Food Security: A Conceptual Analysis

Food Security: A Conceptual Analysis

Dr. Amar Singh

Department of Defence and Strategic Studies

Dharm Samaj College, Aligarh, - 202001

 

Abstract:

            Food is a basic human need and right. Its insecurity has serious ramifications for the socio-economic development of society and its sustainability. No civilized society can afford to ignore them. Food security depends on the availability and accessibility of food grains in sufficient quantities in commensuration with population size. Conflict, climate change, urbanization, growing population, and shrinking resources have significantly impacted food security. Policymakers are concerned that food security may emerge as one of the key security challenges for the 21^st Century.[1]

Keywords: Food security, Security, Human Security, Hunger, Conflict

According to the State of Food Security and Nutrition Report 2018, the number of hungry people in the world is growing, reaching 821 million in 2017, or one in every nine people. Furthermore, according to a 2018 global report on food crises an estimated 124 million people are facing severe hunger in the world.[2] Food security is a national security priority. In 2008 global food prices skyrocketed and riots broke out in more than 40 countries across the world, resulting in several protracted conflicts.[3] In this context, today’s conflicts, whether they are in Syria, South Sudan, Yemen, or Nigeria, are fueled by food insecurity and growing famines arising from ongoing fighting. Preventing conflicts requires that fragile countries, or in need of reconstruction, are provided adequate humanitarian assistance. But more than aid, focusing on food security as a long-term goal will help ensure that hunger does not trigger new fighting and create national security concerns.[4]

In this article, before we take a deep dive into the concept of food security, we first look at the term ‘security’ which bears deep controversy about its meaning and scope. Security, however, in its generic sense means safety from and protection against damage or attack. The ‘security’ is treated as a multi-dimensional term. Its meaning, interpretation, and scope are regarded as extremely vast and diversified. However, in this respect, a classic definition of security given by Arnold Wolfers offers some insight into its controversial nature. Security for him, in an objective sense, measures the absence of threats to acquired values and in a subjective sense, is the absence of fear that such values would be attacked.[5] However from the ‘hard security’ of the Cold War era security of states has changed dramatically since 1991 and today there is a move towards a more diverse concept of security that incorporates both traditional ‘hard’ threats and new challenges to the state and people, so-called ‘Nontraditional threats(NTS)’. [6]  Protracted crises, violent conflicts, natural disasters, persistent poverty, epidemics, and economic downturns impose hardships and undercut prospects for peace, stability, and sustainable development.  NTS are complex, they overlap, and they can grow exponentially, spilling into all aspects of people’s lives, destroying entire communities and crossing national borders.[7] These ‘Nontraditional’ threats come in many shapes and forms; however, they can be analyzed with the conceptual evolution of the doctrine of human security.

The term “human security” is believed to have been coined by Lincoln Chen but pioneered by Mahbub ul Haq. However, the idea of human security is derived from W. E. Blatz’s mid-1960s theory of “individual security”. The concept of human security “can be said to have two main aspects. It means, first, safety from such chronic threats as hunger, disease, and repression. And second, it means protection from sudden and hurtful disruptions in the patterns of daily life whether in homes, in jobs, or communities”.[8]   The concept of human security has gained prominence in the deliberations following the 1994 Human Development Report published by UNDP. [9]According to the report, the focus should shift from territories and arms to people and development. According to Kanti Bajpai, “Human security relates to the protection of the individual’s safety and freedom from direct and indirect threats of violence. The promotion of human development and good governance, and, when necessary, the collective use of sanctions and force are central to managing human security. States, international organizations, non-governmental organizations, and other groups in civil society in combination are vital to the prospects of human security”. [10] The concept is based on three pillars: it is universal in nature: it's people-centered and threats to human security do not stay within national borders. The 1994 Human Development Report outlines seven types of security as components of human security:

• Economic Security ( sustainable development and freedom from poverty)
• Health Security (universal  access to low-cost health care and protection from diseases and pandemics)
• Personal Security ( physical safety from war, criminal attacks, domestic violence, drug use and even traffic accidents)
• Food Security (availability and access to food)
• Environmental Security (sustainable use of natural resources and protection from environmental pollution )
• Community Security (security and survival of traditional cultures and these groups)
• Political Security (enjoyment of civil and political rights, and freedom from political oppression).[11]

 

These new non-military and non-traditional threats have emerged as concern areas all over the world and this also puts people or individuals' safety from these threats at the center of security debate. In this context, food security is very much part of national security and vital for the sovereignty of the state.

