Chapter I

FOOD SECURITY BASICS

1.1. Introduction

The concept of food security has evolved considerably over time

(see Maxwell and Frankenberger 1992; Clay 1997). One of the most
accepted definition is that adopted by the World Food Summit in
1996. It describes food security at the household, national, regional
and global level as a situation in which all people, at all times have
physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to
meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy
life.
This definition introduces:
- The three basic and distinctive characters of the concept, that is
food availability, access to food and food utilization to which,
recently, the key role of stability in food security and the risk of
disruption of these dimensions have been added;
- The individual level as unit of analysis of food security (all
people);
- The distinction between chronic and transitory food insecurity
(at all time);
- The concept of food requirement understood as enough food not for
survival but for and active participation in society.
The chapter analyses these core concepts and their definitions in
order to understand when to apply them and their links with other
development issues.

1.2. Food security and its dimensions

According to the definition adopted in the Plan of Action of the

Rome Declaration stated in the World Food Summit of 1996, and
reconfirmed in 2002 (Webb and Rogers 2003), food security: exists
when all people at all time have both physical and economic access to
8 Chapter I

sufficient food to meet their dietary needs for a productive and healthy
life1 (FAO 1996a) (Table 1.1).

Table 1.1. Basic definitions.

Concept Definition
Food security All people at all time have both physical and
economic access to sufficient food to meet their
dietary needs for a productive and healthy life
Vulnerability Exposure to factors that place at risk food
security
Malnutrition All deviations from adequate nutrition
Undernourishment Food intake continuously insufficient to meet the
dietary energy requirements
Undernutrition The result of undernourishment. Dietary energy
intake below the minimum requirement level to
maintain the balance between actual energy
intake and acceptable levels of energy
expenditure

The concept has three basic distinct but interrelated dimensions.

They are;
- food availability;
- access to food; and
- food utilization (Table 1.2) (Alderman 2003; Riely et al. 1999;
Thomson and Metz, 1996).
Food availability is reached when sufficient quantities of safe and
nutritious food are consistently available to individuals within a
country, or in a reasonable proximity to them, or within their reach,
and meet their food preferences (FIVIMS 2003; Hussein 2002; Riely
et al. 1999; Thomson and Metz 1996). Sufficient quantities of
appropriate, necessary type of food can be ensured through domestic
production (household production and other domestic output),
commercial imports or food assistance.

1
The FAOs definition of food security derives from World Banks policy study
according to which food security is the access by all people at all times to enough
food for an active, healthy life (World Bank 1986).
 Food security basics 9

Table 1.2. Food Security Dimensions.

Dimension Definition
TRADITIONAL DIMENSIONS
Food availability Sufficient quantities of safe and nutritious food
are consistently available to individuals within a
country, are in a reasonable proximity to them or
are within their reach
Access to food Households and all individuals within them have
adequate resources to obtain appropriate food for a
nutritious diet
Food utilisation Proper biological use of food, requiring a diet
providing sufficient energy and essential nutrients,
potable water and adequate sanitation
NEW DIMENSIONS
Stability of food Reliable supply of food products available at all
supply times and for all people
Risks Possibility of disruption of the traditional
dimensions of food security
Fear Perception that will be not enough to eat

Thus, food availability depends primarily on the agricultural sector

and domestic and international distribution systems.
Access to food implies that households and all individuals within
them have adequate resources to obtain appropriate food for a
nutritious diet. Access is both economic and physical. The former
depends on the ability of:
- Nations to generate foreign exchange to pay for food imports; and
- Household to generate the income necessary to buy, or other
resources to barter to obtain, enough food (Asenath 2003).
Physical access is mainly connected to the state of infrastructure,
market and storage facilities, political stability and income distribution
patterns within the household.
Food utilization is the proper biological use of food, required by a
diet that provides sufficient energy and essential nutrients, potable
water and adequate sanitation. It implies the knowledge within the
households of storage and processing techniques, basic principles of
10 Chapter I

nutrition, proper child care and illness management (FIVIMS 2003;

Riely et al. 1999; Thomson and Metz 1996).
All the three dimensions analysed must be satisfied to reach a
situation of food security. In fact, food availability is necessary but not
sufficient for access, and access is necessary but not sufficient for
utilization. The hierarchic nature is also in the opposite direction.
Food utilization is an input to achieving food access for all, for
example through its implications on health, nutrition and more
generally human capital, and access is at the basis of food availability,
otherwise natural, human and capital resources are likely subjected to
depletion (Webb and Rogers 2003).
In addition to these three traditional dimensions of food security
other two concepts are increasingly becoming accepted.
The former is the stability of food supply which is reached when a
reliable supply of food products is available at all times and for all
people (FIVIMS 2003). The latter concept is the risks that anyone of
the three basic dimensions of food security can be disrupted. The
aspect is considered as a cross-cutting issue that can affect all the core
pillars underpinning food security (Webb and Rogers, 2003).
Finally, Maxwell (1991) includes the removal of the fear that there
will not be enough food to eat.

