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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 0-9

Food security and nutrition: current and likely future issues

Author: Steve Wiggins and Rachel Slater
Organisation: Overseas Development Institute
Publish Date: January 2011
Country: Global
Sector: Agriculture
Method: Forecasting
Theme: Food
Type: Article
Language: English
Tags: Food security, Famines, Food insecurity, Nutrition, Undernutrition, Developing world, Staple foods, Food prices, Food threats

Being food insecure implies hunger. Hunger varies by time and degree: chronic and transitory conditions may usefully be distinguished; as may be severe and moderate degrees. Although transitory food crises that sometimes become outright famine attract more attention on account of the numbers quickly affected and often by the severity of their plight, chronic hunger is more common. Food security may usefully be seen as the result of three factors: people will be food secure when there is sufficient food available, when people have access to it, and when it is well utilised – and some would add as a fourth condition, when availability and access are reliable. From the perspective of nutrition, the utilisation factor has equal weight with food availability and access, since under the heading are matters of food preparation, feeding practices – especially of weaned infants – and of the health of individuals, itself a function of sanitation and health services.
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