Food Security: Beyond National-Level Staples, What Else Do We Need?
1. What is Food Security?
As we can see, the concept of food security emphasises several key terms. Accordingly, if people are unable to obtain the sufficient food described in the definition above, a food security issue exists.
Therefore, to understand ‘food security’, we must look beyond the framework of ‘grain security’ commonly discussed in China. This is because ‘grain security’ often emphasises only grain production and supply at a national level, whereas ‘food security’ is more focused on the individual: whether each of us can obtain sufficiently nutritious and safe food whenever and wherever we are.
How, then, did ‘food security’ evolve from national-level grain supply into such a complex concept today? There are various influencing factors behind this evolution.
According to research summaries on food systems by various scholars, there are three main factors influencing the evolution of food security.
First is the participation of different interest groups. How can sufficient grain be supplied? Initially, this was a concern for governments, as it was tied to political stability. Later, the increasing involvement of consumers and farmers led our understanding of food security to evolve from the level of grain supply to the level of individual consumption.
Second is the emergence of new information and experiences. This has prompted a rethink of how food security should be defined, as this definition affects international food policy and governance, while also determining which factors each country should consider when formulating policies to promote food security.
The third influencing factor is the establishment of organisations related to grain trade. Specifically, two UN agencies deserve mention: the FAO, established in 1945, and the subsequent founding of the World Food Programme (WFP). Both have had a profound impact on international grain trade and global food governance.
Furthermore, in terms of scale, ‘food security’ evolved from a national concept into an international one, before gradually transitioning to the level of the individual and the household, with its connotations expanding accordingly. Initially, ‘food security’ simply meant the production and supply of food; later, the focus shifted towards food access, nutrition, and health. Since the 1990s, dietary culture as well as consumer and farmers’ rights have also become integral to the meaning of food security. I believe this concept and its connotations will continue to expand in the future.
II. The Evolution of the Meaning of ‘Food Security’
In the 1950s, Western nations, led by the United States, spearheaded the Green Revolution, which brought about a profound transformation in food and agricultural production systems. Before the Green Revolution, food production relied more heavily on manual labour; afterwards, the increasing use of external inputs—particularly chemical fertilisers and pesticides—led to substantial increases in crop yields. What happened to the surplus? Many of the nations that led the Green Revolution, such as the US, sought to transport excess food to countries in need or those suffering from hunger through international food aid. Consequently, international food aid became widespread during the 1950s.
By the 1960s, the United States realised that this model of food aid was unsustainable, as it undermined local agriculture and, in turn, became a source of international political instability. The productivity of local smallholders could not compete with the cheap food produced through large-scale mechanisation, leading to the bankruptcy of many small farmers, the collapse of local food systems, and an increasing reliance on international food supplies. Consequently, the nations that had already implemented the Green Revolution, led by the US, began promoting these methods in developing countries—introducing pesticides, hybrid seeds, and chemical fertilisers to help them achieve food self-sufficiency.
A widespread food crisis emerged in the 1970s, causing international food prices to soar. It was at this point that the term ‘food security’ was first introduced into the field of food policy. By this stage, food security focused on the adequate supply of food on a global scale.
In the 1980s, an increasing number of researchers and policymakers began to realise that sufficient food, output, and supply did not guarantee food security for everyone. Many people still faced significant barriers to obtaining food, whether due to a lack of financial resources or because they lived in ‘food deserts’—areas far removed from the nearest source of food. Various factors all played a role in an individual’s ability to access food.
Consequently, food security began to focus on how individuals and households could better access food. ‘Food access’ was thus integrated into the concept of ‘food security’.
In 1983, the FAO redefined ‘food security’ as: ‘ensuring that all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to basic food’. It is important to note that this definition only addressed access to basic food, without considering nutrition or safety. The World Bank provided another definition in 1986: food security is when all people, at all times, have access to sufficient food to maintain an active and healthy life. This definition introduced a new dimension: ‘active and healthy’.
During the 1990s, the scope of food security continued to expand, incorporating food nutrition and dietary culture. For example, the World Food Summit of 1996 stated that food security—at the individual, household, national, regional, and global levels—is achieved 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.
These new definitions encompass various scales, with emphasis placed on everything from the individual to the international. At each scale, different actors participate in the formulation of food security policies, each playing their own part. Therefore, when we address food security, we must engage in discussions that span from the international level down to the individual.
