Redefining the Concept of Food Security

MAC/WFY

Page-408

0230_553559_45_cha41

408

Assessment. The Graveyard of Aspirations

Brown takes his argument further. He notes that because the last half-century

has been dominated by excessive production and market surpluses, the world
has little experience in dealing with `the politics of scarcity', apart from a brief
period in the early 1970s, which resulted in the 1974 World Food Conference.
He argues that as surpluses are replaced by scarcity, more attention will need to
be paid to carryover grain stocks. In his view, one reason why food shortages
do not get the attention they once did is because famine, in effect, has been
redefined. Given the growing integration of the world grain economy, and today's
capacity to move grain around the world, he notes that famine is concentrated
less in specific geographical regions and much more among low-income groups.
In his opinion, this is likely to increase as scarcity drives up prices. Thus, in his
opinion, future food security will depend on stabilizing four agricultural resources:
cropland, water, rangeland and the earth's climate system. This poses a more
complex challenge, as the world today faces a situation far different from that of
half a century ago. Brown notes that diminishing returns are setting in on several
fronts, including the quality of new land that can be brought into production,
the production response to additional fertilizer applications, the opportunity for
drilling new irrigation wells, and the potential of research investments to produce
technologies that will boost production dramatically.

Ensuring future food security can, in Brown's view, no longer be left to minis-

tries of agriculture alone, if it ever could, but will depend on an integrated effort of
several government departments, echoing the news he expressed during the 1974
World Food Conference. And strong national political leadership will be essential,
without which `deterioration in the food situation may be unavoidable'. Similarly,
he calls for better integration among the international agencies concerned with
global food security. He concludes that in a world that is increasingly integrated
economically, food security is now a global issue that gets little attention in the
UN Security Council or at the G8 summit meetings. He reasons that everyone has
a stake in securing future food supplies but the complexity of the challenge is
matched by the enormity of the effort required to reverse trends that are under-
mining future food security. In addition, he observes, we have inherited `the
mindset, policies, and fiscal priorities from an era of food security that no longer
exists'. Moreover, unless we recognize the nature of the era we are entering and
adopt new policies and priorities, world food security could begin to deteriorate
and `quickly eclipse terrorism as the overriding concern of governments'. Many
will take issue with Brown's views and perspectives but they amount to a wakeup
call that should not be ignored (Shaw, 2005b).

The focus of this book is on food insecurity in the developing world where most

of the hungry and malnourished live. But hunger and absolute poverty re-emerged
as a significant social issue in many rich industrialized countries during the 1980s
and 1990s (Riches, 1997). In Canada, 2.5 million people a year were said to receive
food from chartable food banks in the 1990s. In the United States, it was estimated
that 35 million people could not afford to buy enough food to maintain good
health, including 13 million children. And in Australia and New Zealand, food
banks have proliferated in recent years. These are small numbers when compared

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Useful links	Redefining the Concept of Food Security MAC/WFY Page-408 0230_553559_45_cha41 408 Assessment. The Graveyard of Aspirations Brown takes his argument further. He notes that because the last half-century has been dominated by excessive production and market surpluses, the world has little experience in dealing with `the politics of scarcity', apart from a brief period in the early 1970s, which resulted in the 1974 World Food Conference. He argues that as surpluses are replaced by scarcity, more attention will need to be paid to carryover grain stocks. In his view, one reason why food shortages do not get the attention they once did is because famine, in effect, has been redefined. Given the growing integration of the world grain economy, and today's capacity to move grain around the world, he notes that famine is concentrated less in specific geographical regions and much more among low-income groups. In his opinion, this is likely to increase as scarcity drives up prices. Thus, in his opinion, future food security will depend on stabilizing four agricultural resources: cropland, water, rangeland and the earth's climate system. This poses a more complex challenge, as the world today faces a situation far different from that of half a century ago. Brown notes that diminishing returns are setting in on several fronts, including the quality of new land that can be brought into production, the production response to additional fertilizer applications, the opportunity for drilling new irrigation wells, and the potential of research investments to produce technologies that will boost production dramatically. Ensuring future food security can, in Brown's view, no longer be left to minis- tries of agriculture alone, if it ever could, but will depend on an integrated effort of several government departments, echoing the news he expressed during the 1974 World Food Conference. And strong national political leadership will be essential, without which `deterioration in the food situation may be unavoidable'. Similarly, he calls for better integration among the international agencies concerned with global food security. He concludes that in a world that is increasingly integrated economically, food security is now a global issue that gets little attention in the UN Security Council or at the G8 summit meetings. He reasons that everyone has a stake in securing future food supplies but the complexity of the challenge is matched by the enormity of the effort required to reverse trends that are under- mining future food security. In addition, he observes, we have inherited `the mindset, policies, and fiscal priorities from an era of food security that no longer exists'. Moreover, unless we recognize the nature of the era we are entering and adopt new policies and priorities, world food security could begin to deteriorate and `quickly eclipse terrorism as the overriding concern of governments'. Many will take issue with Brown's views and perspectives but they amount to a wakeup call that should not be ignored (Shaw, 2005b). The focus of this book is on food insecurity in the developing world where most of the hungry and malnourished live. But hunger and absolute poverty re-emerged as a significant social issue in many rich industrialized countries during the 1980s and 1990s (Riches, 1997). In Canada, 2.5 million people a year were said to receive food from chartable food banks in the 1990s. In the United States, it was estimated that 35 million people could not afford to buy enough food to maintain good health, including 13 million children. And in Australia and New Zealand, food banks have proliferated in recent years. These are small numbers when compared back to top Next page
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