Sustainable Living
How can we live more sustainably to prevent food crisis?
- Asmitaa.N
Why I Chose This Topic?
I chose sustainable living because I can understand that resources are unequally distributed within
the society making more resources available to a small portion while others don’t have access to it. I
feel this needs to be changed for the best and would love to research on it. I chose food crisis
because I see people like my house maid who works hard in 4 to 5 hours to earn for feeding her
family. We try to help her by giving some food of what we make for ourselves, but it is hard to see
people suffering for little amount of food, I think every living being on Earth deserves to be fed. This
is the reason I chose ‘Food Crisis’, so that I will be able to research on the solution of this dreadful
problem.
Introduction:
The USDA defines food insecurity as a lack of consistent access to enough food for every person in a
household to live an active, healthy life1 . According to FAO, there are different levels of food
insecurity. They are,
1) Food Security to Mild Food Insecurity
2) Moderate food insecurity – When people must compromise on the quality
and variety / reduce their food quantity.
3) Severe Food Insecurity – When people have no food for a day or more.
For many decades, FAO has used the Prevalence of Undernourishment indicator to estimate the
extent of hunger in the world, thus “Hunger” can also be referred to as undernourishment 2.The
reports of UNICEF Organisations tells us that around 258 million people in 58 countries faced acute
Food Insecurity levels in 20223. According to the WHO, the international poverty line is at $1.90 a
1
https://www.feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america/foodinsecurity#:~:text=The%20USDA%20defines%20food%20insecurity,can%20last%20a%20long%20tim
e.
2
3
https://www.fao.org/hunger/en/
https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/global-report-food-crises-number-people-facing-acutefood-insecurity-rose258#:~:text=The%20report%20finds%20that%20around,year%20history%20of%20the%20report.
day at 2011 international prices4. The proportion of the population living below the international
poverty line is said to be facing extreme poverty. The poverty line is compared with consumption or
income per person or family, which reflects the basic needs. This poverty line has fixed purchasing
power across countries or areas; hence it is called the international poverty line5.
Global Perspective
According to the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, almost a billion people
around the world are malnourished — about 16 per cent of the population in developing countries.
Food insecurity arises from reasons such as war, poverty, and climate change6. Some countries
which are severely affected by food crisis are,
1) Afghanistan
According to the Action against Hunger Organisation, the economic situation in Afghanistan is
getting worse rapidly after the Taliban took over. More than 90% of the population has been pushed
into poverty. There is not enough food for 15.3 million people in Afghanistan. Acute malnutrition is
above emergency thresholds in 25 out of 34 provinces, it is also expected to worsen. Almost Half of
these population consists of children fewer than 5 years and almost quarter of the population and
pregnant and breastfeeding who are threatened7.
2) Ethiopia
According to an organisation called Compassion, Hunger and food insecurity is present in Ethiopia
for many years. Recently, sustained periods of little to no rainfall have led to severe droughts,
especially in southern and south-eastern Ethiopia. These factors contribute to food scarcity, food
shortages, food insecurity and child malnutrition in this country. The WFP or World Food
Programme reports that as of January 2022, over 260,000 livestock died in the worst droughtaffected areas. At the other extreme, heavy rains triggered flooding in 2021’s rainy season in several
4
https://www.who.int/data/gho/indicator-metadata-registry/imr-details/4744
5
https://www.who.int/data/nutrition/nlis/info/population-below-the-international-poverty-line
6
https://www.purdue.edu/research/researchatpurdue/international-grad-students-proposesolutions-to-combat-foodinsecurity/#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20Food%20and,%2C%20poverty%2C%20and%20climat
e%20change.
7
https://www.wfp.org/emergencies/afghanistanemergency#:~:text=Job%20losses%2C%20lack%20of%20cash,food%20prices%20on%20the%20rise.
zones of Ethiopia’s Somali region, displacing about 56,000 people and resulting in the death of about
7,700 animals 8.
