High Food Security Research Articles

A regional analysis of food security in Bundelkhand region (Uttar Pradesh, India)

In the present study the authors have attempted to analyse the condition of food security in the Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh at district level. Bundelkhand region has been chosen as a unit of study because it is one of the poorest regions in comparison with western, central and eastern regions of the state and even after being in close proximity to heartland of green revolution (Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh) the region is still backward in agricultural development in India in general. Agriculture is the mainstay of the economy and mostly dependent on monsoonal rainfall. The Bundelkhand is continuously facing drought since last few years and people are migrating for employment. Thus, there is an urgent need to look after the conditions of food security of the people living in this region. The standard statistical techniques have been used for the analysis of data. The study concludes that the condition of food security is unfavourable. Only one district of Jalaun has shown high food security. Majority of the districts are moderate and low food secure because of low food grain availability, low purchasing power of the people, etc. The irrigation facilities are also not well developed leading to low consumption of fertilizer and low productivity of crops. Employment rate, rate of urbanization, storage capacity and number of fair prices shops are also not satisfactory leading to pitiable food security condition in the study area. Key words: Food availability, food stability, food accessibility, food security, Bundelkhand.

Impact of modern agricultural technologies on smallholder welfare: Evidence from Tanzania and Ethiopia

This paper evaluates the potential impact of adoption of improved legume technologies on rural household welfare measured by consumption expenditure in rural Ethiopia and Tanzania. The study utilizes cross-sectional farm household level data collected in 2008 from a randomly selected sample of 1313 households (700 in Ethiopia and 613 in Tanzania). The causal impact of technology adoption is estimated by utilizing endogenous switching regression. This helps us estimate the true welfare effect of technology adoption by controlling for the role of selection problem on production and adoption decisions. Our analysis reveals that adoption of improved agricultural technologies has a significant positive impact consumption expenditure (in per adult equivalent terms) in rural Ethiopia and Tanzania. This confirms the potential role of technology adoption in improving rural household welfare as higher consumption expenditure from improved technologies translate into lower poverty, higher food security and greater ability to withstand risk. An analysis of the determinants of adoption highlighted inadequate local supply of seed, access to information and perception about the new cultivars as key constraints for technology adoption.

Complexity of Food Preparation and Food Security Status: In Low-income Young Women

This study was conducted to explore whether preparing more complex meals was associated with higher food security status. This mixed-methods, community-based study involved the use of semistructured interviews to examine the cooking practices of a group of young, low-income women in Montreal. Fifty participants aged 18 to 35 were recruited at 10 locations in five low-income neighbourhoods. Food security status was the main outcome measure and the main exposure variable, "complex food preparation," combined the preparation of three specific food types (soups, sauces, and baked goods) using basic ingredients. Low-income women preparing a variety of meals using basic ingredients at least three times a week were more than twice as likely to be food secure as were women preparing more complex meals less frequently. Women who prepared more complex meals more frequently had higher food security. Whether this means that preparing more complex foods results in greater food security remains unclear, as this was an exploratory study.

Continental Drift: Agricultural Trade and the Widening Gap Between European Union and United States Animal Welfare Laws

Over the last decade, the European Union has incurred trade sanctions of over $100mil/year, to the U.S. and Canada, for refusing to allow foreign imports of beef products from cattle treated with natural or synthetic growth hormones. The retroactive reparations were assessed against the E.U. by the World Trade Organization after the U.S. and Canada prevailed in a prolonged trade dispute over the E.U. trade ban. However, hormone-raised beef products are still prohibited in the E.U., under an extensive agricultural reform policy aimed at improving food safety and animal welfare standards. The U.S., in contrast, offers scant protections for farm animals, and conditions on “factory farms” have steadily worsened. Similarly, the U.S. food safety paradigm has been static for decades, its inadequacies underscored by the August, 2010 recall of almost 400 million eggs feared tainted with salmonella. The Beef-Hormones dispute is a bellwether for agricultural trade relations between the two trading giants, as domestic economic pressures inevitably lead to more of the same international trade bans on certain U.S. foods derived from animals. Unless E.U. food producers are compensated for the up-front costs of using production methods that incur fewer environmental and public health externalities, their products will not survive direct competition with less-expensive American imports. To preserve its higher food security and animal welfare standards, the E.U. must insulate its animal agriculture industries from these imports. Therefore, as E.U. animal welfare and food safety regulations are implemented more broadly, products derived from “factory farm” U.S corporations will be less welcome in the E.U. marketplace. This article posits that the E.U. will ultimately prevail in a prolonged trade conflict borne of the diametrically-opposed policies, and that U.S. corporations desiring access to E.U. markets will have no choice but to initiate good faith animal welfare and food safety reforms, in the absence of legislative reform. Part I depicts the developing chasm between animal agriculture regulations in the U.S. vis-a-vis the E.U. Part II reviews the legal scaffolding on which trade agreements are built and disputes are resolved, illustrating the contradictory twin goals of supporting sovereign authority over domestic policies and enabling unencumbered international trade. Finally, Part III analyzes relevant WTO disputes and suggests arguments the E.U. might use to preserve its animal welfare standards and human health regulations, focusing on the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (“GATT”) and the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (“SPS Agreement”). The article concludes that, irrespective of inevitable diplomatic and economic pressure from the U.S., existing trade agreements do not foreclose the use of trade bans to preserve E.U. reform directives.

