Definition: “The condition of not having access to sufficient food, or food of an adequate quality, to meet one's basic needs.”
The 4 food insecurity dimensions: availability, access, use and utilisation, and stability.
Food insecurity is an issue that impacts millions around the world. Over 40 million people are facing emergency food insecurity as of 2022 across 51 different countries around the entire world. It’s extremely important that we think of ways to combat this issue as there are real impacts that are occuring, whether we see them occur or not… This concept is defined as “The condition of not having access to sufficient food, or food of an adequate quality, to meet one's basic needs”. These words clearly outline the topic of food insecurity, however, that's all they are. Words. It’s hard to learn and care about this concept unless you have first-hand experience with it and in order to help you understand the impact of the topic, here is a video about the topic and the people it affects: https://youtu.be/_ddcjQf7OY0?si=sRpB7TtcEZ4mOcpe Moving on, the dimensions used to describe food insecurity are availability, access, use/utilisation and stability. These 4 key points help us narrow down the main issues and causes that have led to the final result of food insecurity.
Availability: This refers to the actual existence of food and this factor can be affected by many things which wouldn’t allow for others to obtain their fair share of nutrition. People get food by their own production or local markets, which is produced/brought in by domestic production, food exports and imports. These can be easily affected by problems such as climate change because it has a direct influence on the physical production of these crops.
Access: Access is when households have the sufficient resources that would allow them to buy food that is of good quality, quantity and nutritional balance that would allow for a healthy diet. This is important because if people aren’t even provided with these resources in their environment, there is nothing that they can change to begin receiving it, especially financially. Other implications include the physical, social and policy environment that people are to shop from. For example, certain places with more droughts may have limited access to harvest appropriate crops that are large enough to sustain everyone around them.
Use/Utilisation: This aspect depends on the household and their ability to gauge the right food for their nutritional requirements and this depends on the person's knowledge and habits. Another aspect of this is biological utilisation which depends on one's body to convert the food into energy, which is custom to everybody, as everyone is different and will process meals uniquely.
Stability: Stability is described with respect to the time frame in which people consume food. This refers to when the supply of food to a household is constant throughout the year and in long-term.
Global and local perspectives
Global:
People from around the world suffer from this issue, whether they realise it or not, even people with the access and availability to food may lack the knowledge to put their resources to use by buying and consuming the correct diet that aligns with their nutritional needs. The need for food changes by country as certain places such as Ukraine may require more food at this time due to factors such as their conflict with Russia, whereas other countries may suffer due to their extreme climates, such as Angola, Cameroon, Kenya and Nigeria who struggle with issues such as floods, landslides and droughts that impact their ability to deliver quality meals that are affordable for their citizens.
Within Canada, funds are abundant enough that we are able to contribute to places in need such as Ukraine in their time of need. However, there has been much inflation within Canada that has impacted some individuals' access to the necessary foods that they need to keep going. Also, there are other environmental and economical factors within Canada that present risks to crop yields. There were also recent droughts in the prairies and major flooding in British columbia that affected yields. Considering the environmental implications that are currently affecting Canada, it makes sense that these conditions may worsen or continue to affect our crops and therefore its availability in the future.
Impact on individuals, families, and communities
Individuals:
As for individuals, food insecurity has a direct relation to one's health and functioning because without sufficient nutrition, whether its due to the limited access to it or one's limited knowledge on the topic, will affect one's body. Not only will it affect your physical health, but also your mental health as worrying about feeding yourself or the aftermath of any medical complications received from this limitation can affect someone's mental health through common issues such as stress, anxiety, depression and more.
Families:
As for families, the limited food may cause disproportionate rationing of food as adults may choose to provide younger members with more food. An obvious issue would be the health complications, but the limited access to food can have larger implications on a family because disagreements or other fights that may instigate due to this issue could arise.
Communities:
As for communities, since the problem is affecting a larger group of people, it's more likely that they will receive help to combat the issue as a larger government or other association may choose to solve the issue. Also, since the issue affects more people, this community may choose to build other solutions by trying to plant more crops or making mutual agreements to lower food prices.
b. Root Causes of Food Insecurity:some text
Poverty and economic inequality
Poverty is one of many root causes of food insecurity as it represents the lack of food access and use. Individuals in poverty are undersupplied with the sufficient amount of money needed to buy nutritious food. In different areas around the world, some people are able to farm their own crops to live off of, whereas some communities are dependent upon purchasing their produce and cannot do this without a stable income. Also, people who farm their own food may also suffer from the lack of access to proper water and land to farm on.
As for the use of food, some people who live in poverty may lack the education to understand what type of food fits their health needs, therefore causing them to eat the wrong types of food when they are able to purchase it.
Food access and distribution challenges
Access to food is a huge part of food insecurity because in many places, access to food with high nutritional value is limited due to the lack of supermarkets and grocery stores. People living in rural areas often have to travel long distances to reach healthier options which is expensive.
The food industry prioritises their own profits over each community's affordability. This leads to many people being unable to afford quality meals and produce.
On the economic side, food prices can go up/down due to the cost of transportation required to distribute the food.
Social and political determinants
Stable governments are required for the adequate distribution of food as communities require a stable leader to advocate for their needs, however some leaders may be ignorant to this sentiment and not put much focus on the food industry which therefore affects the quality of food and its affordability for the community, creating food insecurity within certain regions.
Food Systems and Policy:
Some food systems and farmers may choose to prioritise the amount of food they’re producing instead of the food quality which can affect its nutritional value.
As for the policies set on agriculture, land use, trade and transportation, these can impact the way food is produced and distributed for the consumers.
Government regulated policies may affect the type of food being produced and served which is usually in the favour of making it safer for consumers.
Environmental factors and climate change
Environmental factors can have a huge impact on food due to things such as acid rain, climate change/unstable weather patterns, wildlife, vermin and more.
Acid rain can affect the quality of vegetation because it can produce morphological defects within the plants. Since this rain can alter the chemical makeup of the plants and affect its cycle, it has visible implications on the food, consisting of colour changes, deformed sizes and the appearance of brown, spotted necrotic lesions.
Climate changes such as droughts, extreme heat, floods and more also have a severe effect on plantation because plants are used to certain environments and its hard for them to live through extreme conditions when they’re made for a certain type.
Wildlife and vermin can affect plants because they will eat away at the food and spoil fresh food, and this also forces farmers to use harsh chemicals to keep these insects and other creatures away from the plants. They can also leave behind diseases and other bacteria, viruses and sometimes their own eggs.
