Food security Archives - Lutgard Musiime

This has been a long time coming. I promised to return and share how we can improve food security but I had gone away a little bit to fill my cup and I am happy to be back.

As previously mentioned in the last article, food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.

Here are 6 ways I believe food security can be improved

Let us respect nature

Human civilization which shouldn’t be a bad thing carried with it global warming whose effects are biting hard and have caused food insecurity. Bill Bryson wrote “You are totally at the mercy of nature in this country, mate. It’s just a fact of life”, and I couldn’t agree more so each time you participate in environmental degradation, know that is at your hands we will suffer as a nation. Environmental degradation which includes the depletion of natural resources, destruction of ecosystems, name it, have caused climate change. This in turn has increased the number of weather-related disasters such as floods and droughts consequently making food supply chains to be more vulnerable. We need to respect mother nature for it to support us. Start from where you are, plant those trees, leave the swamps alone, cut the forests some slack and there shall we be able to improve food security. There is power in working with nature.

To our leaders, kindly prioritize ecosystem monitoring and assessment programs that will provide integrated, high-quality information for better and timely decision-making.

2. Agriculture needs its lost glory back

There is a need for agriculture to be made profitable and attractive once again. Agriculture is very frustrating lately which leaves it to a handful of people to feed the nation as well as export to the many nations that we feed. Agriculture is the backbone of our economy and matter of fact, growing up, being a farmer was one of the most honorable things one could be. Income was almost always guaranteed but this has since changed as farmers continue to suffer from countless losses due to climate negative effects, and monopolistic tendencies from some people who want to control the market. Many young people are shying away from agriculture and resorting to other fields or remaining in agriculture as middlemen. Young people who are the future of this nation need to be involved in the planning, design, and implementation of agricultural policies. The government ought to spend on reducing real and perceived agribusiness risks, enabling financing, and improving infrastructure. Rural agribusinesses can thrive when they have access to finances and are well-connected to local communities and markets. Let us not devalue this food basket, please.

3. Prioritize healthy diets

There is a tendency for consumers to resort to changing their consumption habits or purchasing less nutritious foods, which are often cheaper when food prices go up. We all know what happens when we abuse our diets. Let us learn creative ways to have fresh food all year round, support farmers, prioritize citizens over exports, and encourage urban farming. We need to sensitize the masses that their health ought to be guarded jealously even when food prices for fresh food skyrockets. At all times but especially in the hard times, governments should also encourage producers of fresh food and provide them the needed incentive to stay in business and access to markets while ensuring their protection and food safety.

4. Disseminate information

Sir Francis Bacon quoted “scientia potentia est” translated as “Knowledge is power”. This means the more one knows, the more one will be able to control events. Sometimes or many times, we suffer from a lack of knowledge and in that case, we do not know where and who to ask or even do to make certain situations better. Can we begin by shining the light on what is going on and how bad it is without sugarcoating it? Sensitized people will always be in a position to make better-informed decisions, take good care of their families, and also know how to support them in relation to food access, sustainability, and availability. The custodians of this knowledge need to devise creative ways of disseminating this information through channels that are easily accessible and in formats that are easily understandable. Let us take advantage of educational materials and research. With this, we can instill a sense of solidarity in citizens.

5. Can we bring back food silos?

A Silo is a structure for storing bulk materials. They are essential in food processing and used in agriculture to store grain or fermented feed known as silage. They are usually tall and cylindrical, but can also be constructed in the form of warehouses, domes, or large elongated bags.

There is a need to use food reserves wisely if we are going to do anything about improving food security. Many farmers struggle with post-harvest handling so food goes to waste simply because they do not the resources to do it safely. We used to have government food silos in this country which supported farmers to store their produce until a time it is needed but these have since been privatized or abandoned. What this means is that food is being consumed quickly not to go to waste thereby leaving us without enough food reserves for times of crisis. Farmer groups need to be supported to construct food silos or the government returns the food silos which were a very good buffer for the country. Food silos will enable governments to monitor prices and release food from these reserves if prices spike but without food reserves, we remain exposed.

6. Help those in need

The government ought not to hesitate to distribute or request assistance from businesses or international and national organizations to distribute food to those in need. Appropriate targeting should be ensured to avoid the political exclusion of certain groups and elites. Women heads of households, orphans, widows, refugees, internally displaced people, senior citizens, the poor, and other vulnerable people should be the principal target of food distribution in times of crisis like the recent situation in Karamoja. School feeding programs should be maintained or modified to enable children who depend on those meals to continue to have access.