1.3. Levels of analysis of food security

Food security can be at the global, national/regional, households, or

individual level, where one level does not imply food security at a
lower level of aggregation (Table 1.3) (FIVIMS 2003; Thomson and
Metz 1996).
Food security at the global level describes a situation in which
enough food is produced in the world.
National/regional food availability occurs when there is a
satisfactory balance between food demand and supply at reasonable
prices. In other words, it describes a situation in which there have
been no major upheavals in food market in the recent past, food
availability is adequate, and most of the population have access to
food.
 Food security basics 11

Table 1.3. Levels of food security.

Level of food security Definition
Global Enough food produced at global level
National/regional Satisfactory balance between food demand
and supply at reasonable prices
Household The alternative commodity bundles a
household con command in a society that
meet its needs in terms of energy
requirement
Individual Individual food consumption meets
individual food needs in terms of energy
requirement

Food security at the household level2 is reached when the set of

alternative commodity bundles that a household can command in a
society, using its totality of rights and opportunities, meet the
households needs in terms of energy requirement3.
Food security at the individual level is a situation in which
individual food consumption meets individual food needs, again
expressed by the energy requirement.
The concept of energy requirement is fundamental to characterise,
form a theoretical point of view, and to measure the state of food

2
Stamoulis and Zezza (2003) distinguish the following typologies of food
insecure households:
- Food-producing households in marginal lands and remote areas
characterised by low productivity and limited access to market;
- Herders, fishers and forest-dependent households with a declining per capita
availability of natural resources or that compete for them;
- Rural landless and non-farm rural households with a weak position on the
labour market and lack of social capital and access to productive resources;
- Poor urban households;
- Micronutrient-deficient households that are not calorie-deficient but have a
limited access to micronutrients, such as vitamin A, iron, and iodine.
3
The definition of household, and thus of food security at this level, varies over
areas. For example, the most common type of household in Latin America is the
nuclear family composed of a men, his wife and children while in Africa it is often
an extended household of the nuclear families of multiple generations leaving
together (Bergeron 1999).
12 Chapter I

security. The report of the FAO/WHO/UNU Expert Consultation on

Energy and Protein Requirements defines it at the individual level as:

the level of energy intake from food that will balance energy expenditure
when an individual has a body size and composition and level of physical
activity, consistent with long-term good health; and that will allow for the
maintenance of economically necessary and socially desirable physical
activity. In children and pregnant or lactating women the energy requirement
includes the energy needs associated with the deposition of tissues or the
secretion of milk at rates consistent with good health (FAO/WHO/UNU
1985).

This definition underlines the three basic components of food

requirement. They are:
- The energy expended for the functioning of an individual in a
state of complete rest (the basal metabolic rate);
- The energy needed for digesting food, metabolising food and
storing and increased food intake;
- The energy required for performing physical activities, both work
and non-work4 (Naiken 2002).
To these, the energy required for growth should be added in the
case of children, and the energy required for the deposition of tissue
and secretion of milk needs to be considered in that of women during
pregnancy and lactation5.
The FAO definition of food security stresses on the individual level
of analysis (all people). This is the result of an important paradigm
shift. As argued by Maxwell (1996; 2001), there has been a gradual
change from concern with issues of global and national food supply,
towards the problem of household and individual access to food. He
identifies three main steps:

4
The energy requirement components also change according to the age, sex,
body weight, body consumption, disease state, genetic traits and activity level
(Hoddinott 2001; Svedberg 2000).
5
In practice, the level of food requirement employed is a normatively specified
minimum energy consumption level given a minimum acceptable body weight for
healthy people of each age and sex group recommended by WHO or other health
agencies and periodically reviewed.
 Food security basics 13

- The 1970s and the focus on supply, national self-sufficiency, and

world food stocks or import stabilization schemes (see, for example,
United Nation 1975);
- The 1980s and the importance of access and entitlement (see, for
example, Sen 1981; Berg 1973; Joy 1973) but ambiguities about
whether the unit of analysis should be the individual (see, for
example, Reutlinger 1985; Gittinger et al. 1990) or the household
(see, for example, Sahn 1989; Swift 1989);
- The 1990s and the favour for the access to food by individuals in
a households and the intra-household resources allocation (see, for
example, Hart 1986; Evans 1991; Kabeer 1995).
Thus, today, two schools of tough are prevailing. One considers the
household as the unit of the analysis and the other the intra-household
resources allocation issues. In addition, at the end of the 1990s, the
sustainable livelihoods approach, whose framework is described in the
next chapter, has emerged. According to this perspective food is not a
primary need. The objective is a secure and sustainable livelihood,
that consists of the capabilities, assets and activities required for a
means of living (Cambers and Conway 1992). They become the
necessary condition for achieving food security (Davis 1996).

