What Is The Importance Of Food Security Environmental Sciences Essay

What Is The Importance Of nourishment nurtureive cover system Environmental Sciences Essay realism Food Day, 16 October, highlights the need to ensure that all people possess physical and economic access at all times to comme il faut nutritious, safe pabulum to top heavy and active lives.More than half the worlds population lives in low-income, regimen-deficit countries that are un commensurate to produce or import overflowing nutriment to feed their people.More than angiotensin converting enzyme-third of all children are malnourished and 6 million children a year die of causes tie in to mal upkeep.Most of the worlds hungry people are fix in the developing world, but 34 million live in the developed world.Soil degradation, chronic water shortages, inappropriate agrarian policies and population growth threaten intellectual nourishment production in umpteen countries. succession growing export crops such as coffee, cocoa and sugar produces export income, it force ou t breaking wind to a decrease in basic nutriment production, causing hardship for people who are unforesightful. mingled with 1960 and 1990 world cereal production more than doubled, regimen production increased by one-third per head, day-after-day intake of calories increased by one-third, and real diet prices fell by almost half.There is enough aliment in the world for everyone to have enough to eat, but it is un levelly distributed.BackgroundWhat is food security?Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to enough safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy lifestyle. (World Food Summit 1996)To be food secure means thatFood is available The amount and quality of food available globally, nationally and locally sack be affected temporarily or for long periods by many factors including climate, disasters, war, civil unrest, population size and growth, agricultural practices, purlieu, social status and trade.Food is affordable When in that respect is a shortage of food prices increase and while richer people will likely still be able to feed themselves, pitiableer people whitethorn have difficulty obtaining sufficient safe and nutritious food without assistance.Food is utilised At the household level, sufficient and varied food needs to be ready safely so that people can grow and develop normally, meet their energy needs and ward off disease.What happens when people do not have food security?For the more than 800 million people who do not get enough regular, healthy food, ill health and a shorter life expectancy are real risks. Children, and especially very young children, who suffer from food insecurity will be less(prenominal) developed than children of the same age who have had sufficient food. They will most likely be shorter and entreat less, and be less able physically and intellectually, because of miserable nutrition.Why is there food i nsecurity? destitution little people lack access to sufficient resources to produce or buy quality food. Poor farmers may have very small farms, use less effective farming techniques, and/or be unable to afford fertilisers and labour-saving equipment, all of which limit food production. Often they cannot grow enough food for themselves, permit alone generate income by selling excess to others. Without economic resources and a political voice, poor farmers may be forced on to less productive land possibly causing raise environmental deterioration. Addressing poverty is critical to ensuring that all people have sufficient food.HealthWithout sufficient calories and nutrients, the body slows down, make it difficult to nethertake the work needed to produce food. Without good health, the body is also less able to make use of the food that is available. A hungry mother will give birth to an scrubby baby, who then faces a future of stunted growth, frequent illness, learning disabilities and reduced resistance to disease. Contaminated food and water can cause illness, nutrient loss and often death in children.The HIV/ support pandemic has reduced food production in many affected countries as productive adults generate ill or die. Lacking the labour, resources and know-how to grow staples and commercial crops, many households have shifted to cultivating survival foods or even leaving their fields, further reducing the food supply. Addressing health issues will improve utilisation and availability of food. weewee and the environmentFood production requires massive amounts of water. It takes one cubic metre ( degree Celsius0 litres) of water to produce one kilogram of wheat and 3,000 litres of water to produce one kilogram of rice. Producing sufficient food is directly related to having sufficient water. Irrigation can ensure an comely and reliable supply of water which increases yields of most crops by 100% to 400%. Although only 17% of global cropland is irrigated , that 17% produces 40% of the worlds food. increase irrigation efficiency and limiting environment damage through salinisation or reduced soil fertility are important for ongoing food availability.Where water is scarce and the environment fragile, achieving food security may depend on what has been called virtual water, that is, merchandise food from countries with an abundance of water. This may be a more efficient use of a scarce resource.Gender equityWomen play a vital role in providing food and nutrition for their families through their roles as food producers, processors, traders and income earners. Yet womens lower social and economic status limits their access to education, training, land ownership, close making and credit and consequently their ability to improve their access to and use of food. Food utilisation can be enhanced by improving womens knowledge of nutrition and food safety and the prevention of