Concepts related to food security

Mohamed Ould Abdel Dayem

The issue of food security is a fundamental problem. Rather, it takes on a paramount importance under some special political circumstances. The steady increase in the population requires well-developed and studied agricultural development. To understand the dimensions of this issue, it is necessary to define some of the terms upon which this field is based.

basic concepts

A- The concept of food self-sufficiency

Food self-sufficiency is defined as "the community's ability to achieve complete self-reliance and self-reliance on resources and capabilities in producing all its food needs locally".

However, this concept raised a number of reservations, the most important of which are:

• The ideological character of this concept.

• Relativity of the concept of food self-sufficiency.

• the possibility of achieving this goal in practice.

• The extent of the economic rationality of this concept.

The concept of complete food sufficiency is considered a general and unclear concept if it is not placed in a specific geographical and historical framework, as it sometimes carries an ideological charge.

The second reservation relates to the relativity of the concept of food self-sufficiency, is it at the minimum level in providing food needs, the average limit, or the upper limit?

This must be linked to the economic and living standard of the communities or society under study.

The third reservation also considers that complete food self-sufficiency may be a noble national goal, but its achievement is linked primarily to the available resources and their ability to meet needs.

One of the countries may decide to go ahead with this goal, but this will cost it exorbitant economic and social sacrifices when compared to more moderate solutions.

As for the last reservation, it relates to the extent of rationality in the economic decision of the policy of complete food self-sufficiency, as agricultural resources are limited and the agricultural sector is fragile because it is directly related to climatic changes, which makes relying on it absolutely an irrational economic decision.

Also, in light of economic globalization and the accompanying liberalization of trade exchange within the framework of the World Trade Organization, the rational choice criterion tends to consider the best cost regardless or without distinguishing between local production or external production.

There is a third consideration related to the high standards of living and the multiplicity of consumer requirements and tastes to the extent that it is difficult to produce all of them locally.

Despite the validity of reservations about the concept of complete food self-sufficiency, adopting a policy of full or partial self-sufficiency in consumer goods is a strategic option that Arab countries must not give up at any cost.

At the global level, we find vivid examples of economic sacrifice in order to achieve self-sufficiency in some basic commodities, as is the case in the policy of rice cultivation and wheat cultivation in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

In general, economic researchers consider that in light of global economic transformations and the accompanying liberalization of trade exchange, the concept of complete food self-sufficiency is a utopian concept, but rather rejected because it leads to the suspension of all trade relations related to foodstuffs with other countries.

Therefore, most scholars tend to use the concept of food security instead of complete food sufficiency because it is free of any ideological semantic charge.

b- The concept of food security

Two levels of food security can be distinguished: absolute and relative.

Absolute food security means food production within a single country equal to or greater than domestic demand, and this level is synonymous with complete self-sufficiency and is also known as self-food security.

It is clear that such a broad and absolute definition of food security is subject to many criticisms in addition to being unrealistic, as it misses the country or country concerned the possibility of benefiting from international trade based on specialization, division of labor and the exploitation of comparative advantages.

As for relative food security, it means the ability of a country or group of countries to provide goods and foodstuffs in whole or in part.

It is also defined as the ability of a country or a group of countries to provide the needs of their society or communities of basic food commodities in whole or in part and to ensure the minimum of those needs on a regular basis.

Based on this previous definition, the concept of relative food security does not necessarily mean the production of all basic food needs. Rather, it is primarily intended to provide the materials necessary to meet these needs through other products in which the concerned country or countries have a comparative advantage over other countries.

Thus, the relative concept of food security means securing food in cooperation with others.

It should be noted that the concept of food security should be based on three pillars:

C- Food Safety

Since the mid-1980s, the world has known relative food security mainly because of the increasing use of chemicals in modern agriculture.

However, the increase in agricultural productivity in this way brought many concerns to consumers, and talk began about a new way to increase productivity that is safer for human health, such as alternative agriculture or organic farming.

So what is food safety?

The concept of the World Health Organization for food safety means all the necessary conditions and standards necessary - during the processes of production, manufacture, storage, distribution and preparation of food - to ensure that food is safe, reliable, healthy and suitable for human consumption.

Food safety is related to all stages from the stage of agricultural production to the moment of consumption by the last consumer.

And the science of marketing in the field of food commodities reminds us that the interest in the first stage was focused on providing food commodities, meaning that the attention was focused on quantity because demand exceeds supply.

Then began the stage of attention to quality and quality, or the balance between quantity and quality in food commodities.

Currently, in the last stage, the focus began on the health dimensions of food commodities, or what is known as food safety, and this interest increased more after the emergence of mad cow disease and foot-and-mouth disease and the global fear they caused.

D- Organic

Organic farming is defined as a production system that avoids, or largely excludes, synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, growth regulators and animal feed additives.

Organic farming systems depend, to the extent possible, on a system of agricultural cycles (crop succession), crop residues, animal manure, legumes, green fertilizers, organic farm waste, and biological methods - such as pest control - to maintain the productivity and nature of agricultural soils, provide nutrients to the plant and control insects and other pests.

It is taken from this definition that the farmer must abide by the following:

• Refrain from using synthetic fertilizers and chemicals.

• Take a successive cropping approach or crop rotations.

• Considering agricultural soil as a living system that must be preserved and developed.

However, it must be noted that stopping the use of chemicals is not based on its release, but rather means avoiding the direct and routine use of ready-made chemicals.

When the use of these compounds and materials is necessary, it is necessary to use the least harmful rates for the environment.

It should also be noted that the evaluation of alternative agriculture or organic farming should be based on the impact of this agriculture on productivity, the food product and the environment.

On the level of productivity, some studies show that agricultural productivity declines by 24% when organic farming is used instead of traditional agriculture that relies mainly on synthetic fertilizers.

With regard to the food product, organic farming is considered less biocides and nitrates than conventional agriculture, and is richer in proteins, vitamins, sugars, iron, potassium, calcium and phosphorous.

E- Agricultural Intensification

Agricultural intensification is defined as the intensification of returns from the use of resources.

It is known that the determinants of agricultural expansion are land and water, so agricultural intensification is done by maximizing production per unit area of ​​land or unit cubic meter of water or both.

However, in some cases, the intensification of the productivity of labor and capital is considered as one of the factors of agricultural intensification.

Agricultural intensification is carried out through several mechanisms:

• The first -

  increasing the productivity of plant and animal crops per unit area of ​​land and cubic meter of water.

  Efforts to increase the productivity of plant and animal crops are based on breeding new plant varieties or new animal breeds, and then introducing these agricultural varieties and breeds to better production conditions that enable them to achieve what their genetic energies allow them.

  
  

• The second -

  increasing the crops planted in the same area of ​​land in the same year, or what is known as crop intensification.

  However, this intensification can only take place after the availability of a set of factors such as suitable climatic conditions, sufficient irrigation water, human competencies, land fertility and conditions related to the nature of crops.

  
  

• The third -

  shifting from crops of lower monetary value to others of higher value.

  
  

• Fourth

  - the agricultural industry, which is a high degree of agricultural intensification, which is done by growing many crops in huge houses and under controlled conditions of heat, humidity, lighting and disease control.

_______________

Economic

Sources:

1- Muhammad Al-Sayed Abd al-Salam, Food Security in the Arab World, Knowledge World Series, No. 230, 1998.

2- Mansour Al-Rawi, Arab Food Security: Its Concept and Reality, Arab Affairs, Issue 75, September 1993.

3- The Arab Thought Forum , Arab Food Security, Amman, 1986.