Now that we have learned what food insecurity is, the programs to eliminate food insecurity and the importance of food banks, we have to ask ourselves what leads to food insecurity in order to stop this global problem. To understand the causes of food insecurity we must first know exactly that it means. Food insecurity is not as simple as just having access to healthy foods. There are actually three pillars that define food insecurity:
-Food availability: sufficient quantities of food available on a consistent basis.
-Food access: access to resources for a nutritious diet
-Food use: knowledge on proper nutrition as well as water sanitation.
A family that lacks just one of these categories is considered food insecure. We have briefly discussed food access and food use. Now it is time to tackle the factors that determine food availability.
A common misconception is that there is not enough food in the world to feed everyone. However, this is not true. There is enough food but the problem stems from limitations in food distribution. The amount of food on the planet actually exceeds need. Farms are constantly "throwing away" or decomposing living crops because they have no room to store their fresh produce. It costs too much money and time to effectively distribute all of the fresh food. Also many people that need food from these farms live too far away and would not be able to retrieve the food even if it was free. My personal solution to this problem is to endorse small scale farming rather than that in large fields. In the small scale farming method, there would be farms close to everyone that would be able to distribute food for their small region rather than it having to be imported from someplace far away. This will also cut out travel time for the produce and the beneficiaries would not have to worry about their foods going bad.
Another factor that plays into food insecurity are environmental factors such as the weather. When there are weather problems, the whole world is not affected. Typically if there is a hurricane, it is confined to one region. When weather hits, a farm loses all of its crops. Larger farms feed people on a larger scale and therefore if something is to happen more people would go hungry rather than having to bounce back from annihilation of a small farm due to weather.
Natural disasters, such as drought, kill many of the produce being grown on large scale farms. If the plants are not being watered naturally, the fields are typically too large to even attempt to water by hand. The solution of small scale farms also works towards a solution for the environmental problems. People that own small scale farms would have less land to take care of. Therefore, if there was a drought for instance, it would be much more possible to connect a hose to a water source and water the produce in a reasonable amount of time.
If you haven't gotten it by now. My proposition is simple. A way to eliminate some of the food availability and distribution problems is to integrate more small farms around the world rather than having a few centers that are in charge of mass production of fresh foods. In order to do so, we would have to increase global awareness and implement a program that ensures that each town has its own farm for food distribution.
References:
Food security. n.d. World health organization. 4 May 2014. Retrieved from: http://www.who.int/trade/glossary/story028/en/
Food security and food access. n.d. Grace food program 4 May 2014. Retrieved from: http://www.sustainabletable.org/280/food-security-food-access
This is a very interesting topic! I wish I had discovered your blog sooner. I agree that we are not plagued with a food shortage problem, but rather a redistribution issue. I worked at a grocery store, and on a daily basis we had to throw out massive amounts of food because it was returned, slightly damaged, or had an expiration date. This is a perfect example of how we waste food in our country without thinking about the struggles of others. I also agree that we should have more small farms and that food distribution around the world needs to be improved.
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