Food Security

 

“Food security is a condition related to the ongoing availability of food” as stated by Wikipedia. Food security has been a concern ever since the early civilizations of the ancient world. Historians have discovered evidence of granaries that would release food to the public in times of need. Yet it was only up until 1974 during the World Food Conference that the term ‘food security’ was used. But what is food security?

Well, the exact definition of food security is ‘the state of having reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food.’ It was originally applied to a national level which only applied to each state of a country. This was when a state could sustain an equal volume of food consumption. But in 1996, it was changed to the individual looking after their own food security and not the national state.

The Food and Agriculture Organization stated directly that food security "exists 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." The four points of food security, as stated by the FAO, are availability, access, utilization and stability.

Household food security is when each member of the household have access to healthy and nutritious food at all times. People who have access to food security do not go hungry or fear starvation. This is the problem with food insecurity. Food insecurity is a situation where healthy food is an uncertainty in accessing or is limited. Food security comes at risk or unavailable in the events of famines, droughts, fuel shortages, economic instability or any other hindrance to the public and the nation.

So now you know the history and the importance of food security in the everyday lives of the individual and the masses.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_security

https://www.google.co.za/?gfe_rd=cr&ei=znTUVPLSIomp8wey_YAQ#q=definition+of+food+security

Taken on 26th January 2015