THE FOUR PILLARS OF FOOD SECURITY

 This article specifies and discusses the four pillars which determine food
security status or levels. The article defines the availability of food, accessibility
to food, affordability of food and the utilisation of food as
the four pillars of food security. We finally explain how each of these pillars
influences food security.

The four Pillars

Availability

Availability
refers to the supply of food at national, district, community, and household
levels which is assessed in relation to the corresponding requirements or
demand for the food. Food security Availability is achieved when the supply of food
is equal to or more than the demand for food. National food supply and requirements
are measured in kilocalorie equivalent. This corresponds to the amount of
energy that is obtained by a human being from a given quantity of food. 

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availability or supply of food mainly depends on agricultural production,
carry-over stocks, food gifts/aid, commodity exchange and trade. Agricultural
food production for a given year is the main source of food supply for a
country such as Zambia. Food crop production in turn is determined by
productivity levels or yield rates (quantity produced per hectare) and area
(hectarage) cultivated to food crops.

Food
productivity is low in Zambia, particularly among small-scale farmers. This
is caused by various factors such as reliance on single-season rain-fed
agricultural production; low and inappropriate technology use; poor extension
services; high production costs resulting from high input costs; labour
constraints; livestock and crop pests and diseases; poor agricultural and
fisheries resource management practices which diminish the productivity of the
resource base. Overall agricultural production has also been negatively
affected by low investment in the agriculture sector; inadequate finance and
high cost of finance or credit.

While
most of the above factors affect food supply at the national level, there are also
supply constraints at the household level. These include household food production
levels and productivity, family labour constraints (mostly due to poor health
and effects of HIV/AIDS), low household resource base including farm implements
and inputs, size and structure of households, and gender and age of household
heads.

Diversification
in Zambian agriculture has not been effectively pursued. Food production has
highly focused on crop production at the expense of livestock and fisheries
production. Even within crop production emphasis has been for support towards
maize production with very little support to other food crops such as cassava,
millet, sweet potatoes, sorghum, pumpkins, beans, groundnuts and rice. This is
attributed to the fact that Zambian consumers have a stronger preference for
maize Nshima relative to other food commodities.

When
there is a maize deficit pressure is brought to bear on Government to spend
millions of dollars to procure maize imports. In order to address this problem
Government needs to offer tax incentives and other market support
incentives towards marketing and consumption of other food commodities such as
cassava, millet, sweet potatoes, sorghum and rice as well as beans, groundnuts
pumpkins, fruits, beef, poultry, fish and vegetables. Food crop diversification
is important for ensuring that aggregate food supply at the national level meets
the food security requirements at the community and household levels.

·
Accessibility

Accessibility
refers to the fact that food should not only be available but be within reach
of households and their individual members. Road and storage infrastructure, as well as other logistical arrangements, must be put in place to ensure timely
movement and supply of basic food items to district and community market
centres. The food that is available must be within reach of households.

Food
accessibility implies physical and economical ability to obtain adequate and
nutritious food, Food accessibility is influenced by social, economic and
physical factors such as human health, food prices_. and distance to
food sources (markets).

The
functioning of food markets or trade systems and information flow is important
in accessing food. Income is another critical factor that determines access
to food. Physical infrastructure like availability and state of road networks,
telecommunication infrastructures as well as district and community market
structures and distance to these market centres play an important role in
influencing access to food. Social factors or social safety nets such as welfare
payments arid social protection, cash remittances including pensions and
transfers for the aged, sick, young and other vulnerable social groups also
influence access to food.

·
Affordability

Affordability
refers to the fact that food that is available and accessible should be priced
at levels that are affordable to the majority of the population. This pillar
of food security has an income and poverty dimension entailing that the
majority of the population must be at income levels that enable them to access
basic food commodities. 

The poverty datum line, income levels and the price of a standard food are critical yardsticks mechanisms for determining the proportion of the population
that has the capacity to afford food. Assets are an important resource base in
food mechanisms in times of critical financial difficulties or low food
production. Assets facilitate access to food through direct and indirect
conversion to food. Disposal of assets through trade or barter is a common coping
mechanism used by households to enable them to afford food. Employment creation,
income generation and savings build the capacity of households to afford food.

·
Utilisation

The
Utilisation pillar addresses the nutritional requirements. Emphasis is placed
on improved
health conditions for members of the population to have bodies that can
effectively absorb and utilize food nutrients. The food should also be of the
right type and quality to be able to meet the nutritional f needs of human
bodies thereby enabling people to live a normal, healthy and active life. This
entails the need to increase the diversity of staple foods and consumption patterns
at national and household levels.

There
is a direct relationship between food security and health and nutrition. Poor
health and malnutrition are among the main results of food insecurity and this
has been confirmed through empirical evidence not only in Zambia but also in
other parts of the world. Food security is, therefore, a critical factor in
promoting good health and nutrition. 

On the other hand, good nutrition, hygiene
and health care practices can enable food insecure households to obtain access to
a more balanced diet and get more nutritional value from the foods they
consume. The food utilization component entails the need to promote food processing
and value addition to facilitate the effective absorption of food nutrients by
human bodies.