1.4. Self-sufficiency vs. global food security

In the past, food security has been associated with the concept of
food self-sufficiency, understood as the extent to which a country can
satisfy its food needs from its own domestic production. Sometimes,
this latter concept has been though as the best way to improve the
level of food security of a country reducing its dependence on
international markets. However, the two concepts differ on two
fundamental points:
- Food self-sufficiency considers national production as the sole
source of supply, while food security takes into account commercial
imports and food aid as possible additional sources of commodity
supply;
- Food self-sufficiency only refers to domestically-produced food
available at the national level, while food security brings in the
14 Chapter I

dimensions of stability of supply and access to food by population

(Thomson and Metz 1996).
In other words, food self-sufficiency is linked to an overall
perspective on development which emphasises the need for self-
reliance; it is an auto-centric approach. On the contrary, food security
is consistent with a view of development which incorporates
international specialisation and comparative advantage.

1.5. Food insecurity and poverty

Food insecurity exists when people lack of access to sufficient

amounts of safe and nutritious food (FIVIMS 2003; Riely et al. 1999).
In other words, they are not consuming the food required for a normal
growth and development, and for an active and healthy life. In this
situation, either the volume of food supply or demand, or both fall
short of energy requirements (Thomson and Metz, 1996). The FAO
(2000a) underlines the unavailability of food, insufficient purchasing
power, inappropriate distribution, or inadequate use of food at
household level as the main causes of this state. In turn, food insecure
people are affected by many factors that frequently intertwine. Among
them there are poverty, low agricultural production, environmental
degradation, rapid demographic growth, natural disasters, wars, civil
strife, poor health (particularly HIV/AIDS), poor sanitation
conditions, and inappropriate policies (USAID 2004).
Food insecurity is a cause and a manifestation of poverty
(Committee on World Food Security 2001) but the two fundamentally
interrelated concepts are very different (Clay et al. 1998). As the FAO
definition of food security clarifies (physical and economic access),
food insecurity has to do with something which determines a
particular weakness for people in their access to food. On the contrary,
poverty describes a situation in which people are relatively short of
almost every basic goods and services and they must compromise
daily between to buy foods or other goods and service (i.e. clothing,
medical care, education). They are above starvation but they do not
consume their energy requirement and the rate of malnutrition is
correlated to the intensity of poverty.
 Food security basics 15

Notwithstanding these differences, it must be noticed that in the

current debate, even if there is agreement on the need of specific
initiatives to reduce hunger, on the other side there is little
convergence concerning the attribution of cause and effect between
poverty and food insecurity with relevant implication for actions
(Hussein 2002). According to the FAO point of view, the fact that
hunger is both a cause and a manifestation of poverty implies that
fighting food security is instrumental to the eradication of other
dimensions of poverty (Committee on World Food Security 2001)
and, more important, it needs specific measures to be overcame. On
the contrary, for those who perceived poverty reduction as essential
condition to eliminate hunger, like the UKs Department for
International Development (DFID 2002), interventions need to be
addressed to remove the causes at the basis of poverty over the short
and the medium time and by this way even food insecurity issues
should be faced.

1.6. Dimensions of food insecurity according to time

The FAO definition of food security (at all time) draws an

important distinction between chronic and transitory food insecurity
(Table 1.4).

Table 1.4. Food insecurity and time.

Typology Definition
Chronic Situation of long term inadequate access to
sufficient food
Transitory: Temporary inadequate access to food
- Temporary Households entitlements affected by sudden and
unpredictable shocks
- Cyclical Regular pattern of inadequate access to food

Food insecurity is chronic in a situation of long term inadequate

access to sufficient food associated with enduring conditions such as
poverty combined with a lack of coping mechanisms, or complex
16 Chapter I

emergencies (FIVIMS 2003; Thomson and Metz 1996). Chronic food

insecurity may have several manifestations. Among them there are the
lack of access and food stocks, inadequate dietary ration throughout
the year, malnutrition in children under-five, food purchases in small
sizes and outstanding household debts.
Food insecurity is transitory when the inadequate access to food is
temporary. It is a common situation during the period just before
harvest.
It can be temporary, if sudden and unpredictable shocks affect
households entitlements, or cyclical, if there is a regular pattern of
inadequate access to food (FIVIMS 2003; Riely et al. 1999; Thomson
and Metz 1996).
Temporary food insecurity may be the result of natural disasters
(i.e. hurricanes, floods and earthquakes) or of other negative shocks.
Typical manifestations consist on temporary displacement from home,
although with livelihoods intact (i.e. crops destroyed but livestock and
possessions are intact), and sale of surplus assts (bulls and goats)
rather than productive assets (cows).
The main causes of cyclical food insecurity is the inadequacy of
household production to last the entire year in areas with one primary
growing season and characterised by poverty. The manifestations are:
rationed food or the consumption of despised foods during the hungry
season; out-migration on seasonal basis, which reverses during the
planting season; and high malnutrition rates during the hungry season,
which returns to normal levels after the harvest. Cyclical food
insecurity is one of the main causes of chronic food insecurity.

