Authors: Areeja Syed and Fatima Ahmed
This world in which we are living is a very insecure and prone place where problems like poverty, crisis, conflicts, negative peace, natural disasters, economic instability, violence, health problems, environmental issues and deficient food have surrounded a human from all sides. Human is insecure in the presence of these problems and this is what we call human insecurity. (GASPER n.d).There are many challenges to overcome human insecurity like to give environmental security, food, health, psychological security and many more to humans. In this article we will particularly talk about food security which is one of the most prominent challenges to human security in the contemporary world.
Food Security
In 1974,World Food Conference was held which defined food security with regard to guarantee stable supply and price constancy of basic foodstuffs at the system and state level. The form in which all the people of the world have access to food, whether it is economic, social, physical, but everyone should have access to food to have a healthy and active and nutritious lifeIn 1983, The analysis of FAO mainly focused on food access and they also emphasized on the economic access, stability and the demand-supply aspect. (Food and agriculture organization of the united nations. 1996).
Food security comprises of four main components in which the first is the availability of food, it means whether everyone is getting enough and sufficient food according to their need. Second the accessibility of food which focuses on the income and sources of an individual that whether they are having ample and enough income, to buy food for them and their family. Although it’s primary concern is income but it also analyses gender, literacy and employment status. It also highlights that despite accessibility to food, people are unable to access quality food which results in malnutrition e.g. Indian Famine in West Bengal in 1943. In the case of South Asia, despite having access to food, there is less improvement in malnutrition.
Third aspect of food security is the constancy of food, which implies people should have stable, constant and permanent access to food all the time without having any risk or fear of losing economic or physical accessibility in various conditions like natural disasters, wars, economic deprivation. Especially when the global prices of food fluctuates, the South Asian governments finds it a challenge to ensure food security for its people. For this purpose they provide different types of incentives to farmers to maintain balance between demand and supply (Amjad,2010).Fourth aspect is the nutritious and biological aspect of food which implies that individuals are getting healthy and clean eatery and water which will ensure healthy and active lifestyles of the people.
Reason of Food insecurity in south Asia
1.SAARC countries population growth:
The population of SAARC countries is 22 percent of total population of the world with India alone contributing about 1.17 billion people (over 17 %) to it. The shares of Pakistan and Bangladesh in world’s population stand at 2.5 and 2.4 percent respectively. The population growth rate has slowed down overtime in almost all the countries with Sri Lanka attaining a population growth rate of 1.3. Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan also have moved in that direction, though Pakistan still has a high rate of population growth.
2. Urbanization/Migration from rural to Urban Areas:
  The urban poor are generally more vulnerable to food insecurity resulting from shocks like high inflation. Despite high population growth in rural areas the reduction in the percentage of rural population in almost all the countries (except Sri Lanka during the period 1991-2006) points to an accelerated migration from rural to urban areas. This migration results from both pull and push factors working simultaneously. Cities offer higher wage and better employment opportunities as well as greater availability of services like heath care and education. The push factors that force migrants to leave rural areas include factors like displacement by conflict, disasters, droughts,landlessness, land degradation, and population pressures on land. The growth of cities on one hand inflates the population of net food buyers and on the other hand reduces arable land by converting productive agricultural land and water resources to residential and industrial uses. Thus, the process of urbanization is a potential threat to food security in the region.
Climate change:
Agricultural production in South Asia is also prone to high risks resulting from high variations in weather. The future projections of climate change indicates that South Asia is very likely to be affected by warming during this century. The availability of freshwater is projected to decrease and coastal areas will be at greatest risk due to increased flooding from the sea and rivers. It is predicted that a rise in temperature may reduce yields of rice, wheat, other cereals, and certain cash significantly. Various sub-sectors of agriculture bear the effect and contribute to global climate change. Any neglect or failure on part of the countries of the region to develop and adopt technologies for climate change mitigation and adaptation of agriculture to sustainable resource use and environment friendly improved practices may lead to severe food insecurity in the region.(Amjad,2010)
A Way Forward
Nearly 40 percent of the world’s hungry lives in South Asia, even before the food price crisis of 2008. Hunger silently stalks the entire region, from the steep mountain slopes of Nepal to the dry, arid plains of southern Afghanistan. (Farooq 2016)Although large scale famines have largely been kept at bay, millions of poor people in Bangladesh, unable to afford two meals a day are left literally clutching at straws. On the other hand, a declining trend in per capita food production and supply is observed in most of the South Asian Countries except India and Pakistan. In this context, the achievement of food security in the region can be facilitated by the members of SAARC. They should extend its cooperation in food production within the member states and should work towards some regional cooperation
1. Regional Trade: There is a need to have regional trade, countries under one region need to import and export, which is beneficial for every state within the region.
2. Cooperation in technologies :technology sharing network for these crops can bring a considerable boost in production of these valuable food grains for attaining and sustaining broader food security in the region. (Pakistan Today 2018)
3. Revisiting SAARC Food Banking Mechanism: The idea of establishing SAARC Food Reserve was floated in 1988, the prime underlying aim was to provide regional support to national food security efforts and solve regional food shortages through collective actions but it is not operationalized yet so there is a need for practical implementation as well
4. Coping Strategies for Disasters: Given that natural disasters do not always care for national boundaries. Cross-boundary issues of disaster management should be addressed through enhanced regional cooperation. (Farooq 2016)
It is now the need of the hour that there should be some regional co-operation in order to eradicate the food insecurity specially by structuralism and by the practical implementation of the above suggestions, there is a need to eradicate all the hatred between the states like India and Pakistan and they must focus on human security. It is the responsibility of the states to give security to their people. The states should place human security at the centre of national policy making. Regional cooperation can assist the states to extend and promote human security to other countries as well.