Safe, healthy food for every citizen of the planet should be a right not a luxury. We discuss the impacts of food insecurity and ways to improve the entire food system globally.
Almost 1 billion people per day are starving. 3 billion people per day are malnourished. Lack of healthy food and poor diets have been linked to anxiety and depression, both have been increasing globally even amongst developed nations. Food insecurity is not just a developing nation problem. Even when food is available is developed nations, often for lower income people, it can still be out of reach.
Food insecurity will become an increasing problem over the coming decades as the world population mushrooms while resources availability shrinks. Food prices are also likely to rise due to climate change and lack of production. Nutritious food is therefore likely to become unattainable for more and more people around the world as we turn into the next decade.
Food security is defined as always having physical, social, and economic access to sufficiently safe, healthy food that meets our basic preferences and dietary needs for an active and healthy life. The four pillars of food security defined by World Summit on Food Security in 2009 are: availability, access, utilization and stability. People must have food available to purchase, accessible in terms of costs, usable in terms of utilization and stable in terms of consistency.
To attain global food security every country in the world, must work improve the status quo. Below are 9 ways for the global agriculture industry to establish food security for every country in the world.
Reduce Food Wastage
The ability to reduce food waste will go a long way in preventing food insecurity. It is estimated in some developed countries up to 40% of food produced is not eaten and destroyed. Every government must impose laws around preventing food wastage. Implementing S.M.A.R.T. systems where food is tracked and distributed efficiently amongst all levels of society will go the first step in establishing food security.
Investment in Agriculture Infrastructure
Improving infrastructure in food systems both at the agricultural level and production level will ensure food is better handled and distributed. Investment in these infrastructures will prove to be wise investments are governments all around the world seek to feed their people consistently in times of economic volatility and climate instability.
Promote Fair Trade Across Borders
Promoting fair trade means that smaller farms will get the same access to selling its produce like large industrial farms. This is important because smaller farms often employ local labourers and although they often do not achieve economies of scale, but instead increase yield size from green hand farm labourers versus industrial machinery.
Crop Diversification
Crop diversification is a longer term strategy because it allows the soil to maintain its nutrient base over many harvests. Focusing on a single type of crop (monoculture) can exhaust the soil and
make the crop more vulnerable to diseases and pests. Farmers can have significant issues
if crop fails and they have no alternatives. Moreover, this can reduce
the nutritional value of the food products themselves. Diversification is important factor to ensure
food security.
Increase Harvest Yield
Did you know hand farm labourers can produce on average 30-50% more yield than a industrial farm per acre. The reason may surprise you, but hand farm labourers are able to tend to plants more efficiently and can spot plants that need more care. As a result smaller farms that utilize hand-farming labourers are able to yield more harvest. As farms evolve, they will have to look to establish an optimal balance of hand-farming labourers and machine use, if we are to achieve food security.
Adapt to Climate Change
Adapting to climate change is important. Imagine a farmer who does not adapt to change in weather and loses the entire crop? what is this happens year and year, it could be devastating for the farm and the the food system within the country and as a food resource for the planet. Farmers will have to keenly adapt to climate change by using more resilient plants or changing types of plants or growing seasons. One example is coffee, where changes in weather may reduce grow-ability for Arabica, meaning Robusta a more climate resistant variety may replace it for dominant bean in the future.
Collect, Label, & Protect Seeds
The collection, labelling and protection of ancient seed varieties will help prevent food insecurity in the future. Seeds are the base from plant life. With good seeds, come good plants and with good plants come good harvests. Ensuring different varieties of seeds are collected, labelled and protected for future use will help every country in the fight against food insecurity. For example if a rice seed variety which is drought resistant is collected, in years where less water is expected they can be grown for maximum yield.
Share Data and Best Practices
Every farmer knows the land and how best to farm it. This is true for every farmer is every part of the world. The ability for farmers to collect information with the help of scientists and equipment will assist in understanding vital trends and staying ahead of the curve. When farmers and scientists are able to work together to collect critical data to analyze and best practices to share, attaining food security becomes a much more attainable goal for the future.
Maintain Foreign Trade Balance
Some countries produce lots of food, some produce lots of minerals, some produce lots of electronics. Every country has its strengths in the creation of human products. Supporting every country to ensure they are able to balance their import and export trade is important for food security. Imagine a country which grows feed for livestock, if it was no longer able to produce feed for livestock due negative balance of trade, this might affect many countries ability to feed their people.
Balance of trade (BOT) = Value of Exports − Value of Imports Where, BOT is the Balance of trade or trade balance. Value of exports is the value of goods that are exported out of the country and sold to buyers of other countries
There is no one solution to establish global food security, rather it is a concerted effort by every country to implement a variety of solutions to mitigate the impending potential food crisis.
