Food Insecurity in the Regions of Developing Nation - Essay Example

Food Insecurity Food Insecurity Introduction The terms “insecurity of food” and “security of food” are used to refer to the quality and the quantity of food available to individuals around the globe. The security and insecurity of food is caused due to several reasons such as instable political conditions, quantity of food produced, life style, rate of poverty and education, accessibility of market place and occurrence rate of natural hazards. If economic development has to take place, poverty is to be reduced and hunger needs to be countered, better security of food is necessary. By the millennium, one of the goals set by policy makers throughout the world was to reduce 50% of hunger throughout the word by the period of 2015 (Scanes, 2011, p.8). During 2006, over 820 million were expected to be among those who are suffering from hunger throughout developing nations and the rate of hunger is increasing instead of decreasing at a constant rate, especially in African and Southern Asian regions (Hampton, 2007). This paper will focus on what food insecurity is and what is causing food insecurity in the regions of developing nations, as well as how it can be countered. Body During 2000, all the leaders throughout the world decided to comply with the aims and objectives of MDGs (Millennium Development Goals) (Sachs, 2005). On top of the aims and objectives list was the reduction of poverty and hunger. During 2003, the numbers showed positive signs as hunger decreased from 823 million to 820 million which accounts for a change from 20% to 17% of hunger (Skoet, 2006, p.4). Food insecurity is a term used to define conditions when individuals do not have access to food both physically and economically throughout their life and can not stay well nutritious and healthy. The components that add up to form the definition and application of food security include: existence of abundant amount of food in reality, accessibility of food to individuals and stable accessibility over prolonged period of time, availability of high quality food, and ability of human beings to control their food and what they eat. Hunger is a term mostly used to denote to food insecurity but it is not actually food insecurity because hunger can even arise on temporary basis for people who have abundant amount of food. Hunger does not last for a prolonged period of time and it takes place when agricultural production declines due to changes in weather and seasons or during war sessions. Hunger can even be categorized as chronic in nature when restricted amount of access to food quality and quantity causes children weight loss and high rate of infant mortality. The third kind of hunger is recognized as hidden hunger that is caused when the amount of required nutrients in accessible food is low in amount (Carmichael, 1983). There is a linkage between hunger poverty and illness, one element may result in the causation of the other two, and due to hunger the immune system of human body looses health and fails to defend human body against diseases and is the number one reason for resulting in ill health throughout the world. People in the developing nations, such as in African and Asian regions, fail to earn and buy proper quality and quantity of food and end up being at a higher risk of falling sick. When people become sick, they become weak and loose their ability to work properly and fail to pay for their basic necessity of food. According to the standing Committee of United Nations, increase in poverty causes decrease in food security and food insecurity causes various health problems during child birth and increase in rate of child mortality (Mechlem, 2004). A major obstacle in the development of a nation’s political, economical and social system is hunger and security of food and decrease in hunger is associated very closely with the development of economy. According to an estimate, hunger causes loss of work and this result in decline of growth of GDP. Children who are not yet born and are with their mothers in pregnant state do not perform well throughout their lives and fail to achieve their goals and aims and their cognition does not develop appropriately if their mothers do not have access to food that is of high quality and quantity. Various causes have been figured out that have resulted in food insecurity in nations that are experiencing developing stage. The African regions have failed to produce adequate amount of food for their public and due to this, they have ended up importing 25% of grain related food required for the nourishment of their citizens (McCord, 2012). On the other hand, Asian regions have performing better because of their distinct food production systems which have helped them produce high quality grains during the period of 1960s till 1970s (Evenson, 2003). Food may be available in abundant amount at government centers and food stores but this does not necessarily indicates that the population of the nation is not experiencing food insecurity. Developing nations experience issues such as low incomes, negative infrastructure conditions, lack of transportation, lack of pure drinking water and lack of basic level education and health care due to which the health of the population of developing nations is being disturbed. For example, in India, children are found to be under weight although there is enough production of food because there is existence of unequal distribution of wealth and lack of resources to connect people from each other. Food insecurity is high in those areas where there are bad conditions of infrastructure; people of developing nations can only gain access to low priced foods. Due to development of infrastructure, the developing nations can even gain access to low cost food as proper infrastructure will lead to easy transportation of food from one end to another and this will even decrease the cost of storing and production low. Proper infrastructure leads to efficiency as farmers gain access to up-to-date technology required for agricultural purposes and producers can easily learn about the demands of the consumers and act accordingly. Trade barriers and restrictions, such as tariffs and subsidies, have led to a negative impact on trade taking place within the international community and these practices have led to decrease in prices of food. Agriculturalists of the developing nation end up earning low amount of money and they fail to reach to the international markets. The developed nations continue to provide subsidies to local farmers due to which international trade does not take place and the aim of the World Trade Organization of increasing trade between nations have been hampered very badly. Food security is even caused by unhealthy people, people living in African regions experience higher rate of HIV and the Asian nations are even increasingly being affected by this disease (Anema, 2009). Individuals who are found to be HIV positive are mostly those who are recognized as adults, these adults are necessary for economic development because these adults are a major portion of the workforce. Due to their bad health conditions, they fail to produce food at a higher rate and continue to rest at homes which has eventually caused a major increase in food insecurity. Farmers are one of the poorest strata of a society; they fail to get loans on easy terms as the lenders avoid lending money to these farmers due to their poor financial conditions caused due to decrease in food prices and lack of access to international markets. Due to lack of access to loans, farmers fail to invest in up-to-date machinery required for agricultural production and agricultural production rate declines in developing nations. Due to failure of getting access to loans, farmers even fail to keep their cultivating grounds healthy due to which these grounds loose their fertility (Sánchez, 1997). One of the main sources of food insecurity has been sudden changes in climatic conditions; natural disasters have increased and have become one of the major causes of food insecurity. When natural disasters arise, they cause heavy damages to property, as well as food production, these losses are very expensive in nature and farmers fail to cope up with these losses. Numerous farmers in Asian countries have ended up becoming depressed due to destruction of their crops and the low amount of money they are paid for the daily hard work; due to this, they have started looking for jobs in the metropolitan centers and the farms no longer seems to them as a viable option for bread and butter. Conflicts within the nation, as well as outside the nation, can elevate food insecurity, conflicts lead to the causation of emergency situation in food area. Conclusion Food security, hunger and poverty all are linked with each other, each element of society affects another, if food security is lost, hunger increases and this results in increased poverty rates because when people do not have enough to eat, they fail to carry out their duties and fail to produce. Several reasons have been figured out that have caused food security in developing nations, especially in the African and the Asian regions. References Anema, A., Vogenthaler, N., Frongillo, E., Kadiyala, S., & Weiser, S. D. (2009). Food insecurity and HIV/AIDS: Current knowledge, gaps, and research priorities. Current HIV/AIDS Reports. 6, 224-231. Carmichael, A. G. (1983). Infection, Hidden Hunger, and History. Journal of Interdisciplinary History. 14, 249-264. Evenson RE, & Gollin D. (2003). Assessing the impact of the green revolution, 1960 to 2000. Science (New York, N.Y.). 300, 758-62. Hampton T. (2007). Food insecurity harms health, well-being of millions in the United States. JAMA: the Journal of the American Medical Association. 298, 1851-3. McCord, A. (2012). Public works and social protection in sub-Saharan Africa: do public works work for the poor? Tokyo, United Nations University Press. Mechlem, K. (2004). 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