Food security

Food security is a term used in development and humanitarian aid. It does not have one agreed definition; but is often used broadly to mean a situation in which people have continuity of food supply, or the methods by which this aim is achieved. Around 828 million men, women and children are chronically hungry while 2 billion people lack food security because of poverty (source: FAO, 1998).

Related Topics:
Development - Humanitarian aid - Food - FAO

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The term — in the development context — grew out of a reaction to the problems associated with food aid. Food aid is one development paradigm, in which the solution to hunger is seen as being the donation of surplus food commodities, usually by rich developed nations. The focus of food security interventions is usually contrasting: the development of indigenous mechanisms to fight hunger and malnutrition. The stages of food insecurity range from food secure situations to full-scale famine.

Related Topics:
Food aid - Hunger - Developed nation - Malnutrition - Stages of food insecurity - Famine

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A commonly-used definition is that a community enjoys food security, when all people, at all times, have access to enough (quantity), nutritious (quality), safe, personally acceptable and culturally appropriate foods, produced in ways that are environmentally sound and socially just, or in other words by sustainable development.

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