1.7. Food insecurity and ulnerability, malnutrition, undernutrition

and undernourishment

The terms food insecurity, ulnerability, malnutrition, undernutrition

and undernourishment are often used loosely and interchangeably,
although a distinction exists.
Vulnerability refers to the full range of factors that place at risk of
becoming food insecure. The degree of vulnerability is determined by
the exposure to risk factors, the ability to cope with or withstand
 Food security basics 17

stressful situations and the expected outcome6 (Figure 1.1)

(Heitzmann et al. 2001).

Figure 1.1. Sources of vulnerability.

The difference among food insecure, vulnerable and food secure

people depends on the level of food intake and the degree of the risk
of food insecurity (Figure 1.2)
Considering food security as a continuum, vulnerability is an
intermediate state between food security and insecurity.
The concept of risk7 is crucial because interventions can reduce
vulnerability only by improving risk management. Thus, it is
fundamental to understand how shocks are transmitted to households
and individuals and how they cope with them according to their assets
and policies. This allows us to underline the degree of their
vulnerability (Siegel and Alwang 1999).

6
Expected outcome is determined by risk effects and households (or,
individuals, communities, regions or countries) responses.
7
Risk is characterised by a probability distribution of events defined by a
magnitude, frequency, duration and history. According to Heitzmann et al. (2001), it
can be classified in natural, health, life-cycle, social, economic, political and
environmental.
18 Chapter I

Figure 1.2. Food security continuum.

Following Holzman and Jorgensen (2000; 1999) risk management

consists of actions that take place:
- Ex-ante or before the realisation of the risk event;
- Ex-post or after the manifestation of the risk event.
The former group is of particular importance in fighting food
insecurity because it prevents the risk of its manifestation. Three
strategies con be adopted:
- Risk reduction strategies, that prevent or lower the livelihood that
a risk will occur;
- Lowering risk exposure strategies, that reduce risk exposure
helping food insecure to cope with the residual effects of risk event for
not suffering irreversible negative effects;
- Risk mitigation strategies, that, on the basis of expected outcome,
compensate against expected loss or, in other words, that reduce the
negative consequences associated with a risk event. They act on the
 Food security basics 19

portfolio of vulnerable people (i.e. physical, financial, human and

social capital assets). Its diversification should cushion shocks
(Heitzmann et al. 2001; Coudouel et al. 2001).
As shown in Table 1.5, actors in risk management, i.e. individuals,
households, communities and NGOs, can be differentiated according
to the level of formality of their strategies and the levels of
intervention where each level interact with the others.

Table 1.5. Actors in risk management.

Levels of formality
Levels of Informal Formal Public
intervention
Micro Individuals, Market-based ---
Households companies
(Self-protection)
Meso Communities, Market-based Local or
NGOs companies, donors, regional
International governments
organizations
Macro NGOs Market-based National
companies, donors, government
International
organizations
Global NGOs Market-based Super-
companies, donors, national
International government
organizations (e.g. EU)
Source: Heitzmann et al. 2001

Malnutrition refers to an abnormal condition caused by all

deviations from adequate nutrition, including undernutrition (and
overnutrition) resulting from inadequacy (or excess) of energy, protein
and/or other nutrients relative to the need (FAO 1999a; 2000a). It
arises from deficiencies of specific nutrients or from diets based on
wrong kinds or proportion of foods (Shetty 2002).
Under this aspect, malnutrition differs from undernutrition that,
according to the FAO (1999; 2000a), is a result of prolonged low level
20 Chapter I

of food intake and/or poor absorption of food consumed whether or

not any specific nutrient deficiency is present (Shetty 2002). In other
words, undernutrition can be defined as dietary energy intake below
the minimum requirement level to maintain the balance between
actual energy intake and acceptable levels of energy expenditure. It
depends on both food intake level and health, sanitation and care
conditions.
The FAO (1999) also makes a distinction between undernutrition
and undernourishment. Undernourishment refers to chronic food
insecurity in which food intake is insufficient to meet basic energy
requirement continuously. As illustrated in Figure 1, the two concepts
are seen as complementary.

Figure 1.3. Level of nourishment and nutrition.

Food intake affects the level of nourishment and, with health,

sanitation and care conditions, the nutrition status through the
physiological state.