Concept of Food Security

Food security is a flexible concept, some estimate that approximately 200 definitions and 450 indicators of food security exist.[12] The concept of food security has evolved and integrates a wide range of food-related issues so that it can reflect the complexity of the role of food in human society. Food security, as a concept has developed over the period, in that process it has explicitly included more and more issues related to availability, accessibility, utilization, and absorption, which are equally important. Before examining different definitions, food security must answer five basic questions given below regarding its beneficiary, production, distribution, and consumption. This is:

Table: 1: Fundamentals of Food Security

Who should get the food?	·         Everyone (Universality) ·         Selective
How?	·         Through normal food channels ·         Through emergency food assistance programs
When?	·         At all times ·         Time Bound (Seasonal)
How much food?	·         Enough for a healthy active life ·         Enough for minimum requirement
What kind of food?	·         Safe and nutritious(Quality) ·         Culturally appropriate(Quality)

Source: GOC (2005), “Definition of Food Security”, [Online: web] Accessed 23 Dec. 2018, URL:http://www.toronto.ca/health/children/pdf/fsbp_ch_1.pdf,pp.7.

            The evolution of food security as an operational concept in public policy has reflected the wider recognition of the complexities of the technical and policy issues involved. [13] A vital role was played by FAO and other world agencies (WHO, UNICEF) in shaping out food security concept at the world level. Concepts and definitions of food security from 1950 are set out below to showcase the reconstruction of understanding of the issue that has occurred over the years as a problem of international and national responsibility.

Concerns about food security can be traced back to 1941; President Roosevelt’s most famous State of the Union address of the twentieth century. In this speech, he spoke of ‘four essential freedoms’  that are shared  ‘everywhere in the world’:  freedom of speech,  of worship, from want, and freedom from fear. The founding conference of the FAO in 1943 drew specifically from Roosevelt’s Address when it set out ‘to consider the goal of freedom from want in relation to food and agriculture’. While not using the term ‘food security’ outright, the organizers get close, as the proceedings discuss the need to ‘secure’ a ‘suitable supply of food’. Characterized as freedom from want, it was one of the earliest conceptual framings of food security: essentially, the absence of abject hunger. [14]

The fifties saw the setting up of bilateral agencies by donor countries such as the USA (under the Public Law 480 or P.L. 480) and Canada whereby their agricultural surpluses would be shipped overseas to countries in need in the furtherance of foreign policy. By the 1960s there was a growing realization that food aid could hamper a country’s progress to self-sufficiency and thus, the concept of food for development and in 1963 its institutional expression, the World Food Summit (WFP). However, the era of an abundance of food was coming to an end and the 1972-74 food crisis marked the beginning of fluctuating food supplies and prices.[15] Focusing on food shortage, the Universal Declaration on the eradication of hunger and malnutrition was adopted at the 1974 WFC.

According to the 1974 World Food Summit, food security was defined as the: “availability at all times of adequate world food supplies of basic foodstuffs to sustain a steady expansion of food consumption and to offset fluctuations in production and prices”.[16] It was in line with the Universal Human Rights Declaration, which proclaimed that every human being has the inalienable right to be free from hunger and malnutrition, and in the conference, arrangements were made to promote food security and make it a policy issue on the world stage. [17]

In 1981 Amartya Sen’s seminal work ‘Poverty and Famines’ shattered the assumption that food insecurity was primarily the result of lack of availability of food stuffs, by proving that individual’s food security was mainly dependent upon their possibility of accessing food. This new emphasis on access by vulnerable people is most closely related to the ‘entitlement theory’.[18] Taking this into account FAO expanded its official thinking to include securing access by vulnerable people to available supplies by ensuring that all people at all times have both physical and economic access to the basic food that they need.[19] The concept of food security is further elaborated to guarantee the food security of individuals as food-secure households can very much have food-insecure individuals. Food security is not only producing enough for the population only but it involves the ability to secure adequate food for its poor and vulnerable population that is access, which is of vital importance.

