7. Food Security

                Food security means having reliable and consistent access to a sufficient amount of affordable, safe, and healthy nourishment. As you can imagine, obtaining food security is incredibly important, and affects the lives and well-being of people worldwide. Unfortunately, there are a number of issues threatening this security, and many people and areas do not have enough or consistent food in our current society. Worldwide, 852 million people are chronically hungry due to extreme poverty, while another 2 billion lack food security due to poverty.

1.

                One of the most obvious and pressing threats facing food security is the rapidly growing population of Earth. The population is expected to pass 9 billion by 2050, up from the 7 billion population of today. As this increases the demand, crop production must be intensified. However, the yield of major cereals is declining, and the negative effects of intense cropping are impacting the land. The Green Revolution of the 1960s increased food production, but left fertile land degraded, provoked pest upsurges, and polluted the air soil, and water.

2.

There is not enough quality, fertile land to produce crops to meet the high demand and competition. Prices rose drastically during the world food crisis of 2008. As a response to this problem, large companies and governments began the “land grab,” the large-scale acquisition of land and water resources for crop production. From 2008-2011, over 200 million acres of land were “grabbed.”

3.

The changing environment is another threat to food production and security. Climate change affects the sustainability of agriculture, and disrupts the production process. Heat waves, droughts, and flooding induced by global warming could become a global food security emergency. Contaminated water, atmosphere, and soil threaten crop production.

4.

In order to increase crop production despite these environmental challenges, farmers must learn to use sustainable and environmentally safe practices. A diverse variety of resilient crops must be farmed in healthy soil. Technology must improve irrigation techniques to conserve water, and protect the plants from the resistant pests. But in order for any of this to happen, there must be significant policy changes to encourage these practices.

Relevant Sites:

http://www.foodsecurity.ac.uk/issue/global.html

http://www.actionagainsthunger.org.uk/what-we-do/programme-areas/food-security/

http://www.climatechange-foodsecurity.org/

Photo Citations:

1. http://kiecocenterorg.ipage.com/demo22/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Food_Security_Infographic_CFBSA_web.jpg

2. http://www.natural-habitats.com/content/blg/i_067/foodsecurity.jpg

3.http://www.actionaidusa.org/sites/files/actionaid/imagecache/637x425px/image/land_grab_polyp_cartoon_-_no_border.jpg

4. http://www.foodsecuritynews.com/images/Food_System_Diagram.png