The hunger games

Text and Photos by Henrylito D. Tacio
“When all people at all times have access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life.” That was how the World Food Summit of 1996 defined food security.
Commonly, the concept of food security is defined as including both physical and economic access to food that meets people’s dietary needs as well as their food preferences. In many countries, including the Philippines, health problems related to dietary excess are an ever increasing threat.  In fact, malnutrition and foodborne diarrhea are become double burden.
According to the Rome-based UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), food security is built on three pillars:
 • Food availability: sufficient quantities of food available on a consistent basis.
 • Food access: having sufficient resources to obtain appropriate foods for a nutritious diet.
 • Food use: appropriate use based on knowledge of basic nutrition and care, as well as adequate water and sanitation.
 
“Food security is a complex sustainable development issue, linked to health through malnutrition, but also to sustainable economic development, environment, and trade,” FAO pointed out.
Unfortunately, today’s global food system has major weaknesses: nearly 800 million people are left hungry, one-third of the human race is malnourished, over half of some crops never make it to the table, and the planet is ravaged from environmentally unfriendly agricultural practices.
“As the global population is expected to soar exponentially in the coming years, we must examine ways to feed more people efficiently and sustainably, while combatting climate change,” notes the newly-released 2016 Global Food Policy Report. 
The report, published by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), provides an in-depth look at major food policy developments and events in the past year, and examines key challenges and opportunities for the coming year.
It must be recalled that the Sustainable Development Goals challenge the international community to eradicate hunger and undernutrition in 15 years or less. 
“This report shows that if we are to meet these goals, we have a lot of work ahead,” pointed out IFPRI Director General Shenggen Fan. “We must promote and support a new global food system that is efficient, inclusive, climate-smart, sustainable, nutrition- and health-driven, and business-friendly in order to ensure that no one goes to sleep hungry.”
The report took notice of climate change to continue to have its negative impacts on agriculture.
“Every year, 12 million hectares of land is degraded due to drought and desertification,” the report said.  That’s almost half of the total land area of the Philippines, which is 30 million hectares.
Conversely, the global food system accounts for one-fifth of all greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere, quoting data from FAO. 
“The development of climate-ready crops, which can lead to more efficient water use and improve yields, are key to feeding a growing population and adapting and mitigating against climate change,” the report said in a press statement.
Shifting diets has also affected food distribution around the world.  “Worldwide, the number of overweight people is two-and-a-half times larger than the number of undernourished people,” the report said.
Urbanization, increasing incomes, and higher demand for animal protein is changing diets in developing countries. Beef consumption, for example, is growing, and is one of the most resource-intensive and environmentally impactful foods to produce, according to the report.
“Beef production requires four times more land (and four times as much greenhouse gas emissions) than dairy for every unit of protein consumed,” the report explained.  “Additionally, beef is seven times more resource-intensive than pork and poultry, and 20 times more than pulses.”
Although measuring food loss and waste is difficult, most studies, however, estimate that between 27%-32% of food produced never makes it to the table. This number is even higher for foods that are particularly susceptible to loss and waste such as fruits and vegetables.
Food loss and waste occur differently in developed and developing countries. In developing countries, most food is lost at the production level — investments in infrastructure, transportation, and packing industries is key.
In developed countries, however, most food is wasted at the retail and consumer level. The report suggested that consumers in these countries “need to be educated about food availability and appearance to reduce food waste.”
When food is mentioned, water can’t be far behind.  “About 85% of global water use goes to agricultural irrigation,” the report said.
Innovations such as climate-ready crops can greatly reduce this amount, the report noted. Rice is the staple food of more than half of the world’s population, particularly those living in Asia.
The report cited C4 rice as an example.  It said that a technology in producing C4 rice is adapted, water use efficiency can be doubled and the yields can be increased by almost 50%.
“Unless significant changes are made in global water consumption, most people will live under severe water shortage conditions by 2050,” the report said.