Special Programme for Food Security, United Nations

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellen M. Maccarone
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Special Programme

Food Security, Gender, and Education

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hester L. Furey
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Food Insecurity ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Food Supply ◽  
World Health ◽  
Special Role ◽  
World Food ◽  
Effect Change ◽  
The United Nations

“Food security” is a term that came into use in the second half of the 20th century as government leaders and nongovernmental organizations began to apply systemic thought to global issues of availability of food, the safety and nutritional sufficiency of available food, and the stability of individuals’ access to it. Hunger and starvation as global problems began to be studied at the end of World War II. Concerns about global food supply management prompted the establishment of the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and increasing levels of policymaking and intervention, enacted through a series of conferences and culminating in a World Food Summit in 1996. Although world food production increased by 50% in the decades following WWII and the 1990s were believed to be a “golden age” of food security, the United Nations believes that before the 2020 world health crisis some 815 million people experienced chronic hunger. Spikes in unemployment such as those associated with the 2008 world financial crisis and the 2020 coronavirus pandemic cause accompanying increases in food insecurity. Global climate change continually challenges efforts to address food-related crises, and at the same time rising numbers of refugees add to the numbers of people who would be food insecure even if all other conditions were optimal. Awareness of the special role of gender within this field has only begun to develop since the first decade of the 21st century. Although the field of food studies is older, most academic studies of food focus on histories of specific commodities, regional folkways, and/or food and literature. Systemic studies of food policy outcomes have not examined gender as a vector of knowledge until about 2010. Consequently, this more specialized field of knowledge remains in an early stage of development, with activists at the forefront more often than academics. Considerable pushback has emerged against the idea that experts should educate locals about food, and many food activists now argue that education should arise from those in production rather than those who create policy. Women represent 60% of all people living with hunger and food insecurity. They also make up at least 60% of agricultural workers. Most of these women growing food are feeding families and regions rather than aspiring to be participants in global economies. As women they experience food insecurity because of cultural gender biases, and as farmers they are twice disadvantaged because neither agriculture nor women’s production within families tends to garner widespread respect or wealth. Gender-blindness has plagued efforts to resolve these issues even when the UN and others have placed women’s progress at the forefront of millennium goals. Organizations charged with analysis of poverty and hunger still operate using out-of-date analytical tools that themselves perpetuate sexist discrimination. “Global” does not necessarily mean more progressive or inclusive. Despite the discourse of goodwill, in practice the unquestioned dominance of WWII-era paradigms of large-scale agricultural production and food supply chains has limited rather than supported collective ability to effect change. In the final years of the 20th century, a growing number of alternative voices such as the anti-globalist scholar Vandana Shiva and fair trade and sustainability groups like Café Campesino began to introduce dissenting ideas about food security using the terminology of food sovereignty and biodiversity, tying these concepts to the empowerment of women, local communities, and “eaters.”

scholarly journals ASSESSMENT OF THE PERFORMANCE OF NATIONAL SPECIAL PROGRAMME FOR FOOD SECURITY IN NIGER STATE, NIGERIA

2021 ◽  
pp. 220-229
Author(s):  
Atteh A.P
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Sampling Technique ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Agricultural Science ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Performance Indices ◽  
Special Programme ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Primary Groups

The study assessed the performance of the National Special Programme for Food Security (NSPFS) in Niger State, Nigeria. A total of 180 respondents were selected using multistage sampling technique. The project sites were chosen purposively comprising of all the nine sites of NSPFS in Niger State, namely; Nassarawa, Batavovogi, Lenfa-Bororo, Gidan-Mangoro, Garam, Mankangara, Lioji, Kaboji and Shambo. The respondents were selected proportionately based on each site’s activities. Data collection lasted from 15th February, 2013 to 31st August, 2013. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as percentages and means, frequency distribution, performance indices computation. The results of the analysis showed that, the mean age of the beneficiaries was 47.82 years, farming experience was 30 years. The mean age for non-beneficiaries was 43.59 years, farming experience was 25 years. The results of the analysis further indicated that there was high performance in the following components: existing primary groups (100%), amount of money in the account (100%), existing modules in the site (73.53%), and loan disbursement (99.30%), based on the performance indices. Crop enterprises recorded low performance (63.61%). The study concluded that the performance of the NSPFS was high in the following components: number of primary groups existing, apex amount of money in the account, existing modules in the site, and grouping based on gender for easy accessibility, loan disbursement and farm animal enterprises. It was recommended that the NSPFS should focus more attention on mechanization, storage facilities, agro-processing, marketing, small scale irrigation, and infrastructure, because it will help the benefitting famers to actualize their pre-determined goals, it will also improve their well-being. KEYWORDS: Food, Security, Food Security, Agricultural Science

scholarly journals Soybean versus other food grain legumes: A critical appraisal of the United Nations International Year of Pulses 2016

2016 ◽  
Vol 71 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johann Vollmann
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Seed Protein ◽  
Grain Legumes ◽  
Crop Species ◽  
Food Legumes ◽  
Protein Properties ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Food Grain ◽  
Agronomic Features

SummaryThe United Nations have declared 2016 as the International Year of Pulses, which aims at communicating the various benefits of legume cropping and legume-protein-based food consumption. As the term “pulses” is inherently excluding soybean from other grain legumes, this review aims at challenging the scientific justification of this separation from both historical and crop science perspectives toward a better understanding of grain legumes and their contributions to food security. An analysis of the historical development and uses of the term “pulses” reveals that it is not used unambiguously throughout the recent scientific literature, and that the separation of soybean from other grain legumes occurred rather recently. Soybean, while being extensively used as an oilseed and animal feedstuff in some parts of the world, is an important protein crop species in other regions with a seed protein content of 40% and outstanding nutritional and food health properties as compared to most other grain legumes. Owing to similar agronomic features such as symbiotic nitrogen fixation and comparable seed protein properties, it does not seem scientifically justified to separate soybean from other food legumes. Therefore, focusing on “grain legumes” rather than “pulses” would better support food security and nutritional quality goals.

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