Introduction

The world produces enough food to feed everyone. However, there are countries, regions within countries, villages within regions, households within villages and individuals within households that are not able to meet their food needs. Food security is a complex, multifaceted isssue that can only be fully addressed through the active cooperation of all actors.

• Over 800 million human beings do not have enough to eat in a world that produces enough food to feed every man, woman and child.
• At the World Food Summit in Rome, in 1996, 187 nations endorse the Summit's goal to eradicate hunger and to reduce the number of undernourished people by half, no later than 2015

Background

While the world population has more than doubled in less than 50 years to over 6 billion people, average per capita food consumption has risen from about 2350 to 2800 kcal per day. The world agriculture has been highly successful in increasing average food availability per person by about 20%. The Global food supplies are ample to meet essential needs, yet over 800 million people are chronically undernourished. Global food supplies are ample to meet everyone’s essential needs. Governments at present try to achieve to halve the number of undernourished persons by 2015, so instead eradicate all (World Food Summit), they have new goals. This suggests that the size of interventions is too small or the wrong measures are being used. (Resource FAO, the special programme for food security)

According to this this, the Policy Dialogue Model is focused on Food Security, In the Policy Dialogue Model there is Food Security on a national scale. That means that the user can see if a country can feed itself in 2025? First has the user to select a country, the program loads default data and assumptions. The program uses 1995 as a baseyear. By default, 2025 predictions are based on historical growth rates (1985-1995) derived from the FAO database. At a later stage results from IFPRI's IMPACT model will be used as default predictions. It should be stressed, however, that users can change all major variables and modify assumptions and predictions according to their own insights and local conditions. The computation process consist of three steps: The first step is to determine the grain requirements (food as well as feed) based on user defined assumptions concerning calories intake and diet composition in the year 2025. The second step computes the production of the required cereals using data and estimates of yields and cultivated areas with and without irrigation. The third step converts this predicted grain production into irrigation water demands and compares this irrigation water demand with actual withdrawals in 1995 and available renewable water resources. Further, it assesses expected adverse impacts of increased water withdrawals on the groundwater balance. The program takes into account water needs for domestic and industrial uses.

Click on the link below and have a look into the model and their relation to food security.

Use the model :http://podium.iwmi.org/

Food Security Problems

Food security is caused by two major problems. The primary obstacle to food security is poverty; people living in poverty are faced with food insecurity. The second obstacle is; Access to food. Despite the world produces enough food to feed the whole world population, there are disparities in access to food and in nutritional well-being. Vulnerable groups are the most affected. These groups include: children, single parent women, elderly people, refugees, homeless persons and unemployed people.

Poverty is a major cause of food insecurity and sustainable progress in poverty eradication is critical to improve access to food. Conflict, terrorism, corruption and environmental degradation also contribute significantly to food insecurity. Increased food production, including staple food, must be undertaken. This should happen within the framework of sustainable management of natural resources, elimination of unsustainable patterns of consumption and production, particularly in industrialized countries, and early stabilization of the world population. We acknowledge the fundamental contribution to food security by women, particularly in rural areas of developing countries, and the need to ensure equality between men and women. Revitalization of rural areas must also be a priority to enhance social stability and help redress the excessive rate of rural-urban migration confronting many countries.

And if people have enough food there are new problems, uprising dissatisfaction; there is increasing consumer awareness of and concern about food quality and safety including genetic engineering, biotechnology, chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

Possible Solutions

Conclusions

There are enough counties in the world which are making good progress to show that rapid large-scale hunger reduction is entirely possible. When we look to the World Food Summit goal; eradicate hunger and reduce the number of undernourished people no later than 2015? This is still attainable by 2015, but the fact that, each day, less time is available to meet the goal must be seen as a spur for decisive action rather than a cause for resignation. While some aspects of the hunger problem may still defy solution, the knowledge and experience exists on how to address most of its manifestations.

There is a need for a new boldness and for the balance to be shifted from seemingly endless debates on how to eradicate hunger towards much more direct action with the hungry, doing things which we know can have an impact.

Moreover the cost of eradicating hunger is miniscule in relation both to gross global wealth and to the enormous benefits which would accrue to individuals – now facing an unnecessarily curtailed life on earth – and to mankind as a whole. There can be no excuse for bequeathing hunger eradication as a task for another generation to complete, when all the means exist – and only the will is lacking – to fulfil it in our day.

Food Security Tools

Food Security is access to food and nutritional well-being, but it’s not only the access that is important. We should not forget that what we eat is just as important. We should take care we get enough different nutrition’s, to get al our grains, vitamins, proteins etc. To have a better idea what we need, there is the Food Pyramid.

• http://www.mypyramid.gov/downloads/miniposter.pdf
• http://www.mypyramid.gov/

Food Security related Links

Organizations / Institutions

• http://www.fao.org/spfs/
• http://www.foodsecurity.org/resource_list.html
• http://www.worldhungeryear.org/fslc/
• http://www.ifpri.org/
• http://www.fao.org/es/ESN/index_en.stm
• http://www.eldis.org/food/index.htm
• http://www.who.int/en/
• http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/encyclopedia/F/Fo/Food_security.htm
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_security