Items tagged with FOOD SECURITY

The invasion of Ukraine by Russia have contributed to the exacerbation of a global and multidimensional food crisis unprecedented in decades. A war that adds to the persistence of conflicts in various parts of the world, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the climate emergency, aggravating a negative trend in the reduction of hunger in the world since 2016. .

The population’s access to healthy and sustainable food is a basic human right, which is not always fulfilled. This article analyzes how this right is being guaranteed in Spain, detailing some of the existing mechanisms to deal with food insecurity.

In the search to guarantee Food Security during the 70s, it was believed that it would be enough to increase the productivity of agro-industry in the world. However, the work of Amartya Sen was fundamental in clarifying the concept of Food Security and showing that the death of thousands of people during the famines in Bengal, Ethiopia and Bangladesh, was due to a lack of access to food, and not because of their insufficiency. These testimonies, together with the dimensions of Food Security, shaped the concept, stressing with it the importance of guaranteeing food regardless of the political instability of the countries or natural disasters that may occur.

Unemployment and precariousness are one of the major determinants of poverty in Spain and have been aggravated by the economic crisis of the last decade. The lack of resources threatens the food security of families who are forced to adopt purchasing strategies that lead to a reduction in the consumption of fresh food and an increase in refined and ultraprocessed products.