Karamoja, Uganda: When climate change intersects with conflict and poverty | Land Portal

I don’t know what came into your mind as you read this however this is just the tip of the iceberg. You can share your mind with me and our readers about the things you think can improve food security that I have not included here. We appreciate you.

Until next time, see you next Wednesday.

When you hear the term food security, what comes to your mind? (You can share your answer in the comment section) but thanks to social media I made a question tag and asked friends of mine from all walks of life and I got very interesting answers. Here are some of them.

“I think it is the state of having enough food production for a given society preventing it from hunger and starvation” | “Civilizations as we know them” | “Enough/plenty of healthy food to last a particular season or time frame” | “Having more than enough foods” | “Abundance of food” | “Being assured of a meal every meal time” that’s what comes to mind when I see “food security” | “During my time with some NGO they regarded food security as food being 4 things; Available, Accessible, Adequate n Sustainable” | “Preserve the environment for constant food supply” | “Him; the ability of him to consistently eat at least one nutritious meal a day without compromising the ability of the future generations to do the same.” | “It’s food which should be guarded by security because some people overeat it” | “Food security: the ability for every human to have something to eat” | “Constant availability of food” | “When you are certain that you can always have food when you need it.” | “I think of the availability of food all through the year. Covers post-harvest handling for sustenance.” – I cannot exhaust all the responses I received.

Food security

According to Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. This definition has gone through a metamorphosis over the changing decades and it is imperative to understand where it all began.

The term first originated in the mid-1970s, when the World Food Conference (1974) defined food security in terms of food supply ensuring the availability and price stability of basic foodstuffs at the international and national level:

“Availability at all times of adequate world food supplies of basic foodstuffs to sustain a steady expansion of food consumption and to offset fluctuations in production and prices”

Come 1983, FAO analysis shifted the focus to food access, leading to a definition based on the balance between the demand and supply side of the food security equation:

“Ensuring that all people at all times have both physical and economic access to the basic food that they need”

We did not stop there, the definition was yet again revised to include the individual and household level, in addition to the regional and national level of aggregation, in food security analysis. However, in 1986, the highly influential World Bank Report on Poverty and Hunger focused on the temporal dynamics of food insecurity. The report introduced the distinction between chronic food insecurity, associated with problems of continuing or structural poverty and low incomes, and transitory food insecurity, which involved periods of intensified pressure caused by natural disasters, economic collapse, or conflict.

Where are we now?

We have currently stationed at the World Food Summit (1996) definition which reinforces the multidimensional nature of food security and includes food access, availability, food use, and stability. (The definition I give in the beginning). Times keep changing and so will this definition as a response to the need and focus at the time. COVID19 brought in a new dimension and we can only wait to see how this comes into play.

State of food security and nutrition in the world

According to the latest State of food security and nutrition in the world in 2021, the number of people in the world affected by hunger increased in 2020 under the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic after remaining virtually unchanged from 2014 to 2019. In terms of population, it was estimated that between 720 and 811 million people in the world faced hunger in 2020. The report noted then that the world was at a critical juncture. The scary reality is that it is estimated that around 660 million people may still face hunger in 2030, in part due to the lasting effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on global food security, 30 million more people than in a scenario in which the pandemic had not occurred unless bold actions are taken at all levels according to FAO.

Beyond hunger, nearly one in three people did not have access to adequate food in 2020, healthy diets were out of reach for 3 billion people, and under the shadow of COVID19, weaknesses in our food systems were exposed, which threatened the food security and nutrition of millions of people around the world. In Africa, 281.6 million people on the continent, over one-fifth of the population, faced hunger in 2020, which is 46.3 million more than in 2019. In Uganda, we are seeing what is happening to the Karamoja region which remains a hotspot for food insecurity despite the many interventions that have been devised over the years, refugees living in settlements continue to struggle to meet their needs and invest in livelihoods due to above-average prices and among those who grow food in the other remaining areas, stocks from below-average harvests were depleted earlier than usual, and many are struggling to access seeds for the ongoing second season. If this picture does not paint the picture of food security, I do not know what will.

What are the causes of this appalling food insecurity crisis?

First, you and I need to understand where this monster comes from and if we can do anything about it. Simply put this is what feeds this monster which in turn bites us

Lack of access to farming land
Climate change
Land grabbing
Conflict, wars
irrational trade rules
Rapid population growth
Natural calamities like floods, pandemics
Biofuels
Market dominance by corporate giants
Food wastage
Price hikes in international food markets

So allow me to talk about what we can do in our own capacities to avert the situation or at least make it better because I feel this is already too long. In the meantime, share with me your thoughts in the comment section. I will be happy to hear from you.

See you next Wednesday