Food security as basis for evaluating agricultural food production systems
2023
Wagan, A.M. | Pangga, G.V. | Aguas, A.P. | Paragas, A.
Food security is a major concern today because of the anticipated adversities of global environmental change. It is defined today globally as availability of safe and nutritious food that can be accessed by all at all times. This provides four major concerns of food availability, food access, stability of food supply and utilization of safe and nutritious foods for all. Given this holistic view on food security, it is but appropriate that agricultural food production systems correspond accordingly. This paper aims to discuss a methodology that can be used to evaluate if food production systems are able to address these food security concerns. Major criteria used are food availability, food access, stability of production and food safety. Productivity indicators, spatial and temporal diversity of production are used to measure food availability. Food access is translated as ability to provide income and products are accessible to wide group of consumers. Stability of production pertains to continuous production even in times natural and anthropogenic disturbances. For food safety, production system is evaluated for farming practices that are safe for foods, humans and the environment. Threshold values are provided where applicable. Rating system was devise using the Likert Scale. For easy interpretation and analysis of results, a graphical presentation is used. The methodology was used to evaluate and compare certified organic and conventional farming system. The methodology is able to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the production systems in terms of food security concerns. The methodology is useful for local development planning and extension particularly for determining appropriate agricultural interventions at the farm and community level.
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