What is food security?
Food security means that all people, at all times, have physical, social, and economic access to enough safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. It is based on three pillars: sufficiency, accessibility, and affordability. Food security can be disrupted by conflicts, climate change, plant diseases, and supply chain challenges.
What Are the 3 Pillars of Food Security?
Food security is based on 3 pillars:
- Sufficiency – Having enough food to meet the population’s needs.
- Accessibility – Ensuring people can physically and economically access food.
- Affordability – Making food reasonably priced for all income levels.
In the past, food security was unstable because of the inability to cope with plant pathogens (Irish Potato Famine, 1845-1852), slower trade, wars, and infectious diseases (e.g., bubonic plague). In the last decades, many countries have achieved food security via developed intensive agriculture and imports. Food surplus could be sent to less developed countries, but long transportation is expensive, and the raw food is vulnerable. Many organizations are oriented to develop agricultural practices and teach the local people in these regions. Food security isn't given. Human and natural factors set troubles in production and transportation. For example, a war in a country is the cause of blocking the ports and food supplies trading. Soon, people will face food insecurity because of climate change, desertification, and immigration.
