Food Security and Poverty—a precarious balance

 “Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.”

Analysis based solely on food availability frequently resulted in policies that exacerbated the problem.

There are many reasons why people may not have access to food even when enough is available in the aggregate. One of the most fundamental is that there is no guarantee that a market economy will generate a distribution of income that provides enough income for all to purchase the food they need. Thus, the World Bank’s central poverty reduction mission is critical to achieving food security for all.

This profoundly important—and seemingly-simple—definition of food security from the World Food Summit of 1996 actually has four elements:

1. Enough food must be available to meet people’s needs.

2. People must have access to the food that is available under normal circumstances.

3. Volatility in production or prices must not threaten this availability, and

4. The quality of food that people consume must be adequate for their needs.

https://blogs.worldbank.org/developmenttalk/food-security-and-poverty-a-precarious-balance

Citation:  WorldBank