Proceeding of 2013 International Seminar on Climate Change and Food Security ISCCFS 2013
Palembang, South Sumatra -Indonesia, 24-25 October,2013
64
Food Insecurity and Global Food System: Political Decision?
Nina Lisanty
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1
Laboratory of Sustainable Resource Economics, Graduate School of Bioresources, Mie University, Japan
Abstract.
Food insecurity may exist at the national, regional, and local levels, where the food is not available, accessible, and properly utilized. This paper describes the basic cause of hunger and food
insecurity of most parts of the world is national and global political choice. The weak governmen t‘s policies
contribute to unequal distribution of food within nations, regions, and communities. In addition, developed countries via their multinational corporations perform their business in developing countries as a form of
neocolonialism, which have pushed developing countries deeper into poverty. A country can make political decisions to ensure all of the citizens are not hungry by the changing economy, agriculture, and national
policy paradigms which pro poor.
Keywords:
food insecurity, global food system, food policy
1. Background
In global food situation, there is a gap between developed and developing countries. Developed and developing countries differ in concerning their nutritional status consumption. While developing countries
are still struggling in fulfilling their calorie intake, developed countries have already concerned about high protein food supply. Poor people in developing countries expend more than 50 percent of their income for
food and about 70 percent of it is for staple food. Otherwise, food expenditure is only about 15 to 30 percent of total expenditure in developed countries. Surprisingly, cereals consumption per capita in developed
countries is more than 500 kg per annum, whereas in developing countries consume no more than 200 kg 150 kg in Southeast Asia. Approximately 90 percent of cereal consumption in developed countries is
allocated for livestock feeds Buckle
et al
., 1985. For food security to exist at the national, regional, and local levels, food must be available,
accessible, and properly utilized. However, food availability does not ensure food accessibility. The weak governmen
t‘s policies in developing countries contribute to unequal distribution of food within nations, regions, and communities. Furthermore, poor democracies do not spend much on people
‘s health and education sectors. Thus, it leads to lack of information and knowledge about food and nutrition resulting
undernourished condition and worsen by cultural aspect. In addition, developed countries via their multinational corporations perform their business in developing countries as a form of neocolonialism.
Those factors have pushed developing countries deeper into poverty.
2. Literature Review
2.1. Food Insecurity
Food insecurity is the condition existing when people lack sustainable physical or economic access to enough safe, nutritious, and socially acceptable food for a healthy and productive life. Food insecurity
may be chronic, seasonal, or temporary, and it may occur at the household, regional, or national level. The root causes of food insecurity include: poverty, war and civil conflict, corruption, national policies that do
not promote equal access to food for all, environmental degradation, barriers to trade, insufficient agricultural development, population growth, low levels of education, social and gender inequality, poor
health status, cultural insensitivity, and natural disasters.
Globally, certain groups of people are more vulnerable to food insecurity than others. Vulnerable groups include: victims of conflict e.g.,
refugees and
internally displaced people; migrant workers; marginal populations e.g., school dropouts,
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Corresponding author. Tel.: -
E-mail address
: nina.dowangmail.com
Proceeding of 2013 International Seminar on Climate Change and Food Security ISCCFS 2013
Palembang, South Sumatra -Indonesia, 24-25 October,2013
65 unemployed people, homeless people, and orphans; dependent populations e.g., elderly people, children
under five, and disabled and ill people; women of reproductive age; ethnic minorities; and low literacy households.
A household is considered food secure when its occupants do not live in hunger or fear of starvation. Hunger is the bodys signal that it needs food. Once we have eaten enough food to satisfy our bodies needs,
hunger goes away until our stomachs are empty again. People who do not get enough food often experience hunger, and hunger can lead to malnutrition over the long term. But someone can become malnourished for
reasons that have nothing to do with hunger. Even people who have plenty to eat may be malnourished if they dont eat food that provides the right nutrients, vitamins, and minerals. Hunger is also an effect of
poverty and poverty is largely a political issue. Access to food and other resources is not a matter of availability, but rather of ability to pay. Poverty is the shortage of common things such as food, clothing,
shelter and safe drinking water, all of which determine our quality of life. It may also include the lack of access to opportunities such as education and employment. The effects of poverty may also create a
poverty cycle operating across multiple levels, individual, local, national and global.
2.2. Millenium Development Goals
