According to the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World, about 11.7 per cent of the world’s population faced severe food insecurity in 2021. Trends in food and nutrition-related conditions like micronutrient deficiency, stunting and wasting among children, and obesity are above global expectations. While the most affected are in developing countries, food insecurity is a global problem that requires global measures and interventions. This condition contrasts with the substantial progress in food production. There is, therefore, a need for a closer examination of the immediate and underlying causes of the problem.
In addition to poverty and lack of entitlements, the state and distribution of food insecurity reflect the interplay of complex economic, social, and political factors at the global and national levels. The course provides a survey of contemporary literature on food security to identify the salient issues that affect the problem from a global perspective.
Unit 1: Food security- concepts and measurements
The Unit introduces the course by explaining the key concepts and ideas of food insecurity as a global phenomenon. The session also maps the state of global food and nutrition security.
Unit 2: Household food security in developing countries
The Unit addresses the nature of food security in developing countries with a particular focus on identifying the main courses of the problem. The Unit will also explore possible policy choices and interventions to address the issue.
Unit 3: Food security in the global north
Food insecurity as a welfare problem has a different manifestation in advanced countries. Unlike developing countries, food insecurity in developed countries mainly borders on dietary quality and access instead of quantity. Other dimensions like monitoring and reporting add an additional layer of complexity to the problem in this region. This Unit will survey the literature to identify the key peculiarities of food insecurity in the Global North.
Unit 4: Innovations, ICT, and food security
Technological advancement has contributed immensely to food production and distribution. As the agricultural sector becomes smarter and increasingly technological, there is a need to assess the role of technological innovation in reducing food insecurity risks in the world.
Unit 5: Agribusiness and global food supply chain
The Unit will review the literature on the relationship between agribusiness and food security among smallholder farmers. The Unit will also discuss the impact of the activities of multinational agricultural cooperations on local food security.
Unit 6: Political economy of agricultural policies
This Unit will analyze the role of politics and national economic policies in reducing the risk of food insecurity around the globe. We discuss how food security results from deliberate government actions integrating food security interventions into government policies. We will also study the government’s response to food-related shocks like price volatility.
Unit 7: The role of governance, institution in achieving food security
Here we study how institutional quality and governance help achieve food security, especially in developing countries where the literature shows a significant deficit in good governance and provision of public goods.
Unit 8: International trade and global food security
Unit 8 examines various arguments regarding the argument of whether international trade is a threat to an opportunity for promoting global food security.
Unit 9: Land, land policies and food security
Agriculture has for centuries relied on arable land as the dominant factor of production. This suggests a close and intricate link between land and food production. This also makes supply a function of land-related issues like land tenure, land grabbing, and land policies. The Unit reviews these issues and links them to the various dimensions of food security.
Unit 10: Issues in sustainable food security
As the world aims to feed about 90 million people by 2050, several measures have been prescribed to promote the availability, access, and utilization of food and a stable food supply. Inherent, these measures are potential trade-offs regarding environmental sustainability and food security. This section will evaluate the emerging issues in this field.
