The problems with the existing food system
World faces worst food crisis for at least 50 years, UN warns — The Guardian
“The global food system is broken,” say world’s science academics.
This does not make sense, I have food on my plate; how could the world possibly be going through a crisis?
Well, the food that gets to your plates and what happens afterwards, connects many issues of concern, such as health, biodiversity, climate change and many more.
What this means is, by changing how food is produced, distributed, consumed and disposed of, can also affect these various outcomes — either for better or worse.
The food system interacts with people through health (e.g. under-nutrition, disease), livelihood (e.g. employment), growth (driven by diet and population) and is shaped by, and in turn influences cultural, ethical and social factors including traditional practices.
Because food links social, economic and environmental subjects together, by understanding their interconnections, common solutions can perhaps be found to address these multiple issues simultaneously.
Food is at the core of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the UN’s development agenda for the 21st century. The second of the UN’s 17 SDGs is to “End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.” Achieving this goal by the target date of 2030 will require a profound change of the global food and agriculture system.
Our current global food system is widespread with growing inequalities and issues that must be acknowledged. It is recognized that not only will we face consequences as individuals but so will our global environment!
In order to meet the above United Nation’s agenda, we need to first look at the already existing problems in our food system:
1. Unhealthy Alternatives
Your eating habits could cost you more than just your bank account…
Why do we go for unhealthy choices when we know they do not do us any good? It all boils down to 3 factors :
- They tend to be cheaper — We would all choose healthy fruits and veggies over junk food but the problem is the price.
- Convenience — It is so much easier to pop through the drive-thru rather than taking out the pots and pans to cook a meal.
- Unhealthy food tastes better — This is not always the case of course but most people do not sit around craving carrot sticks when they can go grab a waffle. Yummy!
Perhaps there could be a way to eat healthy food on a budget …
2. Food Shortage
The causes of food shortage range from natural to human factors.
Some of the human factors include:
- Overpopulation — As the world population grows so does the demand for food. Unfortunately the food supply increases at a much slower rate than the population. The famous economist, Thomas Malthus laid out this theory in the 18th century where he stated since the population increases geometrically and the food increases arithmetically, someday the population would increase beyond what the planet could support.
- Overcultivation and Deforestation— By growing too much on the land and deforesting many areas of woodland, the land becomes degraded by using up all the nutrients in the soil and not giving it enough time to recover. Due to this degradation, the yield decreases substantially.
- Low Capital Investment — In order to sustain agriculture, money must be invested in infrastructure such as roads, machinery, seeds etc.
Some of the natural factors include:
- Soil Fertility — Soil is at the heart of agriculture. Infertile soil do not contain enough minerals and nutrients to support crop growth and this in turn effects food security.
- Natural Disaster and Climate Change — These 2 factors, although out of our hands, destroy large areas of agricultural land.
3. Food Waste
According to the United Nations Development Programme, nearly 40% of the food produced in India goes waste. For ex: nearly 21 million tonnes of wheat goes waste in India. It is also estimated that more than 50% of all the food produced across the world meets the same fate, and unfortunately, never reaches the needy.
Where is food wasted?
Global food waste is not just about consumers like you and me creating waste, this issue starts at the very beginning of the supply cycle
From the Farm to the manufacturer level to the consumers’ home, food is wasted at every stage.
Majority of the food is wasted during harvest, transportation and storage level in developing countries whereas in industrialized countries, the primary area where waste occurs is at retail and consumer level.
Why is Food wasted?
The ingredients involved in the manufacturing process follow a certain criteria and need to be of specific standard to qualify their usage. In this “cult of perfection”, many ingredients are rejected and thrown away.
At retail level, many products get spoiled or damaged due to lack of efficient storage equipment. Since these products can no longer be sold, they end up in the garbage as well.
At consumer level, food is usually wasted because best before dates are either ignored or misunderstood (Confusion over “best by,” “use by,” and other date labels) or food is stored incorrectly. Leftover food is often thrown in the bin.
We may not be able to prevent waste completely, but with better access to adequate storage, refrigeration and transportation, we can surely reduce it.
4. Farmers and their rights
In order for our food system to be truly sustainable, we must not only operate within environmentally sustainable limits but we must also look after the people who grow, harvest and process OUR food.
From being in daily exposure of pesticides to working in dangerous, harsh conditions to being poorly paid, the food system simply ruins the health of workers and keeps them in poverty. These small farmers do not have access to tractors and fertilizers and find it increasingly difficult to stay in business.
What would happen if all these small farmers, one day, decided they no longer wanted to work?
What would happen to us?
Where would our food come from then?
My grandfather used to say that once in your life you need a doctor, a lawyer, a policeman and a preacher but every day 3 times a day, you need a farmer. — Brenda Schoepp
Policies must be made to provide incentives and provide equal access to agricultural infrastructure.
Change can happen :
From the year 2003–9, Brazil reduced the number of people living in poverty by 20 million, by investing in small-scale farmers. By helping small scale farmers grow food more sustainably, we can create a massive impact.
5. Biofuel Production
Biofuels are made from corn, palm oil, sugarcane and several other agricultural products and require a substantial amount of water. The increase in demand will reduce the availability of these commodities for the household use, threatening the food security.
As well as this, the consequence of demand of biofuels will be to raise food prices, which will again hurt the food safety of many poor people.
However it’s not always bad news:
In Brazil, the biofuel sector accounted for about 1 million jobs in 2001 (Moreira, 2006). These jobs were in rural areas and mostly for unskilled labour. The indirect creation of employment in manufacturing and other sectors was estimated at about another 300 000 jobs.
A sustainable food system meets food security and provides nutritious food to everyone across the world while also creating a sustainable impact on the environment, economy and society revolving around it.
I hope this article has helped you illustrate how food links many environmental as well as socio-economic problems.
We may not be able to create a truly sustainable food system overnight but the least we can do is NOT waste food …
No one. No where. At no time should go hungry…
An Article by :
Misri Parikh
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