Food Insecurity

6
Title of Lesson: Different Components of Food Security and Food Insecurity
Time Frame: 6 hours

INTRODUCTION

Being able to obtain reliably, consume, and metabolize enough safe and
nutritious foods is essential to human well-being. Malnutrition is a universal social
problem. While some people's diet lacks adequate nutrients for an active and healthy
life, others consume excess food energy, leading to adverse health consequences.
Effective action to address malnutrition requires an understanding of the various
mechanisms that can affect it.

Food security exists in a community when all people have a physical and
economic doorway for enough food to meet their dietary supplement for productive
and healthy lives. Still, more than 800 million people live every day with hunger or food
insecurity as their constant companion.
Food insecurity leads to hunger. When persistent, hunger can lead to undernutrition,
illnesses, and lower work productivity later in life. These can have adverse effects on
the economic productivity of countries.

The low-income family is especially unguarded to fluctuations in food costs.

When economic and political aspects cause food price increases, the poorest
households are most affected. During national crises or emergencies like the
pandemic, food attainability is often insufficient, and the community agonizes from
hunger and sickness. Imperfect edifice, lack of a safety plan, and limited food supply
can perpetuate food insecurity.

This module will discuss the meaning of food security and food insecurity, its
components and types, and food insecurity in the Philippines.

I.
 II.

OBJECTIVES

1. Understand the components and elements of food security.

2. Assimilate the differences between food security and food insecurity.
3. Analyze the effects of food insecurity in society.

DISCUSSION

Both food security and insecurity are defined within the context of households
and on a scale of ease of obtainability to food, anxiety, and eating patterns. Food
security is present when families have access to safe and nutritious food, are not
anxious about accessing food, and acquire food in a typical manner. That is, members
of a household do not have to access food in the garbage. Food security is categorized
as either high (no issue) or marginal (typically some food shortage with associated
anxiety about sufficient supply). Food insecurity is visible in households with limited
or lack of financial resources and worry that food will be depleted before they can
replenish supplies and meals are not balanced. At the lower end of the scale, food
insecurity ranges from low to deficient food security.

Components of Food Security

Figure 1: Four components of food security

1. Food availability. Enough health-giving food of sufficient value needs to be

available to people for their utilization. Availability can be simulated through:

⮚ Production: how much and what variety of food is available that is manufactured
and preserved locally or domestically.

⮚ Distribution: how is food made accessible, what, to whom, and when.

 ⮚ Exchange: how many of the available food can be acquired through exchange
procedures such as barter, trade, purchase, or credit.

2. Food access. Individuals and families must obtain sufficient food to eat, a healthy,
nutritious diet or access enough resources needed to grow their food like land.
Access can be affected because of:

⮚ Affordability: the ability of individuals, households, or society to afford the price

of food or land for manufacturing food, relative to their earnings.

⮚ Allocation: the phase of economic, social, and political methods governing

when, where, and how consumers can acquire food. For example, food may be
unequally distributed according to age and gender within the family.

⮚ Preference: social, religious, and societal norms and values control consumer
demand for definite types of food like religious prohibitions or the desire to follow a
specific dietary pattern such as vegetarianism.

1. Food utilization. People must have access to a sufficient amount and diversity of
foods to meet their nutritional needs and eat and metabolize such food. Utilization
can be affected by the following:

⮚ Nutritional value: the nutritional value dispensed by the foods that are
consumed, as measured in calories, vitamins, protein, and various micronutrients
such as vitamin A, iron, and iodine.
⮚ Health status: the cause and effect of diseases such as diarrhea, AIDS, HIV,
on the ability to ingest food and absorb and metabolize its nutritive value.

⮚ Food safety: access to food free from wasted food or from toxic contamination
during the production, processing, packaging, and distribution of food; and from food-
borne diseases such as salmonella and norovirus.

⮚ Preparation and consumption: resources such as cooking materials and fuel,

knowledge, and ability to make ready and consume food in a healthy and hygienic
method.

4. Stability. Food may be available and accessible to individuals who can utilize it
successfully and avoid increases in malnutrition. For individuals not to feel insecure,
this situation needs to be practical rather than temporary or subject to fluctuations.