3) Nigeria
Food insecurity is elevated in Nigeria. Conflict is the main reason of Food insecurity in Nigeria. Ongoing chaos causes disturbance in markets and farming. This limits people’s ability to earn income
and forcing families to leave their homes. It can be extremely hard for humanitarian organizations to
reach people living in areas controlled by armed groups to provide the help they need7. Using the
September 2018 to October 2019 household survey of expenditures, the cost of achieving 2251
calories per day (age-weighted caloric need for food security), is about 82,000 naira per person per
year. Based on this survey, about 40 per cent of the Nigerian population is told to be food insecure.
Research in 2021 shows similar results using the same data survey, declaring that about 28 per cent
of the population was food insecure based on the cost of a diet with localized food preferences that
achieves food-based dietary guidelines9.
National Perspective
On the Global Hunger Index 2021 Ranking, India Ranks 101 out of 116 countries. The latest State of
Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) report published jointly by five UN organisations on
July 6, 2021, shows estimates of widespread and worsening food insecurity in India10. Based on this
report it can be roughly calculated that between 2019 and 21, around 56 crore Indians, or 40.6 per
cent of the total population, had faced moderate or severe food insecurity. The count of people in
the nation that experiences extreme food insecurity has increased from 20.3 per cent in 2018–20 to
22.3 per cent in 2019–21. About 37 per cent of the world’s people, who are seriously food insecure,
live in India alone11. Some actions the Government of India took to prevent this situation are,
- 1970’s - Public Distribution System (PDS) for food grains
- 1970’s - Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS)
8
https://www.compassion.com/poverty/hunger-inethiopia.htm#:~:text=Climate%20Extremes%20%26%20Environmental%20Challenges&text=In%20re
cent%20years%2C%20sustained%20periods,child%20malnutrition%20in%20the%20country.
9
https://www.elibrary.imf.org/view/journals/018/2023/018/article-A001en.xml#:~:text=Food%20insecurity%20is%20elevated%20in%20Nigeria.&text=Mekonnen%20et%20a
l.,achieves%20food%2Dbased%20dietary%20guidelines.
10
https://www.businesstoday.in/opinion/columns/story/world-food-day-2022-india-hasenough-food-but-it-lacks-an-effective-distribution-mechanism-349985-2022-10-16
11
https://www.toppr.com/ask/content/concept/government-measures-for-food-security205120/
- 1970’s - Food-for-Work (FFW)
- 1992- Revamped Public Distribution System (RPDS)12
Etc… Some states of India still facing severe food insecurity are Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand,
Odisha, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, and portions of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra 13.
Some elements that contribute to the food problem in various sections of the nation include
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Rural and Tribal Areas: The Main reason for Food Insecurity in this area is the lack of
improvement in Agricultural productivity owing to inadequate resources and markets
needed to obtain agricultural stability. Lack of education and job opportunities has further
added up to this problem. Climate change also has an impact on agricultural productivity
which has a major impact on rain-fed crops such as rice, wheat, maize, tea, and coffee. Tribal
community’s habitation in remote or difficult terrains and practice of subsistence farming
has led to economic backwardness.
Urban Areas: Rural to Urban migrations is gradually increasing. These rural migrants form a
large portion referred to as ‘Informal sector’. This situation results in unplanned growth of
slums which lack in the basic health and hygiene facilities. Another important point which
might promote food insecurity is the dependence of this labourer class on daily employment
wages which tends to differ on days of the month and thus the access to food keeps shifting.
Another problem is that when the government aimed at helping the urban slums, it is
enjoyed only by people who are notified which includes only 50% of the population, while
the other 50% who are not notified buy their food from common market at competitive
prices and are forced to buy subsidized food made available through Public Distribution
System (PDS), without checking the quality.
Faulty Food Distribution Systems: Inadequate food in food distribution systems like Public
Distribution system (PDS) is also a reason for increasing food insecurity in the country. The
Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) has the drawback in the understanding that
those people who are the right candidates for deserving the subsidy are excluded based on
non-ownership of below poverty line (BPL) status. The inaccurate classification of Above
Poverty Line (APL) and Below Poverty Line (BPL), that differs from state to state, has resulted
in a big decline of the amount for food grains subsidized. Moreover, the low quality of the
food grains and the poor services of food distribution systems have further added up to this
problem.