illnesses. change magnitude womens involvement in decision mak ing and their access to land and credit will in romp improve food security as women direct in fertilisers and break away seeds, labour-saving tools, irrigation and land carry on.Disasters and conflictsDroughts, floods, cyclones and pests can pronto wipe out large quantities of food as it grows or when it is in storage for later use. Likewise, seeds can be destroyed by such environmental dangers.Conflict can also reduce or destroy food in production or storage as farmers flee to safety or become involved in the fighting. Previously productive land may be contaminated with volatile debris and need to be cleared before it can again be used for food production. Stored food, seeds and breeding livestock may be eaten or destroyed by soldiers, leading to long-term food shortages. Government spending needs to prioritise food security in the aftermath of conflict.Population and urbanisationPopulation growth increases the demand for food. With most productive land already in use, there i s wring for this land to become more productive. Poor harvests and higher costs lead many poor farmers to immigrate to cities to look for work. Expanding cities spread out across productive land, pushing food production further and further away from consumers. This increases the cost of all the activities associated with producing and transporting food, and decreases the food security of the poor in cities.TradeMany poor countries can produce staples more cheaply than rich nations but barriers to trade, such as distance from markets, quarantine regulations and tariffs make it difficult for them to compete in export markets against highly subsidised farmers in rich countries. This deprives poor farmers of income and entire countries of the agricultural base they need to develop other sectors of the economy. In addition, trade imbalances prevent poor countries from importing agricultural products that could enhance their food security.What is being done?Improving food production cha nge magnitude the amount of food available is necessary to feed the growing population. The Green Revolution of the 1970s and eighties led to huge increases in output, largely due to the cultivation of high-yielding varieties of rice and wheat, the expansion of land under production and irrigation, greater use of fertilisers and pesticides and greater availability of credit. In many countries these gains have reached their limit, and social and environmental issues must now be addressed. Further increases in food production depend on better integration of traditional knowledge with research improving farming practices through training and the use of engineering to increase outputs from current land without further loss of productive land land reform to come through secure access to land for more people and the provision of low-cost finance to help farmers invest in higher quality seeds and fertilisers and small irrigation pumps.While genetically modified seeds are being hailed as a means of improving crop outputs, there are also concerns about the ownership of seeds, adequate compensation for traditional knowledge and possible side effects.Economic growth and trade easinessIncreasing food production leads to greater availability of food and economic growth in the domestic and/or overseas markets. Generating income can provide access to more and varied foods and provide cash for use in other areas of the economy, such as small enterprise and manufacturing, which in turn helps reduce poverty. Trade liberalisation is opening up markets slowly, but there are costly barriers to overcome. Work is underway through the capital of Qatar Round of multilateral trading negotiations in the World Trade Organisation to make trade rules fair, embolden trade liberalisation and assist developing countries to participate in the global trade environment.DistributionWhile there are sufficient resources in the world to provide food security for all, policy and behavioural change s are necessary to guarantee a fair share for all people, especially the poor. Building on a series of global conferences, in particular the 1992 International Conference on Nutrition and the 1996 and 2002 World Food Summits, countries have developed national nutrition plans and policies in nine major strategic operation areas thatinclude mainstream nutrition goals in development policies and programmesimprove household food and nutrition securityprotect consumers through improved food quality and safetyprevent and manage infectious diseasespromote breastfeedingcare for the socioeconomically deprived and nutritionally vulnerableprevent and control specific micronutrient deficienciespromote appropriate diets and healthy lifestylesassess, analyse and monitor nutrition situations.The progress towards achieving these goals, however, has been much slower than intended.Recognising the role of womenGender equality is a prerequisite for the eradication of poverty and hunger. Many programs recognise the need for changes in access to food, land, credit, education, health and nutrition training and decision making in order to make effective use of womens roles in agricultural production and food preparation.Food aidThe need for food during emergencies such as drought, disaster, population switching and conflict is addressed by the distribution of basic food supplies and fuel. Early warning systems can bode problem areas, allowing action to be taken to keep people in their homes and help them back to food self-sufficiency as quickly as possible. Food sourced locally rather than internationally minimises the costs and dislocation to local markets. In severe situations feeding may be necessary but often food aid is linked with work, health or education to avoid dependency and address the long-term causes of food insecurity.