Reasons Why Food Security is Important

1. Everyone must eat.
Our reliance on food is so central that we often do not contemplate it or who is
benefiting and buying.
2. Food is a fundamental human right.
In Human Rights, article 25 includes the "right to a normal way of living sufficient for
the health security of himself and of his household, including medical care, food,
housing, and clothing." Human rights leaders worldwide are anxious about the actions
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of global institutions like the World Trade Organization that contravene these and other
citizens' liberty.
3. Food is the basis of a community's wealth.
Food is a necessary element of community self-sufficiency. It provides jobs, supports
public health, enhances culture, and enables community. Because of its essential
nature, food and agriculture keep going when other industries go wrong. There are
many linked jobs in food preparation, processing, and distribution for every farmer.
4. Our food system is unduly dependent on distant suppliers.
Most of us rely on a structure that rarely has further than 3-4 days fresh food gathered
locally—food that travels a long way. Excessive transportation is dominated by
economies of scale that do not account for environmental worth or freshness loss. This
practice is susceptible to interruptions of diverse types and is inadequate risk
supervision.
5. What we see in the supermarket is an unprotected quality.
The bounty on the supermarket shelves gives the impression that our food systems
are in good condition. Perfection—in variety and looks—comes with a price, but all the
risks and most of the long-term environmental and social costs are concealed. For
instance, you can buy vegetables and fruits all year round, which must be imported
outside our flourishing season. These products are grown far away, under regulations
over which we have no control, by people who may be sacrificing their food security
to grow cash crops for our supermarkets.
6. We can only handle what is close to home.
Food products are grown, prepared, processed, and packaged/assembled and can
only be effectively supervised in our control, where people have some say about the
process.
7. Eventually, a community, province, or nation is indebted to its food suppliers. The
use of food as an armament is becoming more common around the globe. It is folly to
free our capability of feeding ourselves.
8. It is vital to conserve the blueprint (skills, tools, and capacity to feed ourselves).
We are losing people who could teach us the arts of preserving, growing, harvesting,
and cooking our food, and most of us are losing expertise.
9. People are rightly concerned about food-health relations.
Consumers are increasingly anxious about the security of their food. These can be
related to manufactured food products and questions about disease, pesticide
residues, hormones, or genetically modified organisms; and links between diet and
additives (such as cancer or Mad Cow Disease).
10. Decent food is the basis of health.
Nutrition is tied to health. The significant causes of death and disability in our society
(cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer) can be significantly affected by healthy
eating choices and lifestyles.
Types of Food Insecurity

1. Chronic food insecurity.

It is a long-term and persistent state of food insecurity. A population suffers from long
term food insecurity when it cannot meet minimum food utilization requirements for
extended periods, approximately six months or longer.

2. Transitory food insecurity.

It is a short-term and temporary condition of food insecurity. The population suffers
transitory food insecurity when there is a sudden drop in the ability to produce or
access sufficient food for a healthy nutritional status, such as after a period of drought
or because of a dispute.

3. Seasonal food insecurity.

It is a condition of food insecurity that reoccurs predictably, following the cyclical
pattern of seasons.

Hunger, Malnutrition, and Poverty

It is essential to recognize how these three concepts are connected.
Hunger is usually assumed as an uncomfortable or painful sensation caused by low
food energy utilization. Scientifically, hunger is a weakened condition brought about
by prolonged lack of food or a specific nutrient.
To sum things up, all hungry human beings are food insecure. Still, not all food-
insecure human beings are hungry, as there are other causes of food insecurity,
including those due to low intake of micronutrients.
Malnutrition is a situation that results from devouring a diet in which one or more
nutrients are one or the other not enough or are too much such that the diet causes health
problems. Malnutrition may be an effect of food insecurity, or it may be related to non-food
factors such as:

1. Inadequate care practices for children

2. Insufficient health services
3. Unhealthy environment
Poverty is not having enough material ownership or income for a person's needs. It
may include political, economic, and social elements. Complete poverty is the total
lack of the means necessary to meet basic personal needs, such as food, clothing,
and shelter.

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 Figure 2. Food insecurity, malnutrition, and poverty are deeply interrelated phenomena

It is argued that a plan for attacking poverty in conjunction with strategies to

ensure food security offers the best hope of rapidly reducing mass poverty and
starvation. However, recent studies show that economic development alone will not
take care of food security. We needed a combination of income growth, supported by
direct nutrition interventions and investment in health, water, and education.

Food Security in the Philippines

This article, noted by the Focus on the Global South-Philippines, tells us more
about food security and agricultural issues in the Philippines and looks at different
environmental and structural causes of insecurity.
(https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/food-systems-southeast-asia/1/steps/110817)

Socio-economic figures of the Philippines

In 2014, the Philippines was the 13th majority inhabited country globally, with
around one hundred seven million. The full-year GDP (Gross Domestic Product)
growth for 2014 was fixed at 6.1%. However, despite meaningful economic growth
(the Philippines ranked 27th country in the globe in 2013), 24.9% of Filipinos, or one
is to four, is living under the poverty line. (The World Factbook, 2016)

Hunger profile
Several statistics support a quick glimpse of the country's hunger profile or
figure, and all of them point to an absoluteness that the government has a humorless
hunger problem. Also, the country's continuous hunger and food insecurity problems
were contributed by the increasing population and a steady decline in agricultural
capacity and food production in the last three years.

