Food Assistance Convention was signed, which is a legal agreement on food aid. Experts also recommended that fighting hunger and malnutrition should be the top priority for aid spending.
Alternative Diets
Food security could be improved by using alternative foods that can be grown easily, are resistant to pests, and don't need complex supply chains. Examples include algae, mealworms, and fungi-based mycoprotein. While these might not taste great on their own, they can be processed into more appealing foods.
There are over 2,000 types of edible insects. Insects can be a sustainable source of protein, with 13-77% protein by dry weight. They also provide energy similar to beef and chicken. Farming insects can be a sustainable way to support populations facing food insecurity because they are nutritious and take less space to raise than other protein sources.
Food Justice Movement
The Food Justice Movement is about fairness in food systems. It focuses on social, economic, and political issues related to environmental justice, better nutrition, and health. This movement is growing as more people realize that hunger affects many communities, especially minority groups.
Controlled Environmental Agriculture
Controlled Environmental Agriculture (CEA) uses systems like hydroponics (growing plants in water) and vertical farming (growing plants in stacked layers). This approach helps save water and land, making it great for dry areas. CEA can boost local food production and help with long-term food security, especially in places with good infrastructure and skilled workers.
Digital Technologies
New digital technologies like artificial intelligence, blockchain, and the Internet of Things (IoT) are changing farming. They help farmers get real-time information, use resources better, and make smarter decisions. This leads to more food production and less harm to the environment. For example, precision agriculture tools allow farmers to apply fertilizers and water exactly where needed, reducing waste.
Society and Culture
UN Days Related to Food Security
October 16 is World Food Day, celebrating the day the FAO was founded in 1945. On this day, the FAO holds events around the world to raise awareness about food security.
Human Rights Approach
The United Nations (UN) recognized the Right to Food in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. They believe it's a basic right that helps people enjoy all other rights. The UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food supports a broad approach to food security, focusing on food availability, access, nutrition, safety, and cultural appropriateness.
United Nations Goals
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a main global plan to reduce hunger and poverty. Goal 2: Zero Hunger aims to end hunger, achieve food security, improve nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture by 2030. While some progress has been made, the world is not on track to meet all nutrition targets, including those for child stunting, wasting, and overweight.
See also
- Agricultural economics
- Food price crisis
- Food vs. fuel
- Integrated Food Security Phase Classification
- Nutritional economics
- Peak wheat
- Subsistence crisis
- Theories of famines
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