Focus on global food security

ENOUGH food is produced to nourish and feed every person on the planet‚ but despite this nearly a billion people went to bed hungry every day last year.

Patrick Caron‚ chairman of the high-level panel of experts at the UN’s Committee on World Food Security‚ called the situation absolutely unacceptable.

He said it showed the strong link malnutrition and hunger had with poverty and conflict.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Conference on Global Food Security in Cape Town‚ which ended yesterday‚ Caron said scientists were convinced the new knowledge they had produced could be instrumental in shaping and helping policy decisions to be made.

“There is a consciousness of a totally new map of food insecurity and malnutrition,” he said.

“We are very much interested in food supply and the capacity to have enough to nourish all of humanity.

“People have come to exchange ideas and to improve the contribution from science to these challenges.”

Cape Town is playing host to the third edition of the international conference‚ which has seen presentations by Nobel laureates in food security.

More than 600 delegates from 60 countries were at the event to discuss issues related to food security.

The conference concluded with the launch of the Unesco Chair in African Food Systems‚ which has been awarded to Professor Julian May from the University of Western Cape’s Centre for Excellence in Food Security.

May said: “The goal of the chair is to contribute‚ through research‚ training and innovation‚ towards building a sustainable food system across Africa that provides adequate‚ nutritious and safe food to poor and vulnerable populations.

“Gender equality is key due to the role of women throughout the food system. This is both through the production‚ distribution and preparation of food‚ as well as through maternal health [and] the care of children.”

Earlier this year‚ at the National Workshop on School Feeding in South Africa‚ it was revealed that children who did not receive proper nutrition were more likely to develop anxiety‚ suffer from depression and even attempt suicide.

Tristan Gorgens‚ from the policy and strategy unit in the Western Cape government‚ said its research had also found that food security had an effect on crime levels.