Unmonitored Nutrition programmes: Although the country has several programs with
boosting nutrition as their focus, these are not successfully carried out. For instance, the Mid
Day Meal Scheme (MDMS) has not yet been implemented in several states. Poor
implementation of nutritional programs that have been shown to be beneficial has a
12
https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/which-states-are-more-food-insecure-in-india/
13
https://byjus.com/question-answer/which-states-are-more-food-insecure-in-india/

considerable impact on food security in states like Bihar and Orissa where the poverty rate is
quite high13.
Lack of Intersectoral coordination: The issue has been made worse by the absence of
intersectoral coordination across multiple government ministries, including the Ministry of
Women's and Children's Health, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the Ministry of
Agriculture, the Ministry of Finance, etc14.
Local Perspective
Tamil Nadu's crop cultivation and harvesting may have been made easy by the relaxation
given to the farming community during the COVID-19 (2020 – 2021) lockdown, the
enormous gap between the supply and demand for fruits, vegetables, and flowers has left
farmers who grow them a worried lot. The various religious celebrations, weddings, and
other large-scale events that take place in Tamil Nādu, is when these farmers make the most
money from March to September. Tons of fruits, vegetables, and flowers are lying at farms
and in the homes of thousands of farmers around the state because of COVID-19 and social
distancing norms closing temple doors and allowing restrictions on how marriages are
performed15. A door-to-door survey was conducted in 130 households in Vellore district,
Tamil Nādu, information on the food security status that was collected by the United States
Department of Agriculture Household Food Security Scale. It gathered information on
socioeconomic status using the modified Kuppuswamy scale, and information on food
security status using the US Department of Agriculture Household Food Security Scale. Food
insecurity with hunger was prevalent in 61.5% of the 130 families examined, food insecurity
without hunger was present in 13.1%, and food security was present in 25.4% of the
households. In three-fourths of the homes, there was a prevalence of some type of food
insecurity. Only 63 homes in the lower socioeconomic groups and 76 households used the
public distribution system to purchase rice, the main food16.
Personal Perspective
Food Crisis is one among the growing problems in the world. Different nations have been
impacted, with nearly same common causes. Poor distribution methods lead food to be
wasted even when we produce more than enough of it.
Possible Case Scenarios:
14
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3481742/
15
https://www.deccanherald.com/national/south/less-demand-more-supply-the-sad-taleof-tamil-nadu-farmers-826536.html
16
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/49770257_Household_food_security_in_Urban_
Tamil_Nadu_A_survey_in_Vellore
The population of the globe is predicted to increase by 34% to 9.1 billion people by the year
2050. Most of this population growth will take place in developing nations. The rate of
urbanization will increase, and by 2050, 70 percent of the world's population—up from 49
percent today—will reside in cities. The current income levels will be multiplied by many.
Net of food used for biofuels, food production must rise by 70% to feed this larger, more
urban, and wealthier population. The amount of cereal produced annually must increase
from the current 2.1 billion tonnes to around 3 billion tonnes, and the amount of meat
produced annually must increase by more than 200 million tonnes to reach 470 million
tonnes17.
So, as we can see there are many countries severely affected. Some common reasons for food
insecurity in many other countries are,

Economic Shocks: Socioeconomic impacts like Covid-19 and Russia Ukraine war are some of
the key reasons for food insecurity. Up to from 30.2 million people in 21 countries in 2021
are affected. The economic resilience of poor countries has dramatically decreased from
2020 - 2022, and they now face extended recovery periods and less ability to cope with
future shocks.
 Conflict/insecurity: In 2021, Conflict amongst countries was considered as the key reason of
acute food insecurity in 24 countries or territories with 139 million people[1].
Weather/Climate extremes: Weather and Climate change causes rising temperatures, heavy
rainfall, severe storms, and extended periods of drought. Many
[1]
https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/global-report-food-crises-number-people-facing-acutefood-insecurity-rose258#:~:text=Economic%20shocks%20have%20surpassed%20conflict,to%20respond%20to%20food%
20shocks.

crops fail due to these extreme weather conditions. This has consequences on the
production of food causing global food insecurity[1].
[1]
https://www.cordaid.org/en/news/climate-is-threatening-our-food-and-viceversa/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIo-fC4rqNgAMV7Q2DAx1ZFw37EAAYASAAEgJRA_D_BwE
17
Microsoft Word - Synthesis_Report.doc (fao.org)