The severe and constant hunger situation

Philippines' Global Hunger Index (GHI) in 2014 was 13.1. This index is based
on three indicators: child mortality, child underweight, and undernourishment. It uses
a scale of 0 or no hunger to 100 or hunger. The fitting score is less than 5, which
signifies low hunger. Therefore, the country is rated 29th globally, with its situation
classified as a "serious problem." The number of Filipino households who rated
themselves as starving rose from 8.3% to 18.3% in the past 15 years (1999-2014).
(Food security in the Philippines. https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/food-systems-
southeast-asia/1/steps/110817)

Women and children’s faces

The people suffering from hunger in the Philippines are children and women.
There was a minimal decrease in the number of underweight children— from 20.7%
in 2003 to 20.2% in 2011. Further, alarmingly 33.6% of children under five years old
are suffering from stunted growth in the same year, which placed the country 9th in
small children's world rankings. Pregnant women in the Philippines also count
amongst the people suffering the most from hunger. According to the Food Nutrition
Research Institute (FNRI), one-fourth of the pregnant women with children aged below
five years are nutritionally at risk, while close to 12% of lactating mothers are
underweight. According to a 2013 UNICEF report, the Philippines ranked 5th among
the countries with low birth-weight babies. (Food security in the Philippines,
https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/food-systems-southeast-asia / 1 / steps
/110817)

Exacerbating hunger: conflicts, extreme weather events, and disasters

The regions that are the most affected by hunger and food insecurity are rural.
It is especially true in conflict-affected areas of Central Mindanao and disaster-affected
communities, mostly in the Visayas. These are also areas where poverty incidence is
much higher than the national average.

Structural causes vs. hunger and food insecurity

Numerous factors have caused hunger in the Philippines. One culprit is
inflation. High retail food prices make food items unaffordable and hinder low
households' ability to meet their daily food and dietary needs. (Food security in the
Philippines, https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/food-systems-southeast-
asia/1/steps/110817).

People working in the agricultural area are more prone to hunger because of
low rural compensations (whether as farm workers or farmers), the vulnerability of the
sector to various blows such as extreme weather events, diseases, climate change,
pests, and lack of access to productive resources such as capital and land.
Beyond the numbers and macroeconomic index, liberalization has become the
willpower not just of Philippine food and agriculture policies but also of advancement
policy. Despite enforcing social justice measures in the same manner as the
Indigenous Peoples' Reform Act, Fisheries Reform Code, and the Comprehensive
Agrarian Reform Program. Since 1981, the Philippines has been ensuing a
comprehensive and radical agenda of trade liberalization. The impact of this procedure
has been devastating to the agriculture sector, particularly to food producers. These
bring to the fore numerous procedure questions in food and agriculture over the last
three decades. Have these procedures improved people's ability to produce food and
access a safe, adequate, and economical food supply? Have these policies and
programs enabled millions of Filipino food producers who rely on agricultural
productivity for their food and income? (Food security in the Philippines.
https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/food-systems-southeast-asia/0/steps/83785)

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SUMMARY

The chapter explained the difference between food security and food insecurity.
Also emphasizes the different components of food security and food insecurity.
Discussed the importance of food security and the connection of food insecurity to
hunger, malnutrition, and poverty. The chapter also tackled the food security, socio
economic figures and hunger profile of the Philippines.

REFLECTION
Watch the documentary “Pagpag” which is available on YouTube and make a
reflection for at least 500 words about the impact of this situation on you. You can
use the link below.
(https://www.google.com/search?q=pagpag+documentary+gma&rlz=1C1JZAP_enPH886PH886&oq=PAGPAG+
DOCUMENTARY&aqs=chrome.1.0l8.19066j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8)

Reflection:

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SUGGESTED READINGS AND WEBSITES
● https://www.google.com/search?q=pagpag+documentary+gma&rlz=1C1JZAP_enPH886PH886&oq=P
AGPAG+DOCUMENTARY&aqs=chrome.1.0l8.19066j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

GLOSSARY

As an avenue always for all people within

a family to enough food for an active,
Food security
healthy life.

It is a term that means unable to access

or afford adequate food consistently.
Food insecurity

It is a weakened condition brought about

by a prolonged lack of food.
Hunger

It is the proper biological use of food,

requiring a diet providing sufficient
Food utilization
energy and essential nutrients, potable
water, and adequate sanitation.

REFERENCES

https://www.google.com/search?q=CIA+(2016).+Philippines.+The+World+Factbook.
+Central+Intelligence+Agency%2C+USA.&rlz=1C1JZAP_enPH886PH886&oq=CIA+
(2016).+Philippines.+The+World+Factbook.+Central+Intelligence+Agency%2C+USA
.&aqs=chrome..69i57.2817j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

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IFPRI (2015). Global Hunger Index. International Food Policy Research Institute.
NSCB (2014). National Accounts Q4, 2014. Philippines Statistics Authority.

https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topics-objectives/topic/social-determinants-
health/interventions-resources/food-insecurity

https://www.researchgate.net/topic/Food-Insecurity

https://www.foodsource.org.uk/building-blocks/what-food-security

https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/food-systems-southeast-
asia/0/steps/83785#:~:text=Hunger%20in%20the%20Philippines%20is,daily%20food
%20and%20dietary%20needs.

Food security in the Philippines. https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/food-systems-southeast-

asia/1/steps/110817

Food security in the Philippines. https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/food-systems-southeast-

asia/0/steps/83785

Oxford University Press | Online Resource Centre ....

http://global.oup.com/uk/orc/health/geissler13e/student/mcqs/ch33