Expectations for household food security in the coming decades: A global scenario

ABSTRACT

Global food security is threatened by the confluence of increasing demand for food due to a growing population and the inability of the food production system to meet the increasing demand due to climate change, worsening soil fertility, and challenges to water availability. These factors jeopardize achieving the Sustainable Development Goals such as Zero Hunger, food and nutrition security, and climate action, particularly in developing countries. Vulnerable and marginalized groups in these countries, such as women, widows, people with disabilities, and resource-poor households living in vulnerable areas, suffer disproportionately from food insecurity. This inequality is likely to increase in the coming decades due to disproportionate access to resources. Major economic shocks such as the global food price rise of 2007-08 and the Covid-19 pandemic have weakened the fight against ensuring nutritional and food security and achieving the SDGs goal of Zero Hunger and poverty. COVID-19 further exhibits the existing gap in access to health systems and highlights the crucial need for a well-designed public safety net to cope with any unexpected shocks in the future. Achieving food security requires several transformations in agricultural as well as socio-economic policies such as targeting susceptible communities, promoting climate-smart agricultural practices, improving the resilience of resource-poor households, setting up a strong social safety nets program, reducing post-harvest losses and food waste, and ensuring an efficient food distribution mechanism. © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.