The food security agenda was further broadened in the later part of the eighties by health and nutrition research, which highlighted the fact that synergic linkages were there between nutrition well-being and food intake, they can be reciprocal as well. Diseases lead to deterioration in nutritional status however low nutritional profile of an individual makes that person susceptible to diseases, and this makes his full mental and physical growth suffer.[20] Taking this into account a more comprehensive definition was made:

“access by all people at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life”.[21]

This definition comprises the elements of earlier definitions but adds ‘safety’ and ‘nutrition’ into it for an active and healthy life. Furthermore, access now involves not only sufficient food but also food with protein-energy so that malnutrition can be checked.[22] The 1994 UNDP in its Human Development Report, adopted and put great emphasis on individual well-being and security, this broadened the security perspective and promoted the concept of human security. Food security is part of human security[23] and has in turn influenced the concept of food security. The 1996 WFS (World Food Summit) adopted a complex definition taking this into consideration:

“food security, at the individual, household, national, regional and global levels [is achieved] 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 life”[24]

 

   This definition keeps three classic aspects of food security: availability of staple foods, stability of supplies, and access for all. But it also introduced the idea of adapted food, i.e., of the ‘biological utilization’ of food, which depends upon cooking methods, ways of consuming food, and the state of a person's health. It also addresses the food security of individuals at the global level. The late nineties saw the phase where nonfood factors dominated the food security paradigm. Sanitation and availability of safe drinking water were considered to create the environment to assimilate the food, which is very important in extracting all the nutritional value. Swaminathan argued that “availability is a function of production while access is conditioned by purchasing power and biological absorption is determined by the availability of safe drinking water, primary health care, and environmental hygiene”.[25]

 

‘The State of Food Insecurity 2001’ report states that “food security is a situation that exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life”.[26] According to the World Health Organisation (WHO):  Food security means that:

·         Physical and economic access to food.

·         Supply of food should be universal in nature.

·         Availability of the food should be made at all times.

·         Availability of food should be in sufficient quantities and according to the preference of the person.

·         It should be safe and nutritious to lead an active and healthy life.

·         Sustainable food production.

·         Food should be culturally acceptable. 

·         Access to food with human dignity.[27]

 

The “right to adequate food” also got prominence on the world stage. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), are global objectives that succeeded the Millennium Development Goals on 1 January 2016.[28] The SDG-2 aims to achieve “zero hunger” that is “End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture” The SDGs will shape national development plans over the next 15 years.[29]

Food Security: Four Key Factors

Based on the definition of food security four core areas of intervention have been derived for individuals to have food security:

·         Food availability

·         Accessibility of sufficient food

·         Utilisation and absorption of food

·         Stability of food stocks and protection from shocks

Food availability

Food availability is an adequate amount of good quality food grains in accordance with population to provide the necessary calories. Total availability combines both foods available from production, food aid, and imports.

Food balance consists of two parts at the national level:

·         Usage

·         Net domestic availability or resource [30]

At the household level:

·         Domestic production means food produced or acquired by physical efforts of the family members through crop production, livestock production, fishing, or hunting and gathering.

·         Food can be obtained using exchange in the form of barter or market exchange. Some surplus food items are traded for less available food or exchanged for cash.

·         Surplus of food produced or acquired can be stocked for consumption during periods of shortage [31]

 

Food Accessibility

It’s an important aspect of food security as food can be available in sufficient quantity, but the important thing is the access to that food, physically, economically, and socially by individuals of the household.

·         The physical aspect is mainly related to logistics. It comprises all stages of the food supply system that have some amount of influence of transportation, storage, and marketing on the access to food. In a situation of food security, the food should be available at the location where people need it.

·         The economic aspect of access to food is a situation, where households have the financial ability, that’s the income of family members and purchasing power to regularly acquire adequate amounts of food to meet their requirements.

