Food Security

What is it?

A household is food secure when there is adequate food for its needs and the occupants do not live with fear of hunger. Food security refers to both (1) the availability of food in an area and (2) the ability of the most vulnerable households to access it.

The most recent hunger statistics estimate that 900 million people are chronically hungry due to extreme poverty. The other painful reality is that up to 2 billion people lack food security intermittently due to varying degrees of poverty.
 

There is a direct connection between food consumption levels and poverty. Families with adequate financial resources rarely suffer from chronic hunger. Poor families not only suffer the most from hunger but also are the segment of the population that is most at risk during times of emergencies and famines.

The first Millennium Development Goal is to eradicate extreme hunger and poverty. The Sharing Way programs work towards achieving this goal in two ways:

• Working with families to increase household incomes. (See micro-enterprise development).
• Assisting farmers in rural areas to increase their crop production utilizing sustainable agriculture practices.

The vast majority of people who live in extreme poverty are found in rural areas. They depend on agriculture and agriculture related activities for their food and income. Our programs that work with farmer have the double impact of increasing food production and increasing family incomes. The World Bank’s 2008 annual report emphasized that strengthening the agriculture sector is the most effective investment in development assistance for a country.

The Sharing Way food aid and food security programs are assisted in some countries with funding from the Canadian Foodgrains Bank. Our programs typically provide support with training in agro-forestry practices, mentoring with drought resistant techniques, initiatives to improve soil fertility, and loans for seeds and tools.

Food security is part of CBM’s emphasis on integral mission. We work with food security and agriculture programs in:

• Angola
• Bolivia
• El Salvador
• India
• Indonesia
• Kenya
• Rwanda