According to the FAO, A person is food insecure when they lack regular access to enough safe and nutritious food for normal growth and development and an active and healthy life.
Three main levels of food insecurity have been described:
- Low insecurity is when a person is uncertain about their ability to get food.
- Moderate insecurity is when a person has insufficient financial and/or other resources to maintain a healthy diet Purchasing food may cause them to forgo other expenditures and basic needs. The food consumed is likely to be the cheapest or most accessible rather than the most nutritious. These foods often have higher calorie content and reduced essential nutrients which can result in obesity and other forms of malnutrition.
- Severe insecurity is when a person has gone a day of more without eating. They are experiencing hunger.
While all levels of food insecurity can have serious consequences for a person’s health and wellbeing, not all result in hunger. It has been estimated that in 2021, 2.6 billion people were experiencing moderate to severe food insecurity with 702 to 828 million experiencing hunger. Gender also plays a role in food insecurity, in 2021, 31.9 percent of women in the world were moderately or severely food insecure compared to 27.6 percent of men.(1)
There are three types of food insecurity in addition to the three levels described above,
- Chronic food insecurity. A long-term and persistent condition of food insecurity in which people are unable to meet their food and nutritional requirements over a sustained period of time due to long term poverty or a lack of means of production. This type of food insecurity is often predictable.
- Transitory food insecurity. A short-term and temporary condition of food insecurity occurring due to a sudden change in the person’s ability to produce or purchase sufficient, nutritious foods. This can be the result of short term fluctuations in food availability, personal income or domestic food production and prices. This type of food insecurity is often unpredictable.
- Seasonal food insecurity falls between the two previous types. It is cyclical in nature and thus predictable like Chronic food insecurity but it is usually of limited duration like Transitory food insecurity. It is closely linked to climate, food production patterns and labor availability (2)
Food insecurity at the household level can result from conflict, climate change, agricultural policies and financial instability on a national and worldwide scale but it can also be the result of local issues, policies and activities.
We-Empower Inc can tailor programs to meet local and regional needs related to food insecurity, gender issues and women and child nutrition. Our experts can address issues such as:
- post harvest losses due to improper storage or handling techniques
- constraints to crop production due to inadequate training in pest management, resilient production practices and the lack of quality inputs and tools
- poor livestock productivity due to under developed skills in disease detection and treatment, knowledge of best feeding and nutrition practices and business skills
- low income generation due to poor access to markets, improvement of value chains and identification of value added products
- youth and gender employment, entrepreneurship and cooperative organization