According to the final
report of the World Food Summit of 1996, Food Security exists when all people,
at all times have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and
nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active
and healthy lifestyle.
Food security is one of
the most pressing issues of the 21st century on the international
agenda owing to the various factors as underlined below:
- Global Water Crisis: One of the prime reasons for scarcity of water is constant irrigation which has lead to a rapid drop in the water table and certain countries in Sub Saharan Africa are water stressed in nature which could lead to food insecurity.
- Land degradation: The exhaustion of soil fertility and decline of agricultural yields could be attributed to intensive farming practices which has led to the degradation of 40% of agricultural land in the world.
- Climate change: Climate change would have an impact on food security in three cases: a) Specialised agro-ecosystems b) Households with very few livelihood options other than farming c) Absence of adequate safety nets to protect people by formal institutions.
- Agricultural diseases: Diseases affecting crops or livestock can have drastic effects on food availability and the problem would intensify in the absence of contingency plans.
- Dictatorship and Kleptocracy: Food security could also be a political issue as far as food distribution is concerned. The government plays an important role in the trading of food products and there could be instances where food will be used as a political weapon where interests are not met.
- Food sovereignty: Food sovereignty refers to the right of communities to define their own means of production and emphasises on the importance of recognizing the right to food as a basic human right. This could be denied by multinational corporations which want to buy agricultural resources of impoverished nation-states.
total requirement of foodgrains for a year is about 3000 billion tonnes,and current produce is about 2100 billion tonnes in the world,so we have already reached in food insecurity phase.However a powerful country is executing her Kissenger 1974 genocide plan,and poring millions of tonnes of foodgrain into ocean after exporting at very cheap price from developing countries,so that millions could die in hunger,everyear...
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