Definition of Food Security

Food security is a complex issue and its definition has evolved over a period of time. The question of food security has various dimensions that go beyond production, availability and demand for food. The initial focus on food security as a global concern was on the volume and stability of food supplies. In the 1974 World Food Summit, food security was defined as ‘availability at all times of adequate world food supplies of basic foodstuffs to sustain a steady expansion of food consumption and to offset fluctuations in production and prices’. In 1983, Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) expanded its concept to include vulnerable people securing access to available supplies, stating that food security means ‘ensuring that all people at all times have both physical and economic access to the basic food that they need’. Later, the 1996 World Food Summit redefined food security to take demand, vulnerability and nutritional aspects into account. At the summit, the countries agreed that ‘food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy lifestyle’. In 2002, an FAO Expert Consultation on food security gave a working definition of food security as ‘food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food which meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life’.