Food Security and Nutrition: The Global Challenge
Uwe Kracht and Manfred Schultz, eds. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1999.

Reviewed by K. Ravi Srinivas, Madurai, India.

    It is a painful paradox that while there is enough food to feed every mouth in the world, it is estimated that hunger and malnutrition affect about 1.2 billion people.

    This volume is a collection of essays on various aspects relating to food production, food policy, nutrition, technologies, and food security. Articles in the first part deal with food security, population growth and food production, world food projections, food scarcity, and the food situation in Africa. In the second part, empirical studies from various countries are provided.  Articles in the third part discuss strategies to deal with and to eliminate hunger and malnutrition.  The fourth part of the volume examines the international institutional framework of food security. A final article provides a synthesis and conclusion.
 Four years after the Global Food Summit in 1996, universal food security remains a distant dream and the East Asia economic turndown in 1997 left millions impoverished and vulnerable. Groups, such as Food First, have argued that right to food should be taken seriously by all governments. Still food issues are often viewed in terms of production, consumption, and distribution rather than in terms of access and rights. As the case studies in this volume show, solutions sensitive to local contexts and realities are needed. The question whether global food production can cope with an increasing global population remains a problem of considerable debate. While some argue for more production (especially through biotechnology applications and an extension of Green Revolution strategies), others lay blame for world hunger on problems of distribution and access, maintaining that there is enough food to feed every mouth in the world.

    A close reading of the articles in this book indicates that there is much to be done at the national and global level to meet the challenge of eliminating hunger.  Hunger and poverty often go hand-in-hand.  Hence, the elimination of poverty is essential for the elimination of hunger.  The question of how to eliminate poverty has elicited various responses, and the recent World Development Report from World Bank acknowledged that markets alone will not bring about the much needed reduction in poverty.

    Unfortunately international food aid and trade policies are often used as political weapons rather than as mechanisms to eliminate hunger and malnutrition.  John Snowâs analysis in this volume, for example, pinpoints the serious flaws in multilateral development cooperation in food security and nutrition.

    Ultimately the solution lies in enabling and empowering the poor and hungry citizens so that they can meet their food needs.  And while science has much to offer, a top-down approach is not the best option.  In fact as it has been shown that there is a strong need for participatory learning, such as innovative breeding programs involving farmers and women. Thus the challenges could be met by the combination of many approaches and action plans that do not contradict each other or negate the effects of another approach.  This, of course, is easier said than done.

    It is in these contexts the essays in the volume are meaningful and relevant. The articles indicate not only what we know, but also debate about the future and the policy dimensions in food security and nutrition.  Not only is hunger and malnutrition a major global problem, but the World Health Organization (WHO) has also warned that obesity is becoming a major problem. Thus, humankind will have to face both the challenges of malnutrition and hunger, as well as obesity that result from unhealthy diets and lifestyles.

    The global trade regime under the World Trade Organization (WTO) rules and regulations that champion trade liberalization is a major factor that must be taken into account in any debate on food policy issues. Whether it is provisioning of subsidies for agriculture or the promotion of agricultural exports, the rules and commitments shape the political economy of hunger.  The environmental implications of liberalization of trade in agricultural products and production is another contentious issue. Yet it is surprising that these have not been given the attention they deserve in the volume.  For example, under the North American Free-Trade Agreement (NAFTA), cheap foreign imports reduced the price of corn in Mexico, and the devaluation of the peso left prices of corn subject to the vagaries of fluctuations in international exchange rates. One of the long-term impacts of NAFTA is likely to be the collapse of corn production along with other basic food crops.

    In closing, it is unfortunate that the editors did not include articles on trade, agriculture, and developing nations.  Notwithstanding this, the volume offers much food for thought and action.  The sheer diversity of views, issues, and themes discussed in the volume make it a must read for anyone interested in issues relating to food and nutrition, whether one is an interested layperson or a researcher.