Global Food Security Assessment during 1961–2019

Abstract

Quantified components of the global food system are used to assess long-term global food security under a series of socio-economic, epidemic normalization and climate change scenarios. Here, we evaluate the global food security including the global farming system as well as the global food trade, reserve and loss systems from 1961 to 2019, and analyze their temporal and spatial characteristics by using the global food vulnerability (GFV) model. The spatio–temporal patterns of the vulnerability of the global food system were consistent with the GFSI. As food production and consumption vary greatly in different countries which have continued for a long time, food exports from many developed agricultural countries have compensated for food shortages in most countries (about 120 net grain-importing countries). As a result, many countries have relied heavily on food imports to maintain their domestic food supplies, ultimately causing the global food trade stability to have an increasing impact on the food security of most countries. The impact of global food trade on global food security increased from 9% to 17% during 1961–2019, which has increased the vulnerability of the global food system. The food damage in the United States, Russia, China, and India has varied significantly, and global cereal stocks have fluctuated even more since 2000. From 1961 to 2019, the food system security of some Nordic countries significantly improved, while the food system security of most African countries significantly deteriorated. Most countries with high food insecurity are located in Africa and South Asia. In order to cope with extreme events, these countries need to strengthen and improve their own food production and storage systems, which will help the World Food and Agriculture Organization to formulate relevant food policies and maintain sustainable development.

Progress toward SDG‐2: Assessing food security in 93 countries with a multidimensional indicator system

“…For long‐term improvement of food stability, the national government could consider doing so to improve food production and reserves. For short‐term and rapid improvement of food stability, it could be practical to encourage the local households to daily reserve some food, which can effectively stabilize food prices when global shocks occur (Guo et al, 2021). Also, countries facing the high dependency on food import could spent efforts in joining the international alliance, especial the alliance with major food countries, which guarantee their stable food imports.…”

“…According to the definitions from FAO, food availability means obtaining sufficient and nutritious food through domestic production or imports; food access means individuals’ rights to access adequate resources for acquiring appropriate foods for a nutritious diet; food stability means everyone (a population, household, or individual) always has access to adequate food; food utilization means utilization of food through adequate diet, clean water, sanitation and health care to reach a state of nutritional well‐being where all physiological needs are met; and other dimension explains indicators excluded from the above four dimensions. Factors affecting food security and solutions to promoting SDG‐2 have been studied by many scholars from different perspectives in recent years, which mainly conducted from three types: households or individuals as a microcosmic perspective, single or several cities, countries, and continents as a macroscopic perspective, and a large number of countries as a global perspective (Altman et al, 2009; Baquedano et al, 2021; Guo et al, 2021).…”

Effects of Corruption Control on the Number of Undernourished People in Developing Countries

“…As the continent has fallen behind the rest of the world in terms of agricultural development, especially with respect to climate and soil quality regulations, there has been no green revolution as in other regions [ 87 ]. Therefore, imports will increase the amount of food availability for Africa’s total population, particularly the malnourished [ 88 ]. IDR has surged throughout Africa during the last 40 years, since domestic production has been unable to keep up with population growth [ 89 ]; on a per capita level, cereal production has not improved significantly over the past thirty years in Africa [ 90 ].…”

Institutional trends of Russian agriculture as problems and advantages of development

“…For example, Zemliak, Zhebo, Aleshkov [2] believe that the main causes of food shortages in the world are the imbalances between population growth and the reduction of arable land due to urbanization, the increase in the energy intensity of agro-industrial production and the increase in the production of crops for biofuels, the intensification of the use of natural resources and environmental pollution, wars (civil strife) and economic inaccessibility of food and others. Guo J., et al [3] noted the contradiction between the interests of countries that prefer to be net importers of food (120 countries) and agricultural producers.…”