The Meaning of Food Security

The Definition

The definition of food security that has been adopted by many experts, institutions and Governments is that given by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations. This definition has also been adopted by the World Bank. Thus food security is defined as a condition whereby all people have access to food of the right quantity and quality at all times to enable them live an active healthy life. Some institutions, such, as NGOs have gone further to include in the definition, food of the right choice, meeting taste preferences and cultural norms of the targeted people.Conditions of food security are assessed at national, community and household levels. Regional groupings such as SADC also aggregate national food security information to the SADC Regional level. Food insecurity is the absence of food security. Food insecurity has been expressed implicitly in the first Millennium Development Goal which is to eradicate ‘extreme poverty and hunger’. People can be food secure by food supplies from their own production, acquired food or from a combination of both sources. This, therefore, entails physical and economic food availability, accessibility and utilization. This also implies that solutions to food security problems are multi-sectoral.

National Level Food Security

Attainment of national level food security is usually viewed in a period of one year termed as consumption year or marketing year. Food security at national level is achieved when a country has enough supply of major staple food crops to meet national demand. At national level, several factors affect food security including; level of agricultural production and productivity; inefficient marketing systems, state of road and telecommunication infrastructure and network; unemployment and income levels; and general food price levels.Other factors that affect food security are: HIV/AIDS prevalence; natural disasters such as droughts and floods; technological advancement and adoption rates (in terms of percentages or levels of the target population utilizing the technology or improved practices; general economic performance; efficiency of early warning systems and effectiveness of response strategies.

Community Level Food Security

Governments and cooperating agencies also do focus on community level information in order to understand and deal with food security issues at community level involving a village or groups of villages. Community level food security information is obtained from district level stakeholders, Community Based Organisations (CBOs) and community leaders as well as from technocrats based within the local communities.

Household Level Food Security

The individual household is the primary unit that is assessed to determine food security conditions of individual household members. Characteristics of households are profiled in accordance with food security status. These characteristics include food stock levels, disposable incomes, physical and economic access to markets and several coping mechanisms available to the household.Household food insecurity seems to be the critical problem as compared to national food insecurity in many countries including Zambia. Measures that ensure household food security, therefore, deserve a higher priority. The conventional definition of food security clearly focuses on all people accessing food at all times for an active health life. It follows therefore that if all people in all households are food secure then food security is also consequently achieved at community and national levels.

Regional — SADC Level and Global Food Security

Regional Secretariats in Southern, Eastern, West and North Africa coordinate with national governments to establish the food security status of each specific region. The methods used result in the determination of regional deficits or surpluses of key food staples. This information is supplied to FAO Global Early Warning System (GEWS) which in turn compiles and publishes food security information and status for each country in the world including a consolidated summary of the Global food security situation for a given year.The FAO food security reports are used by international organisations and cooperating partners to target interventions on regions and countries of the world that are highlighted as being food insecure.