Podcasts

Back

Food insecurity: a major challenge to overcome 

04
February 2021
Fatima Ezzahra Mengoub, Isabelle Tsakok

Ensuring food security for a growing population is one of the major challenges of the coming decades. The scarcity of natural resources, the negative impact of climate change on agricultural production, and the rapid urbanization are all among many other factors that threaten food security worldwide. Given that several million people in the world already suffer from undernourishment and malnutrition, it is necessary today to adopt adequate policies to meet food demand in each country. In light of these observations, Isabelle Tsakok, Senior Fellow at the Policy Center for the New South, explains in depth the concept of food security and outlines major factors that undermine food security.

RELATED CONTENT

  • June 16, 2022
    Africafé est une émission du Policy Center for the New South qui décrypte l’actualité des organisations africaines et de l’Afrique. A travers de courtes interviews, l’émission tente de proposer d’aborder de manière pédagogique les enjeux des organisations africaines et l’actualité du co...
  • May 20, 2022
    Traders have worried that the war involving Russia and Ukraine could stoke inflation, further disrupt supply chains and derail the global economic recovery. Scarcity of food has led to ri ...
  • April 29, 2022
    Following on the heels of the COVID-19 pandemic and severe drought in North Africa, the Russian invasion of Ukraine – large exporters of food and, in the case of Russia, energy— may inflict increased hunger on the food insecure in Morocco – despite mitigating measures by the government. Morocco is so far successfully shielding its large poor and vulnerable population by subsidizing essential commodities. With memories of the violent protests during the 2007/08 food and fuel crisis s ...
  • Authors
    April 21, 2022
    For the second time, Côte d'Ivoire is known for being a "miracle economy" –high aggregate GDP growth of 8% per year since 2012. Despite this achievement, its food systems are unable to deliver food security to most Ivoirians. These systems are being undermined by several structural factors, which include broad-based low productivity and limited diversification of its agri-food sector; the high numbers of extremely poor, some 30% of the population; and the vulnerable who are millions ...
  • March 1, 2022
    Known for being a climate change hotspot, Morocco is at the forefront of a climate disaster. Consequences are already being felt, whether in the form of increasing temperature or a downward trend in precipitations, which directly threaten the water security and, by extension, the social-ecological systems of the country. The systems by which food, energy, and water are produced, distributed, and consumed heavily depend on one another. Their implicit feedbacks and links are not linea ...
  • Authors
    December 10, 2021
    Addressing the increasing demands for water, energy, and food requires a coherent methodology to ensure that  societies have access to them and that conflict over them is avoided. For example, agriculture and food production  require water and energy; energy production also requires water and, in some instances, agricultural products.  Water distribution and treatment can be very energy intensive. Therefore, the benefits of approaching the Water- Energy-Food (WEF) nexus in an integr ...
  • Authors
    Fadi Abdelradi
    Assefa Admassie
    John Asafu Adjaye
    Miltone Ayieko
    Ousmane Badiane
    Katrin Glatzel
    Sheryl Hendriks
    Mame Samba Mbaye
    Racha Ramadan
    Tol Fadi Abdelradi
    Assefa Admassie
    John Asafu Adjaye
    Miltone Ayi
    May 25, 2021
    Within the context of the United Nations Food Systems Summit taking place in September 2021, this brief discusses key drivers of food systems in Africa, as well as the challenges and opportunities for transformation. It concludes with specific policy options that could considerably accelerate progress towards the transformation of food systems across the continent. Specifically, this policy brief makes five recommendations: it recommends that investment in research and development f ...
  • Authors
    Paola Maniga
    Yassine Moustanjidi
    February 15, 2021
    The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed new vulnerabilities in social, infrastructure, and governance systems. In the first months of the pandemic, there was a genuine concern about the capacity of the Global South to contain the spread of the virus. African cities were particularly vulnerable, with some experts1, including the head of WHO2, predicting a catastrophe for the continent. Despite the structural and chronic challenges that African cities face, including informality, poverty, a ...
  • February 04, 2021
    Ensuring food security for a growing population is one of the major challenges of the coming decades. The scarcity of natural resources, the negative impact of climate change on agricultu ...
  • November 26, 2020
    Food security for all requires (i) sustained productivity growth and competitiveness, not only of agriculture but of the entire economy; (ii) a social safety net; and (iii) resilience in the face of periodic shocks. This is the central message of this review. Two popular concepts in food security for all are food self-sufficiency (FSS) and food sovereignty (FSY). While countries have pursued different policies to achieve FSS, the common element in their approaches is the misguided ...