·         Socio-cultural access to food refers to socio-cultural barriers limiting access  to food, particularly to some groups of the population i.e. on gender or social reasons  [32]

Food Utilisation and Absorption:

Food utilization is the third dimension of food security. WFS defines it as, “safe and nutritious food which meets dietary needs”.[33] According to Amartya Sen and Jean Dreze, “the capability to be nourished depends crucially on other characteristics of a person that are influenced by such non-food factors as health services, basic education, sanitary arrangements, provision of clean water, eradication of infectious epidemics and so on”. All these indicators and any deficiency in them can be termed as absorption of food insecurity. Food security cannot be achieved if the body is not in a position and the environment is not conducive to absorbing the nutrients from the food.[34]

Stability of Supply

Irregularities due to natural or manmade causes can negatively affect the stability of food. Drought, floods, fluctuation of prices, or seasonal unemployment are some examples of that, against these poor people are the most vulnerable. It is mainly dependent on:

·         Storage capacity and saving at the household level.

·         Stable market: balance between supply and demand.

·         State as the regulating authority

·         Government's capacity to act in response to an emergency.[35]

 Conclusion:

According to research by the IFPRI (The International Food Policy Research Institute) the world food situation is being rapidly redefined. The new driving forces are namely income growth in some countries (e.g. China, India), globalization, increased urbanization and migration, climate change, inadequate access to production inputs, limited land and water resources, and decreased public sector investment in agriculture and unprecedented energy and food price increases, conflict and the demographic changes. The impact of these new driving forces will be long-term and will represent a major challenge to food security, especially for the 820 million chronically hungry people worldwide.[36]

The heightened interest in food security arose from the drastic global and national energy (especially oil) and food price increases during 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2011, which jolted global political leaders out of any complacency they might have had regarding the future of food and agriculture. Street demonstrations and food riots broke out in more than 40 countries across the world, provoking unrest and violence in several places.[37] Furthermore according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) data, food prices will climb gradually in coming decades, even if there are occasional drops in prices. [38] Taking this into account it can be said that a free and democratic world can only exist if its citizens are “free from fear and free from want.” In a world where food is both a strategic weapon of war and a smart investment to foster peace, lasting food security is not a terminal objective but a condition that must be sought and maintained to engender a freer and more prosperous tomorrow” [39]

Endnotes:

---

[1]  Food and Agriculture Organisation (2008), “Food Security in South Asia”, [Online: web] Accessed 23 Dec 2018,URL:http://www.fao.org/docrep/004/AB981E/ab981e0a.htm.

[2] “Global report on food crises” (2018), [Online: web] Accessed 15 November 2018, URL: http://wfp.org/publication/global-report-food-crises-2018.

[3] “The National Security Connection” (2018), [Online: web] Accessed 5 November 2018, URL: https://www.csis.org/programs/global-food-security-program/national-security-connection

[4] “Making Food Security a National Security Priority” (2016), [Online: web] Accessed 12 November 2018, URL: https://www.stimson.org/2016/making-food-security-national-security-priority/

[5] Wolfers, Arnold (1952), “National Security as an ambiguous symbol”, Political Science Quarterly, 67(4):483.

[6] Swanstrom, Niklas (2007), “The Narcotics Trade: A Threat to Security? National and Transnational Implications”, Global Crime, 8(1):24-58

[7] “What is human security” (2019), [Online: web] Accessed 15 November 2018, URL:  https://www.un.org/humansecurity/what-is-human-security/

[8] “Focus on Coastal Flooding and the Sundarbans”, OECD, Paris, [Online: web] Accessed on 1 Dec 2018, URL:http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/46/55/21055658.pdf,p.14-49. (Paris 2011: 91).

[9] United Nations Development Programme (1994), “Human Development Report”, Delhi: Oxford University Press.

[10] Bajpai Kanti, (2000: 198) Human Security: Concept and Measurement, Kroc Institute Occasional Paper #19: OP: 1August.

[11] United Nations Development Programme (1994), “Human Development Report”, Delhi: Oxford University Press.

[12] Mukherjee, Amitava (2012), Food Security in Asia, New Delhi: Sage publications India Pvt Ltd.

[13] Maxwell, Simon (1996), “Food Security: A Post-Modern Perspective”, Food Policy, 21: 155-170.

[14] Carolan, Michael (2012), “The Food and Human Security Index: Rethinking Food Security and Growth”, International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture & Food, 19(2): 176-200.

