According to the FAO, there are four objectives to be reached if we want to bridge the gap between agriculture and health, for a better nutrition security.
Welcome back, dear friends! Today we are here to talk about nutrition security. What is it about?
According to the definition by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), food security “exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.”
Faced with the world population’s steady growth and the unequal distribution of resources and knowledge, ensuring food safety to everyone is getting increasingly difficult. That’s why the FAO suggests us to follow some important guidelines.
Producing in a smart way
We understand from the above definition that the goal is that of finding smarter ways to face the negative consequences of wrong policies and bad practices.
Environmental and social damages, the reduction of crop diversity, the wide-spread use of fertilizers and pesticides are all elements closely linked to the extension of industrial crop farming, while family-run farms are becoming less important. Good health depends on food nutrition. This in turn depends on sustainable agriculture.
How can we make up for this situation? According to the FAO, these are the four objectives to be reached if we want to bridge the gap between agriculture and health.
- To improve both crop production and food trading in order to supply appropriate food to everyone in all seasons. The aim is to make food provisions always available, taking also into account food imports and farming subsidies, if necessary.
- To think of new ways of producing and distributing food in order to ensure its availability. Food must be of good quality and sufficient for all peoples.
- To spread and to use proper ways for preparing and storing food. To create the awareness of nutritional values and fair food distribution, whatever your age and gender may be.
- To create provisions of food making sure that also people in emergency and crisis situations can have secure access.
To fight against poverty and hunger is hence the main target. According to the FAO, this goal can be achieved by means of economic development originating from increased yields, especially in agriculture. So, not only is it necessary to provide major produce from the fields but also to control market performance and price stability, which are essential factors in relation to food accessibility.
What do you think about this issue? Do you agree with this approach?