Top 7 Reasons For Food Insecurity

Recently, most countries around the world are facing a situation where the country's food supply is very scarce such as oil, flour, eggs, and many more. To make things worst, the price of food necessities has increased tremendously from time to time impacting the lower class income.

If this food insecurity keeps on going for so long it will definitely result in an increase in starvation, lack of nutrition, and being prone to many types of diseases. Having strong food security is crucial to maintaining sustenance and guarantees a better future for the generations to come.

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Here are the top 7 reasons why food insecurity does occur around the globe.

1. Lack of Access to Plantation Land

Most foods are commonly grown or produced from the ground. However, not many people have the privilege to have their own land or better yet access to fertile soil. The land is the primary source for farmers to generate their income.

In some cases, there are many lands being worked on out there traditionally by their families that are now being taken or bought by the government or even developers for the purpose of construction and development.

With limited access to land as well as farmers to work on them, the food supply will always be lacking and causing the price to skyrocket in the future.

2. Conflicts, Aggression, and War

The conflicts happening between countries will definitely have a negative impact on food supply across the world, especially the ones that are occurring between Russia and Ukraine. Most countries in chaos will definitely show signs of food insecurity.

For instance, around 5.5 million Syrians have a hard time getting basic food due to the conflicts going on in that country. This situation is expected to continue for a long time despite the wage war being ended.

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The new conflict between Russia and Ukraine which happens to be the biggest producer of wheat and corn in the world has caused a huge spike in the prices as supply is not meeting the huge demands.

3 Climate Change and Natural Disaster

Climate change which has worsened over these past few years has also influenced the conducive environment for plantations. Farmers are seeing the impacts of climate change, especially during the rainy seasons and not to mention prolonged droughts in certain areas.

The freshwater supply is also depleting due to the rise in sea levels and other extreme weather. On top of that, climate change also contributes to how frequent natural disasters do occur such as floods, typhoons, and earthquakes.

Natural disasters such as this will ultimately destroy crops in the blink of an eye. It has had a huge impact on the commodity of small farmers outside the city who fully rely on the yields of their plantations to make ends meet.

4. Unfair Trading Rules and Regulations

This is another thing that most farmers do not have much control over and the way big companies run their business with local farmers is not always fair as they only get so little in amount compared to their efforts.

Small farmers find it hard to obtain contracts to supply their yield and are forced to sell them at a measly price to big companies and wholesalers. To make things worst, giant companies from the outside have flooded the local market with their own products making it hard for the local farmers to compete.

This unfairness will cause the small farmers to move into a different sector by working in something that pays decently. If there were a disruption in the world's food supply and countries started to ban their exports, then this will definitely cause a food crisis worldwide.

5. Biofuel

Biofuel is commonly made from natural plantations such as corn and sugarcane. The demand for biofuel use has increased from time to time as it helps reduce climate change. 

Unfortunately, many crops have been converted into plants to make this particular biofuel. This situation has led to food insecurity and at the same time caused a price spike in this common food.

On top of that, the demand for biofuel is also one of the reasons for an increase in deforestation as we can see in some countries of Southeast Asia. This uncontrolled deforestation will also cause other problems like floods which will directly destroy the crops on the land.

6. Food Wastage

Every year, the amount of food wasted amounts to billions of dollars and most of this can be seen in developed countries like the US. For instance, during the COVID-19 pandemic, most farmers were forced to throw away crops worth billions of dollars when supermarkets and restaurants were to be closed down.

The amount of yield that far surpasses the current demands have resulted in huge wastage when the food itself was not sold and turned bad. Most supermarkets out there would only buy fresh fruits and vegetables from the farmers so they can be sold to the consumers.

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This made almost half of the crops being harvested not meet the standards and was used for other things or even thrown out.

7. Economic Instability

Inflation and the economic fall of a country will definitely affect people's access to food. Economic instability also affects people's jobs as many companies are trying hard to cut down on costs which will result in low productivity.

Despite food still being readily available at the market, there will be many people out there who simply cannot afford them as the price will increase by a considerable amount. The fall of the country's currency will cause most of the imported products to be insanely expensive as we have seen previously in Venezuela.

Most of us witness the ravaging COVID-19 which has caused many people to lose their jobs as they try very hard to put food on the table.