[15] Napoli, Marion (2011), “Towards a Food Insecurity Multidimensional Index (FIMI)”, [Online: Web] Accessed 12 May 2018,URL:http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/templates/ERP/uni/FIMI.pdf.

[16] United Nations (1975), “Report of the World Food Conference”, Rome 5-16 November 1974. New York.

[17] Mukherjee, Amitava (2012), Food Security in Asia, New Delhi: Sage publications India Pvt Ltd.

[18] Devereux, Stephen( 2007), “The New Famines: Why Famines Persist in an Era of Globalization” ,Rutledge , London

[19] World Bank (1986), “Poverty and Hunger: Issues and Options for Food Security in Developing Countries”, Washington D.C.

[20]  Mukherjee, Amitava (2012), Food Security in Asia, New Delhi: Sage publications India Pvt Ltd.

[21] World Bank (1986), “Poverty and Hunger: Issues and Options for Food Security in Developing Countries”, Washington D.C.

[22] Ibid.

[23] United Nations Development Programme (1994), “Human Development Report”, Delhi: Oxford University Press.

[24] “Trade and Food Security: Conceptualizing the Linkages Expert Consultation”, (2002), FAO, Rome, 11 - 12 July. [Online: web] Accessed 21 November 2018, URL:  http://www.fao.org/3/y4671e/y4671e05.htm#bm05.2

[25] Swaminathan, M. S. (2000), Sustainable Agriculture, New Delhi: Konark Publishers Private Ltd.

[26] “Trade and Food Security: Conceptualizing the Linkages Expert Consultation”, (2002), FAO, Rome, 11 - 12 July. [Online: web] Accessed 21 November 2018, URL:  http://www.fao.org/3/y4671e/y4671e05.htm#bm05.2

[27] Yadav, Sharma Bajaga (2013), “Basic Concepts of Food Security: Definition, Dimensions and Integrated Phase Classification”, [Online: Web] Accessed 2 December 2018, URL: http://   www.foodandenv ironment.com/2013/01/basic-concept-of-food-security .html

[28] Sustainable Development Goals (2018), [Online: Web] Accessed 2 December 2018, URL:http://www.fao.org/sustainable-development-goals/en/

[29] ibid

[30] Khemmarath, Sitha (2005), “Improving Livelihoods in the Uplands of the Lao PDR”, National Institute of Agriculture Planning and Projection, Vientiane, [Online: web] Accessed 19 Nov 2018, URL:  http://www.nafri.org.la/document/sourcebook/Sourcebook_eng/Volume1/13_conceptsfoodsec_sitha.pdf

[31] Ibid.

[32] “Agriculture food and nutrition for Africa - A resource book for teachers of agriculture” (1997),FAO, [Online: web] Accessed 15 November 2018, URL: http://www.fao.org/3/w0078e/w0078e04.htm

[33] “Food Security: Definition, Four dimensions, History” (2012), FAO, [Online: web] Accessed 1 November 2018, URL: http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/templates/ERP/uni/F4D.pdf

[34] Khan, Faheem Jehangir and Yaser Javed (2007), “Delivering Access to Safe Drinking Water and Adequate Sanitation in Pakistan”, Pakistan Institute Of Development Economics, Islamabad.

[35]  Food and Agriculture Organisation (2010), “State of Food Insecurity in the World 2010”, Rome.

[36] Food and Agriculture Organisation (2008), “An Introduction to the Basic Concepts of Food Security”, Rome.

[37] Simmons, Emmy (2017), “Recurring Storms: Food Insecurity, Political Instability, and Conflict”, Online: web] Accessed 9 Nov. 2018, URL: https://reliefweb.int/report/world/recurring-storms-food-insecurity-political-instability-and-conflict

[38] OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2011-2020 (2010), “Agricultural Outlook 2011-2020”, [Online: web] Accessed 23 Nov 2018, URL:  http://www.oecd.org/site/oecd-faoagriculturaloutlook/48202074.pdf.

[39] Chawla, Sagar (2008) “India: Food Security and the Implementation of Bio-fuels”, [Online: web] Accessed 21 Dec. 2018, URL:http://www.worldfoodprize.org/assets/YouthInstitute/07proceedings/Des_Moines_Central_Academy_Chawla.pdf.