While food goes to waste in urban areas, there are many underdeveloped areas where people repeatedly face a stark shortage of food which leads to problems like malnutrition, price hikes, etc. There is a precise uneven distribution of food worldwide. It serves to be one of the most critical issues to be solved under the ambit of Sustainable Development Goals as laid out by the United Nations.
Food Security AND BORON
Food security is defined as “the assurance of adequate food supply.” It can be achieved on a national level by increasing domestic production, importing food from other producers (both domestically and internationally), or decreasing the demand for food.
On the global scale, ensuring the physical availability of food may involve agreements between countries to reduce trade barriers such as tariffs which drive up prices – this should not interfere with local markets in developing nations.
With the world population growing, it has become tough to feed everyone sustainably and adequately. One of the most common causes of food insecurity is climate change – specifically droughts or floods that limit crop production while others are unaffected. Other factors include economic instability, natural disasters such as famines and wars, and animal health diseases that can cause livestock losses from time to time.
The question of food security remains a pivotal issue in the world today. The idea that there is enough to go around, no matter who you are or where you live, has not been challenged for some time now, and it seems unlikely this will change anytime soon either way due to how much we rely on agriculture production each year.
The concept of food security is getting a lot of attention these days. People are becoming more and more aware that the future may not be filled with enough variety to provide for their needs when it comes to sustenance, especially in light of climate change causing crop failures worldwide.
Broadly, the most important factors that govern the food security of a nation immediately are –
- Agricultural practices
- Climate conditions
- Policies surrounding food processing
- Export and import rates of food
Agricultural practices and their effect on food security
Food security is majorly affected by agricultural practices. In recent years, food production has been on the decline due to various factors such as crop diseases and pest attacks, mainly caused by modern farming practices that have adverse effects on soil health.
In the past, food security was affected primarily by supply and demand. Nowadays, these factors are intertwined with agricultural practices such as fertilising or using herbicides to reduce weed growth.
In the old days, when a country had an excess of crops, they would export them for cash flow and in case there were shortages elsewhere. Still, now that we’re aware of how our actions affect climate change, it has become increasingly important to take care of what one produces on their land and those imported from other regions because farming is done globally nowadays.
The problem with modern agriculture is that it’s not sustainable because of the adverse effects on soil health. It mainly affects food security in developing countries, as they are less able to cope with droughts or floods and have fewer resources at hand when disaster strikes.
Unsustainable agricultural practices
A recent study has shown that there are many adverse effects of unsustainable agricultural practices. For example, the issue is leading to a loss in biodiversity and soil quality and depletion of resources such as water.
Excessive use of chemical pesticides and fertilisers has been the leading cause of soil quality decline in countries like India. Because of the high demand for crops and razor-thin margins, farmers resort to unhealthy practices in agriculture to turn up a profit every year, only to increase the number of chemicals with every passing year. It is done because chemical treatment of soil makes it lose its natural fertility to a considerable extent.
In the light of harmful chemicals, there have been new developments such as Boron insecticides. Boron is an excellent pesticide that can kill pests without using harsh chemicals or harming the environment. Boron has been used for decades as an insecticide, and it’s relatively harmless to plants – even at high concentrations of around 20%. Because of this, Boron is an invaluable tool in pest control. It can be used to kill insects, fungi and bacteria without destroying the environment or harming people who consume food grown on a farm that has been treated with a boronic acid pesticide.
On the other hand, the lack of essential micronutrients has deteriorated the soil quality in countries like Africa. Central Africa is suffering from a boron deficiency. It can be attributed to the lack of organic matter in dry, low soil areas that make up Central African countries such as Cameroon and Chad. Boron helps crops thrive, which has devastating consequences for food security when it becomes scarce.
The supply of high-quality refined boron is becoming increasingly difficult due to its limited availability on the market these days, leaving many farmers with no choice but to give up their livelihoods or take expensive measures like transporting goods across borders illegally so that they’ll have enough supplies left over after paying customs fees and other taxes imposed by governments who are also subjecting them to unfair trade deals making these practices more appealing for those seeking out cheaper alternatives than legitimate distributorships available locally.
Shifting to more sustainable methods of farming
A group called Ecological Agriculture Association recently published an article detailing how farmers can sustainably manage their land by using techniques such as agroforestry or permaculture farming which grow trees alongside crop plants, use natural pest control methods like ladybugs instead of pesticides for pests like aphids, and plant cover crops when not harvesting any produce so that ground isn’t left bare during those times. These sustainable practices will help preserve our planet’s limited resources while still providing enough food for everyone.
National and International Food Security are linked
The international food trade policies and inequitable food distribution systems at a local level are entirely linked. National audits of a country’s food resources and distribution infrastructure need to be the starting point in the battle of eradicating world hunger.
Upon auditing, immediate mitigation measures need to be developed and put in place to redistribute a nation’s resources wherever they’re most needed. Similarly, countries with a surplus in food reserves can engage in international subsidies with other nations.
It is especially essential in situations where food production exceeds a country’s population. In countries like India, the government has encouraged farmers to grow cash crops instead of feeding their people. The long-term goal for these types of policies should be to increase farmer incomes and slash poverty so that they’re able to provide themselves with what they have.
When it comes to international food security, the World Food Programme and UNICEF are currently working on solutions. They’re advocating for sustainable agricultural practices in developing countries- something that will take time given how deep-rooted these issues are.
To implement a long-term solution, both agencies advocate for policies such as subsidies for farmers who engage in traditional farming methods and tariffs against imported products from countries with lower labour costs than their own. These measures would help ensure that prices don’t get so low they discourage production instead of encouraging it while still promoting competition among producers.
endING world hunger
The answer is yes. It won’t happen overnight, but it is a perfectly reasonable goal to achieve international collaboration. The first step in ending world hunger has to be ensuring that food production can keep up with global population growth and the demand for more meat products. It requires shifting our agricultural focus from producing as much food as possible – even if this means using unsustainable farming methods or risking environmental damage- to improve the quality of crops while maintaining competitive prices on goods.
Governments need to enact policies that will encourage sustainable practices by providing subsidies for farmers who comply with them and tariffs against imported goods produced through environmentally damaging processes. It’s also essential to invest heavily in research when national budgets are tight because cutting these programs would mean previous investment opportunities that could help us become more sustainable.
