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    Food Security and Nutrition - OECD

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    This document discusses global food security and the challenges of ending hunger and malnutrition. It notes that COVID-19 has reversed gains in food security and increased the number of undernourished people. While average global food availability is projected to increase by 2030, achieving zero hunger will be difficult. The document argues that government policy choices can increase food security through improving access to nutritious foods, increasing incomes, and designing coherent food systems policies.

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    Food Security and Nutrition - OECD

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    Louie Bangug
    30 views4 pages
    This document discusses global food security and the challenges of ending hunger and malnutrition. It notes that COVID-19 has reversed gains in food security and increased the number of undernourished people. While average global food availability is projected to increase by 2030, achieving zero hunger will be difficult. The document argues that government policy choices can increase food security through improving access to nutritious foods, increasing incomes, and designing coherent food systems policies.

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    This document discusses global food security and the challenges of ending hunger and malnutrition. It notes that COVID-19 has reversed gains in food security and increased the number of undernourished people. While average global food availability is projected to increase by 2030, achieving zero hunger will be difficult. The document argues that government policy choices can increase food security through improving access to nutritious foods, increasing incomes, and designing coherent food systems policies.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    30 views4 pages

    Food Security and Nutrition - OECD

    Uploaded by

    Louie Bangug
    This document discusses global food security and the challenges of ending hunger and malnutrition. It notes that COVID-19 has reversed gains in food security and increased the number of undernourished people. While average global food availability is projected to increase by 2030, achieving zero hunger will be difficult. The document argues that government policy choices can increase food security through improving access to nutritious foods, increasing incomes, and designing coherent food systems policies.

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    OECD Home  Agriculture and fisheries  Topics  Food security and Nutrition

    Food security and Nutrition

    Better agro-food policies are crucial to improving global food


    security
    Ending hunger and malnutrition is among the greatest challenges humanity faces. A person is considered “food secure” when they
    have the physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food
    preferences for an active and healthy life (as defined by the United Nations Committee on World Food Security). Urgent action is
    needed to address global food security as recognised in the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) . SDG2 sets targets to end
    hunger, achieve food security, improve nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture by 2030 . These are critical challenges for the
    world requiring international cooperation and policy reform.

    While progress had been made over the years to improve food security, the pandemic has reversed many of these gains which were
    already uneven across countries and regions.  According to estimates by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, COVID-19 has led
    to a sharp increase in undernourishment with between 720 and 811 million people in the world facing hunger in 2020 , 118 million more
    people in 2020 than in 2019. Despite average global food availability per person growing by 4% to 2030 , achieving SDG 2 on zero
    hunger will be challenging. Disparate growth in food availability between regions will see consumers in middle-income countries
    increase their food intake most significantly while diets in low-income countries will remain largely unchanged. This has serious
    implications for undernourished and severely food insecure populations who are most in need. The impact of climate change and the
    rise in extreme weather conditions will further impact food security , as crops production has to shift to new regions, creating short-term
    fluctuations in food availability. Trade will remain essential for food security in food-importing countries and for rural livelihoods in food-
    exporting countries.

    But governments can act to increase food security, and in the face of these challenges, policy choices matter.

    Food security is not only about the availability of food, but also about better access to food

    The root cause of most food insecurity today is poverty and even people in OECD countries face food insecurity, with Indigenous
    Peoples being particularly vulnerable.

    Short-term interventions were important to address the immediate needs of the most vulnerable (emergency food aid, for example) in
    OECD countries during the COVID-19 pandemic and in some instances digital technologies were used .

    Foodbanks run by non-governmental organisations provide emergency food assistance, sometimes using food recovered as part of
    food waste policies; but policy efforts must focus on sustainable solutions to build medium- and long-term resilience to food supply
    shocks for those people currently afflicted by chronic hunger and food insecurity. Work is currently underway on the operation of
    foodbanks in OECD countries. Understanding the role that socio-economic and demographic factors play in determining household
    food purchases and consumption is critical too. Socio-economically disadvantaged groups tend to consume less nutritious food,
    leading to suboptimal health outcomes, including obesity. Contributing factors include low levels of income and education; time-poor
    single parent households; and the prevalence and accessibility of fast food restaurants.

    Policy choices matter

    Increasing the incomes of the poor and tackling development challenges for countries are critical elements for achieving global food
    security. But policies may also be needed to ensure that higher incomes translate into improved nutrition, including polices focused on
    health, education, social protection and infrastructure. OECD has a four track set of recommendations for policies for encouraging
    healthier food choices . Evaluating the effectiveness of policies and in particular the needs of socio-economic and demographic groups
    is hampered by inadequate and irregular food data collection , including on the prevalence of food insecurity.

    Agricultural policies are often maintained with the stated aim of increasing food production and thereby food security. Market
    interventions in the agriculture sector (such as subsidies or export restrictions) often result in higher prices for staple foods, with a
    negative impact on the food security of poor households (which can include poor farmers who may be net consumers of such crops).
    Support policies not only fail to achieve their aim they can also divert public resources away from actions that could tangibly contribute
    Support policies not only fail to achieve their aim, they can also divert public resources away from actions that could tangibly contribute
    to improved food security. These includes efforts to create a stronger enabling environment for agricultural productivity or to develop
    agricultural innovation systems to boost productivity growth . Other investments that support improved food production and availability
    include rural infrastructure and storage facilities, and appropriate training and advisory services would be beneficial for food security.
    Strong and effective systems to build resilience and risk management capacity in agriculture production are also critical in helping build
    food security at the national and global levels.

    More efforts are needed to design coherent food systems policies to address food insecurity to reach SDG2 by 2030.

    Latest update

    The role of transparency in avoiding a COVID-19 induced food crisis

    Early in the COVID-19 outbreak, there were concerns that the health crisis would develop into a large-scale food crisis similar to the
    2007-08 food price crisis, when panic buying and counterproductive policies exacerbated initial supply disruptions. While food supply
    chains have seen disruptions, and there are future risks that require attention, a food price crisis has been avoided so far, in part thanks
    to improved transparency in global staple crop markets.

    Read more...
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