The 1990s also saw the emergence of the concept of ‘food sovereignty’. This began with the Latin American peasant movement ‘Via Campesina’, which sparked a social movement of farmers resisting multinational food corporations and industrialised food systems. As consumers, researchers, and other groups joined in, ‘food sovereignty’ expanded from the right of farmers to autonomously decide what to grow, how to grow it, and to access their own seeds, to the right of all people—including consumers—to define their own food and agricultural systems, rather than being beholden to multinational food corporations and industrialised food systems.
The introduction of ‘food sovereignty’ infused the concept of ‘food security’ with new meaning.The High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition has also suggested that food security must look beyond mere access and supply; it must also incorporate individual rights and sustainability to ensure long-term security.
III. The Four Dimensions of Food Security
Secondly, there must be access, meaning individuals have sufficient income to purchase food.
Thirdly, there is utilisation, which refers to the ability of individuals to derive the healthiest possible outcomes from the food they consume. This point may be less intuitive. For instance, if I have the money and the food is available for purchase, does the mere act of acquiring it guarantee food security? Not necessarily. If food safety issues arise, our food security is clearly compromised, even if we have access to a sufficient and available supply.
The fourth dimension is stability, meaning the previous three dimensions must remain resilient in the face of uncertainty. For example, the pandemic of recent years has challenged the availability, accessibility, and safety of food.
Beyond these four dimensions, academia is currently integrating two further perspectives. The first is individual rights, ensuring that both consumers and farmers have the right to define their own methods of production and consumption. The second is that the production and consumption of food must be sustainable from environmental, social, and cultural perspectives.
IV. The State of Global Food Security
The Global Hunger Map released by the FAO in 2022 shows that since the COVID-19 pandemic, the global hungry population has increased significantly by 150 million. This implies that the efforts made by countries over many years to eradicate hunger have been almost entirely undone.
V. Measuring Food Security Levels
We conducted food security surveys in cities across seven developing countries: Nanjing, Mexico City, Kingston (Jamaica), Nairobi (Kenya), Maputo (Mozambique), Cape Town (South Africa), and Bangalore (India). This research aims to understand how these urban food systems operate, the role played by informal food systems, the prevailing levels of food security, how food security policies are formulated, and how such policies might be improved.
First is the Household Food Security Scale, which allows us to identify how many households in a city face severe food security issues, where they are located, and what their characteristics are. Ultimately, this helps guide the formulation of policy.
Second is Household Dietary Diversity, the purpose of which is to investigate the types of food a household has consumed over the past 24 hours.
Third is the Months of Adequate Household Food Provisioning, which assesses the capacity to maintain a minimum level of food supply every month. We ask households whether they experienced any month of food insufficiency over the past year.
VI. Results of the Food Security Level Survey
Moreover, between 1990 and 2000, Nanjing’s wet markets were repositioned from purely commercial enterprises into infrastructure serving social welfare. This distinction is crucial; had they remained purely commercial, the government would not have intervened so comprehensively, nor would such significant resources have been invested in them.
For more on ‘wet markets’ and ‘food security’
follow the ‘Wet Market’ tag on the Foodthink official account
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VII. Summary
There is also the concept of the “Big Food View”. We need a fresh understanding of food security; it is not merely about grain security or the supply of food, but encompasses access at the individual and household levels, the utilisation of food, and how to achieve equity and sustainability within food systems.
Finally, in the process of formulating food policy, we must move beyond an agricultural bias; food cannot be reduced simply to grain production. Food itself possesses the attributes of a public good; we cannot simply leave everything to the market. What happens in Western countries with a completely free food market? In many places, “food deserts” emerge. Because certain areas have low population densities, private enterprises such as supermarket chains are unwilling to open stores there, resulting in situations where food is inaccessible to those without a car.
The experience of Nanjing’s vegetable markets demonstrates that moderate government intervention in food supply, combined with a hybrid supply system, helps improve the level of food security for households.
*This article is based on a presentation given by Dr Si Zhenzhong at a Foodthink sharing session on 16 April 2023. A recording of the session can be viewed on Foodthink’s video account of the same name and on Bilibili. For more information on the “Hungry Cities” research, please visit the project website: https://hungrycities.net/.
Compiled by: Yan Ou
Edited by: Tian Le