I would disagree with the comment that it is only production, processing, and storage that can guarantee food security. It is true that someone has to produce, process, and store food for all of us to eat. However, my guess is that most of us reading and commenting on this web page do not produce very much of what we eat. I produce very little of what I eat, but my food security is higher than 99% of all farmers in Africa. Another example would be Singapore & Hong Kong - their collective food security is probably higher than Ethiopia or Zambia or Malawi or Mozambique, but they produce very little of their own food. Why is their (and my) food security so high? Because of steady high income, NOT because of production of food. We need to get away from this notion that food security comes from food production. I would guess that the correlation between the two is not very high at all. In the US less than 3% of the population is involved in agriculture, and yet virtually all of the US population eats 3 meals every day. The same is true in Europe and other developed countries.
I would disagree with the comment that it is only production, processing, and storage that can guarantee food security. It is true that someone has to produce, process, and store food for all of us to eat. However, my guess is that most of us reading and commenting on this web page do not produce very much of what we eat. I produce very little of what I eat, but my food security is higher than 99% of all farmers in Africa. Another example would be Singapore & Hong Kong - their collective food security is probably higher than Ethiopia or Zambia or Malawi or Mozambique, but they produce very little of their own food. Why is their (and my) food security so high? Because of steady high income, NOT because of production of food. We need to get away from this notion that food security comes from food production. I would guess that the correlation between the two is not very high at all. In the US less than 3% of the population is involved in agriculture, and yet virtually all of the US population eats 3 meals every day. The same is true in Europe and other developed countries.