What Makes a Country Food Secure: A Millennial Perspective

Synopsis

This book, "What Makes a Country Food Secure: A Millennial Perspective" by Carlos Alberto Itza, delves into the critical concepts of food security and food sovereignty, especially relevant for small nations. Tracing the evolution of sustenance from a 1500-year perspective, it explores historical contexts, examines international assessment tools like the Global Food Security Index (GFSI) and FAO indicators, and analyzes national strategies. The narrative emphasizes the four pillars of food security—availability, access, utilization, and stability—while introducing and highlighting the crucial importance of food sovereignty, defined as the right of peoples to healthy, culturally appropriate food produced sustainably, and their right to define their own food systems. It distinguishes food sovereignty from food security by stressing local control, ecological sustainability, and social justice, exploring its historical movements and contemporary relevance, including the significance of local knowledge, land rights, and seed sovereignty. The book proposes a revised and expanded set of trackable indicators specifically tailored for small nations, balancing comprehensiveness with practicality, to monitor progress in both food security and sovereignty. These indicators cover aspects from dietary diversity and local production reliance to climate vulnerability, investment in sustainable agriculture, seed saving practices, and citizen participation in food policy. It discusses implementing national monitoring systems, presents case studies of small nations successfully enhancing food sovereignty, and explores the roles of regional cooperation and global partnerships. Ultimately, the book aims to empower policymakers, researchers, and practitioners to build resilient, sovereign food systems, ensuring nourishment and control for future generations in vulnerable nations, concluding with a call to action for achieving both security and sovereignty as fundamental human rights.