Tomorrow's hunger: a framework for analysing vulnerability to food insecurity

While traditional food security analysis offers an ex post view on who the food insecure are and why they are so, looking at food insecurity from a vulnerability perspective provides a dynamic and forward-looking way of analysing causes and, more importantly, options for reducing food insecurity. This approach can help improve policy responses to food insecurity. The paper seeks to expand a standard food security analytical framework by including risks and the ability to manage these at different levels in order to reduce the probability of people being food insecure in the future. It looks at how different shocks can impact availability, access and utilization and, uses a twin-track approach to identify policy options for reducing vulnerability

Food Prices and Food Security in Trinidad and Tobago

The economy of Trinidad and Tobago is booming, in particular as a consequence of increased energy production and the historical high oil prices. Whilst general inflation has remained relatively low for much of the present economic boom, substantial increases in retail food prices have been observed, in particular since 2005. This paper looks at the development of retail food prices, its causes, the potential impact thereof in terms of food security and possible policy options for addressing this. It concludes that whilst households with low income are the groups most affected by the food price increases and will continue to be so in the wake of increasing international prices, it is unlikely that the price increases in isolation will throw off Trinidad and Tobago’s path towards meeting the MDG 1 hunger target and bringing the share of undernourished people down to 6.5% by 2015. However, food security problems will remain, in particular related to overweight and obesity caused by unbalanced diets. Analysing the food marketing systems according to domestic production system (export versus domestic consumption), product type (fresh versus frozen and processed) and origins (imported versus domestic), the paper identifies potential causes of price increases. These include increases in price margins, international price changes and market conditions that vary greatly for different commodities, ranging from competitive to oligopolistic. Finally, the paper identifies areas of potential interventions related to direct price interventions, social protection, agricultural investment and trade facilitation.food security, inflation, price, vulnerability, Trinidad and Tobago, markets.

Biggin' it up ' food security and obesity in Jamaica and St Lucia

This paper explores two different aspects of food security, namely undernourishment and overweight in the two Caribbean Islands of Jamaica and St. Lucia. The analysis draws on household surveys conducted in late 2006 and early 2007 among 729 St. Lucian and 1009 Jamaican households. Combining qualitative and quantitative methods, the paper focuses on the main vulnerable livelihoods on the two islands, including subsistent farmers and farm labourers, city dwellers, hotel workers and fisher folks. Exposure to risk is an important determinant of food insecurity. Shocks of relevance to vulnerable groups in the two islands include both household specific shocks such of illness, but more importantly also community level shocks such as natural disasters in form of droughts, storms and floods. Natural disasters are of particular importance to these livelihoods and changes in the frequency and severity of such shocks, e.g. as a consequence of changing climate may lead to increased food insecurity. At the same time, it is generally acknowledged that the food systems and the very nature of the food security problem in the Caribbean countries are gradually changing, with food availability becoming less of an issue in most of the region. Instead, energy intensive and unbalanced diets leading to overweight and obesity is increasingly becoming the key food security challenge, even so among households considered vulnerable of becoming food insecure. This is confirmed by the study, looking at anthropometric data collected from the participating households

Food prices and food security in Trinidad and Tobago

The economy of Trinidad and Tobago is booming, in particular as a consequence of increased energy production and the historical high oil prices. Whilst general inflation has remained relatively low for much of the present economic boom, substantial increases in retail food prices have been observed, in particular since 2005. This paper looks at the development of retail food prices, its causes, the potential impact thereof in terms of food security and possible policy options for addressing this. It concludes that whilst households with low income are the groups most affected by the food price increases and will continue to be so in the wake of increasing international prices, it is unlikely that the price increases in isolation will throw off Trinidad and Tobago's path towards meeting the MDG 1 hunger target and bringing the share of undernourished people down to 6.5% by 2015. However, food security problems will remain, in particular related to overweight and obesity caused by unbalanced diets. Analysing the food marketing systems according to domestic production system (export versus domestic consumption), product type (fresh versus frozen and processed) and origins (imported versus domestic), the paper identifies potential causes of price increases. These include increases in price margins, international price changes and market conditions that vary greatly for different commodities, ranging from competitive to oligopolistic. Finally, the paper identifies areas of potential interventions related to direct price interventions, social protection, agricultural investment and trade facilitation

Understanding Vulnerability to Food Insecurity Lessons from Vulnerable Livelihood Profiling

The Food Security and Agricultural Projects Analysis Unit (ESAF) of FAO has undertaken a number of pilot studies to develop a methodology for understanding why certain groups of people are vulnerable to becoming food insecure. The studies use the sustainable livelihoods approach adopted for food security analysis and are primarily based on qualitative information collection. The objective of these studies is to inform policy and programming decisions for reducing vulnerability to food insecurity. Drawing from these experiences and those of other FAO units involved in similar work, this paper identifies key lessons learnt and makes recommendations for strengthening future work on food security and vulnerability analysis.Data analysis, Data collection, Decision making, Development policies, Economic analysis, FAO, Food security, Home economics, Poverty, Rural development, Social groups