Food availability and access issues threaten millions of the world’s poorest people. Food security attracts interest from many areas of research but this has not been used to develop effective policies. How can people facing food insecurity identify the most suitable policy approaches from the vast amount of information available?

‘Food security’ means that all people in a region, at all times, have access to sufficient quantities of safe, nutritious food to meet their dietary needs. This means that enough food must be available, people can afford it and it is distributed in a way that ensures all people receive enough. There must also be sufficient food reserves to survive in times of emergency (such as crop failure or drought).

Whilst many developing regions are making progress in achieving food security, the situation is worsening in sub-Saharan Africa, due to low agricultural production and widespread poverty. Conflict and the HIV/AIDS crisis are adding to the problem. In other regions, growing populations, declining natural resources and environmental degradation mean that policies successful now may fail in the future.

There is a need for sustainable long-term food security policies, as well as short-term relief to disasters. Policy makers must consider:

• Food must be affordable for all social groups, through subsidies or keeping production costs low. This has proved difficult to achieve in the past, but it is important as price increases affect the most vulnerable groups.
• Agricultural production must be intensified to increase food availability. Technology and processes that reduce inputs and increase outputs are vital, such as new crop varieties and improved irrigation technology.
• In sub-Saharan Africa, increased trade within the region should be favoured over imports from overseas. This can be achieved by removing trade barriers (such as tariffs) between African countries, subsidising transport costs and making trade policies the same across regions.
• More information and a greater sharing of knowledge about the causes of food insecurity and successful response strategies are needed. This can help people prepare for disasters and emergencies, through Early Warning Systems, for example.

Food security challenges vary between countries and regions; policies cannot be applied universally. Furthermore, changing circumstances mean that they must be flexible and adapt to new demands and problems. In China, previous policies to stimulate agricultural production have proved to be unsustainable, due to declining conditions (such as soil degradation) and strict rules from the World Trade Organisation. In response, there has been a shift in policy focus towards investing in agricultural research to increase productivity. 

Key aims for food security policies must be to:

• look at vulnerable social groups, not just regions (a particular concern is communities affected by HIV/AIDS)
• look at why previous policies have failed and learn from these mistakes
• develop policies at various levels, particularly small-scale solutions. For example, measures that improve smallholder crop production may be more achievable than regional policies
• consider solutions beyond the agricultural sector, such as industrial growth and non-farm rural activities, which can reduce poverty
• improve health and education standards to reduce the vulnerability of certain groups, raise awareness of the causes of food security and increase agricultural productivity.

Food security is a major challenge for many developing regions and for developed nations as the first Millennium Development Goal. It is now time for the ideas presented by researchers to be put into practice.

Source(s):
‘Food security in Sub-Saharan Africa’, ITDG Publishing, 2001
‘Achieving Food Security in Southern Africa: Policy issues and options’, FSSA Synthesis Paper, April 2004 Full document.
‘Public investment and China’s long-term food security under WTO’, Food Policy 29, 99-111, by Jing Zhu, 2004.

Funded by: Department for International Development (DFID), International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), National Natural Science Foundation of China

id21 Research Highlight: 22 February 2005

Further Information:
Stephen Devereux
Institute of Development Studies
University of Sussex
Brighton
BN1 9RE
UK

Tel: +44 (0) 1273 87 8773
Contact the contributor: S.G.Devereux@ids.ac.uk

Institute of Development Studies, UK

Intermediate Technology Development Group, UK

Other related links:
'Responding to drought and food insecurity'

'Is Asia losing the fight against hunger?'

'Changing agricultural support services to improve food security'

Forum for Food Security in Southern Africa

Special Programme for Food Security (SPFS)

World Food Programme

Eldis guide - food security