Identifying potential synergies and trade-offs for meeting food security and climate change objectives in sub-Saharan Africa

Potential interactions between food production and climate mitigation are explored for two situations in sub-Saharan Africa, where deforestation and land degradation overlap with hunger and poverty. Three agriculture intensification scenarios for supplying nitrogen to increase crop production (mineral fertilizer, herbaceous legume cover crops--green manures--and agroforestry--legume improved tree fallows) are compared to baseline food production, land requirements to meet basic caloric requirements, and greenhouse gas emissions. At low population densities and high land availability, food security and climate mitigation goals are met with all intensification scenarios, resulting in surplus crop area for reforestation. In contrast, for high population density and small farm sizes, attaining food security and reducing greenhouse gas emissions require mineral fertilizers to make land available for reforestation; green manure or improved tree fallows do not provide sufficient increases in yields to permit reforestation. Tree fallows sequester significant carbon on cropland, but green manures result in net carbon dioxide equivalent emissions because of nitrogen additions. Although these results are encouraging, agricultural intensification in sub-Saharan Africa with mineral fertilizers, green manures, or improved tree fallows will remain low without policies that address access, costs, and lack of incentives. Carbon financing for small-holder agriculture could increase the likelihood of success of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries programs and climate change mitigation but also promote food security in the region.

Modeling of food security and ecological footprint of coastal zone of Bangladesh

This paper presents a computer model of integrated management of coastal zones of Bangladesh. This model predicts that expanding shrimp aquaculture industry ensures high food security at upazila levels with increasing environmental degradation. The model also predicts that if shrimp aquaculture industry continues to boom from the present status to super intensive shrimp aquaculture, a collapse of the shrimp aquaculture industry will ultimately occur turning shrimp aquaculture land neither suitable for shrimp culture nor crop production. The control of growth of the shrimp production intensity stabilizes the system at least in the short run. The control of population and growth of the shrimp production intensity should be considered for stabilization of the system in the long run. The sustainable development of the coastal zone of Bangladesh in the long run without control of both the growth of shrimp production intensity and the population will remain mere dream. It is now high time to design an integrated management system for the coastal zones of Bangladesh for sustainable development. This model can be used to assist the policy planners to assess different policy issues and to design a policy for sustainable development of the coastal zones of Bangladesh. The boost up of coastal agriculture and restriction on rapid growth of shrimp culture and its intensity to reduce ecological footprints are two pathways for sustainable development of food security in the coastal zones of Bangladesh. This study also examines the short-term and long-term policy options for sustainable food security.

Household food insecurity is a risk factor for iron-deficiency anaemia in a multi-ethnic, low-income sample of infants and toddlers

The present study examines the relationships of household food security status with Fe deficiency (ID) and Fe-deficiency anaemia (IDA) among children less than 3 years of age, and associated factors that contribute to ID and IDA. Cross-sectional study and chart review. The US Food Security Survey Module was administered to adult caregivers as part of the Children's Sentinel Nutrition Assessment Project (C-SNAP). Haematological data were obtained from medical records. A large metropolitan medical centre in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. A multi-ethnic sample of 2853 low-income children aged <36 months who received care at the medical centre. Among the caregivers, 23.3 % reported low household food security and 11.6 % reported very low household food security (VLFS). After controlling for background factors, children from households with VLFS were almost twice as likely to have IDA than were children from households with high or marginal food security (OR = 1.98, 95 % CI 1.11, 3.53); the corresponding associations for ID were not statistically significant. The prevalence of IDA in early childhood is significantly larger in low-income infants and toddlers living in VLFS households. Asian, Hispanic and African-American children have elevated prevalences of ID and IDA. Breast-feeding may be associated with elevated ID and IDA, while participation in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) may be protective for ID.