Food Insecurity, The Grim Reality of Not Having Enough Food

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Food Security is your ability to get food and clean water on a regular basis. The recent recession has seen a sharp rise in the cost of food, which puts vulnerable groups at increased risk of falling into this group. 

I frequently write about the excesses of food consumption and how to carefully manage yourself in order to not do so. I also write about the nutritional value and the importance of food to the growth and development of an individual at every stage of the life cycle.  In writing these posts I am making a huge assumption about my reader, one that we tend to take for granted, that we all have access to the basic foods we need to live. However, there exist groups of people in every society that are food insecure. Unfortunately, in recent years this group has been growing at an alarming rate. 

Food Security is your ability to get food and clean water on a regular basis. The recent recession has seen a sharp rise in the cost of food, which puts vulnerable groups at increased risk of falling into this group. 

At the beginning of the recession many there were campaigns encouraging the public to find ways to grow what they eat and eat what they grow'. In an ideal world, this would be easy to do as it is best to be independent of international food sources that could be disrupted by one disaster. However, the same is true for small countries like Jamaica, we have to have multiple sources of food because our local supply is frequently disrupted by natural disasters like hurricanes, droughts, and pests. At one point there was an initiative here in Jamaica to increase the consumption of Cassava (tapioca or yucca) in order to increase access to another source of staple foods to the population. 

During the height of the world food crisis, the cost of food was (and to this day still is ) being driven up by other industries that are using food to make biofuel and biodiesel and feed for animals in large commercial farms. The most common foods used are corn, sugar, vegetable oil, and animal fats. This resulted in greater competition to buy these foods and the prices were driven higher. Therefore, every country that manufactures and imports products made from any of these substances faced price hikes on the local markets which were felt by regular consumers like you and me. 

There are big problems with the farming sector in Jamaica and these problems will need to be addressed in order to ensure the food security of all our citizens. The sporadic farmers' markets that are being facilitated by the Ministry of Agriculture, while certainly welcome, are not sustainable for the long term.

It is easier to achieve food security in the rural areas of Jamaica, in comparison to urban areas. These areas normally have more undeveloped lands and a higher volume of foods growing freely, in addition to these areas being the farming hubs again, due to the large amounts of undeveloped lands. This means that most rural areas are highly vegetated and most households have at least a fruit tree growing in the yard. In addition to this, it is tradition to exchange gifts of whatever foods are in season from your land, so you are not limited to only those crops growing in your yard, you give a little and you get a little. Now this sort of exchange results in persons who may not have money, being able to have food security.  Anything that is in season is picked and shared with friends and family, and at church and other community gatherings. We also don't turn anyone away, nor do we particularly expect anything in exchange or in return.

The same cannot be said for the urban communities, where food insecurity is more prevalent and harder to address. Many families are dependent on only their small salaries that are used to purchase from corner shops and are usually used for only things seen as vital. The lack of community support is a factor in the formation and continuation of underdeveloped areas referred to as garrisons. With little to none of the resources seen in the rural areas, food security becomes more impossible to achieve.

Persons who are food insecure have no choice but to be dependent on the generosity of those who have food security. This sort of dynamic leaves many open to exploitation which leads to an increase in crime and violence. The link between food security and actual security cannot be ignored and resolving it is one of the main ways to address these societal ills. 

Every country that is vulnerable to any sort of economic disturbance (the ENTIRE world) is vulnerable to food insecurity. However, on the individual level, we should try to help in any way we can. We are all one disaster away from food insecurity. 

Additional reading : http://www.dawn.com/2011/11/28/biofuel-a-threat-to-food-security.html

                              http://one.org/blog/2011/11/08/pulling-undernutrition-from-its-roots/