Ensuring food security

By Shezna Shums

The lecture on Food Security and Supply Chain Management was delivered last week by Head of Procurement, Glaxo SmithKline, Sri Lanka, Tusitha Gunawarnasuriya at the Institute of Supply and Materials Management (ISMM) Auditorium, Professional Centre, OPA Building.

The subject of food security is important because according to the United Nations (UN) over half of the world’s population does not have food to eat; most of these people live in approximately seven countries.

According to the facts presented, 65% of the world’s hungry live in India, China, The Democratic Republic of Congo, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan and Ethiopia.

It was highlighted that about every 3.6 seconds someone in the world dies of hunger. The main elements to food security are that there be food security, availability, access and, safety and healthy food utilisation.

The definition given to food security is when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.

Gunawarnasuriya explained that vulnerable groups such as children and low income earners and people who are sick may not have access to food. He also added that there is no need for more preservatives to be used, in order to increase the amount of food in the world, but the important fact is to learn to manage the supply of food to meet the demand and get the required food to the consumer at the correct time.

An issue pointed out regarding food security is overpopulation and researchers say that there are more people on the planet than there are sources needed to support their needs. It is estimated that people are using 40% more than what the earth can generate.

Some researchers say that in order to achieve sustainable development, the world population should be reduced by at least two-thirds.

Despite that, there is still little debate in this regard and, with only few exceptions, the questions related to having children is considered to be a private matter.

Another issue affecting food security is climate change, which is occurring due to pollution and other manmade causes.

The rising temperature is threatening to reduce the availability of agricultural land, to force many species of plants or even animals (e.g. polar beers and bees) into extinction and cause more unstable weather conditions, such as floods and hurricanes.

If that happens, both the availability and the price of the food will change irreversibly.

Another shocking fact is that rich countries throwing away large quantities of food. For example, the European Union (EU) is producing more food than they are able to consume and because the quality standards are very high, much of the food even before reaching the supermarkets is being thrown away.

Lettuce can be thrown away because it is not green enough, strawberries can be thrown away because they are not big enough, pig legs, tongues and some types of fish can be thrown away because Europeans do not want to buy them.

Much food instead of being sent to Africa other countries in need is being sent each day to waste.

It is estimated that in the US about 40-50% of harvested food never gets eaten. Each year food waste in the US costs $ 43 billion.

During the lecture Gunawarnasuriya also spoke on the six Ps of food, the main factors are population, prosperity, productively, pollution, price of food and policy.

He also noted that in ensuring food security in Sri Lanka, there needs to be an integrated system in place to ensure food security and that the Government implementation of using crates to store and transport fruits and vegetables in only one part of this process.

He added that people should have an optimistic view when it comes to the future of food security and supply. Quality of food assurance is important to cover all activities at all stages of the food supply chain, from primary production or purchase, through processing and storage and to distribution and consumption.