Food Security Essay Sample

Essay

Food security is one of the greatest challenges the world faces in the 21st century. Many people suffer from starvation, malnutrition and the diseases associated with lack of food. Although the world produces sufficient food to feed its ballooning population that is at seven billion currently, not all the parts of the world receive fair shares of food. World Food Program (WFP) explains that out of every eight people in the world, one person sleeps hungry each day. Also, one out of every three children is underweight. There is the need to understand the causes of starvation, the possible solutions to hunger, and the implications of the current situation of food security.
There are several causes of starvation. Population explosion is one of the major concerns about food security. A period of seventy years experienced a population growth rate of over 200%. Between 1930 and 2010, the population of the world grew from 2 billion to 6.8 billion (Reading and Writing Sourcebook, n.d p.28). The population is expected to reach nine-billion by 2050 according to the current projections. Such fast rates of population growth are unsustainable in terms of food security. In addition, climate change has threatened food security. Due to climate change, there is a growing scarcity of water which is an important resource in the production of adequate food. Land that is appropriate for food production continues getting scarce as desertification increases. Competition for the scarce food resources has increased and that text shows, the developing countries are affected by starvation more than the developed countries because the problem of population explosion, for example, affects the developing countries more than the developed ones (Reading and Writing Sourcebook, n.d p.28). Also, poverty trap is a problem that is prevalent in the developing countries more than the developed counterparts. It is difficult for developing countries to achieve development with their currently high populations that are difficult to feed (WFP, 2015 p.1).
Apart from the above causes of food security challenges, food wastage, lack of agricultural investments, wars, and unstable markets are the other causes of food insecurity. WFP (2015, p.1) details 1.3 billion tons of the food produced globally each year is never consumed. Food wastage is mainly caused by poor storage practices that render the food unsafe for human consumption. In addition, developing countries have insufficient infrastructure to support their agriculture. Such infrastructure includes roads, machines, storage facilities, and irrigation. The consequences of lack of infrastructure include delayed transportation of food, wastage of food due to lack of storage facilities, unreliable supply of water that causes poor yields (WFP, 2015 p.1).
Solving the current challenge of food security requires a multidimensional approach. The world must address the need for better yields by promoting agricultural production. The world needs to use sustainable approaches. Researching better yields that can sustainably promote food supplies is necessary. However, the world cannot address food security challenges without tackling the challenge of overpopulation. The current population is unsustainable because the world cannot meet its demand in terms of food yet by 2050, the population shall reach a high of 9 billion. Developing countries must play their roles effectively in reducing the population. Introducing the one-child-policy has helped many developed countries in meeting the goals of sustainable food supplies. Developing countries should learn from such policies. In addition, the developing countries must deal with the problem of illiteracy because solving food security requires a well-educated population.
Solving the challenge of food security requires promotion of local production than relying on food imports. The problem of food security is tied to other problems, for example, climate change. The text explains that if the developing nations rely on food imports from the developed nations, the long-lasting effect shall be the increase in Carbon-dioxide footage during transportation of the food. This shall increase global warming further, considering that the same food creates a lot of greenhouse gas emissions during its production (Reading and Writing Sourcebook, n.d p.28). Another approach to increasing food security is by reducing food wastage (Reading and Writing Sourcebook, n.d p.29). The current wastage of 1.3 billion tones is too high, and there is need for the global community to identify the root causes of food wastage as the beginning step towards reducing food insecurity threats. Improving food storage and preservation are examples of the interventions that can reduce food wastage. The world also needs to tackle the problem of climate change as a way of creating the favorable environment for agriculture. Treating wastes, using clean energy in the industries and homes, and planting more trees are some of the ways the world can tackle the problem of climate change. Also, the developing countries must increase their investment in agriculture by purchasing and building the facilities that support agriculture, e.g. irrigation schemes, storage, and transportation facilities.
The challenge of food security, if not addressed, has a lot of implications on the quality of life. First, it implies that more people will suffer from mal-nutritional diseases. Today, 1 billion people in the world live under food-insufficiency (Reading and Writing Sourcebook, n.d p.28) as one out of eight people sleep hungry (WFP, 2015 p.1). However, the population is projected to grow unsustainable level by 2050, and the implication is that if the global nations do not address the challenges of food insecurity, then by 2050, more people will be food-insufficient. It also means that by 2050, more people will be suffering from mal-nutritional diseases than today. The current global population that suffers from micro-nutritional diseases is 2 billion (Reading and Writing Sourcebook, n.d p.28). The population is equivalent to the world’s total population in 1970. Another implication of the current problem of food is that the world needs to deal with climate change urgently. Climate change worsens the problem of starvation by reducing the percentage of arable land. It also creates water-scarcity, meaning that if climate change increases, food production shall continue decreasing hence the need to solve the challenge of climate change. If the world does not address climate change to increase food security, it implies that by 2100, 10% of the birds’ population shall disappear while 15% shall become extinct (Reading and Writing Sourcebook, n.d p.28).
In summary, food security is a serious challenge that the world faces in the 21st century. The population has grown to unsustainable level and the world cannot produce enough food to feed the high population. Food has become a scarce resource as the problem is worsened by climate change that has reduced food production. Poverty trap, lack of agricultural infrastructure, food wastage, wars and displacement, are the other factors that cause food scarcity. Solving food security challenges requires the global community to address these challenges directly. If the world does not solve the challenges of food security, the implication is that the world shall experience growing populations of mal-nourished people and people who suffer from mal-nutritional diseases, among the other implications discussed in this paper.
Cornell’s Note-taking

References

Reading and Writing Sourcebook, n.d. Diet and Sustainability Key to Feeding the World, N.p,
pp.28-29.
World Food Program- WFP, 2015. What Causes Hunger? Retrieved on April 15, 2015