FOOD SAFETY AND SECURITY

Food Safety and Security

Abstract

Food security is a worldwide problem that has called the attention to Governments and the scientific community. It particularly affects developing countries. The scientific community has had increasing concerns for strategic understanding and implementation of food security policies in developing countries, especially since the food crisis in the 70s. The process of decision-making is becoming increasingly complex due to the interaction of multiple dimensions related to food security. This research explores the food security process from a national approach for developing countries through the study of its three main components: availability of food, access, and the stability of food security. It is based on a systemic perspective through the use of systems dynamics as means of understanding the complexity of this phenomenon as well as the (interrelation) linkage and interdependency of its factors. The study empower the planners of local regions in the decision making process, to foresee future threats, to alleviate partly the scarcity of food and to handle the mismanagement of food resources.

Table of Contents

Chapter - I4

Introduction4

Proposed Research Topic4

Background of the Study4

Research Questions5

Scope of the Study6

Chapter - II8

Literature Review8

Contextualizing8

Approaches to Food Security9

Food Security and Biotechnology10

System Dynamics12

Chapter - III14

Methodology14

Limitations of the Study15

References16

Chapter - I

Introduction

Proposed Research Topic

Food security process from a national approach for developing countries.

Background of the Study

Since the World Food Conference in 1974, due to food crises and major famines in the world, the term Food Security (FS) was introduced, evolved, developed and diversified by the academic community and politics. Around two hundred definitions of the term have been deployed (Smith et al., 1992) considering the problem of FS from original view points. The diversity of these visions indicates that intervention in the existing system is not a simple matter. The high complexity in a country's FS is due to several factors, including the lack of tools or methodologies capable of assessing the effects of long-term policies in the system, actors failures in playing proper roles in the system thus acting under different influences and pressure, the lack of a holistic system model to facilitate intervention and understanding of the system (Saeed, 1994), the high causality between different contexts in a country such as the socio-economic, political and environmental development, performance of the food economy and practices related to the health sector. Policy makers tend to make decisions supported by models from which potential effects, trends and behavioral policies emerge.

Research Questions

The purpose of this study is to study food security from a national level viewpoint through modeling within system dynamics, and the analysis of its key components such as food availability, access to food resources and stability of food security in a country with the aim to supporting plans, programs and food security strategies.

Would evaluation of public policies in the sector, and its long-term effects, facilitate the understanding of this phenomenon from a systemic formulation?

What lessons can be drawn from existing approaches for future methodological developments?

How serious would the behavior of the system be if there exists an identification and effective coordination of ...