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Food Security in Cambodia
Tickner, Vincent
Tickner, Vincent
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dp80.pdf
Adobe PDF, 348.03 KB
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Abstract
"Food security is a comparatively recent term which refers to the sustained supply of appropriate food to everyone in a society to enable their healthy development, without serious disruption to the environment, their livelihoods and their culture. Complete food security is rarely achieved. It is an ideal to be striven for. It needs to be considered at different levels of society: globally, regionally, nationally, locally, as well as at the level of the household and the individual. It also needs to be considered in relation to the types of risks that generate food insecurity and whether they are likely to be temporary, seasonal or chronic. Assessment of food security needs and external agency interventions should consider how individuals, households and local support systems assess their particular food security risks and respond to them. Going beyond earlier definitions of food security in terms of food availability and food accessibility, this broader definition involves a number of aspects: a) The sustained availability of adequate food and a balanced diet to meet the nutritional needs of all the population; b) The individual means to acquire adequate, appropriate food for healthy living on a sustained basis, and the ability to do this without longer-term detriment to individual livelihoods or other basic needs; c) The sufficient education of people as to the nutritional benefit of different available foods and the comparative costs of facilitating alternative appropriate consumption; d) The achievement of the above-mentioned points without serious detriment to the environment, which would prejudice longer-term food security of the society or the ways in which the people in it live and gain their livelihoods; e) The achievement of all the above-mentioned points without causing undue psycho-social stress to the individual or serious weakening of the cohesiveness of the existing social structure, and without severely transgressing the cultural attitudes of the society concerned. Most national governments are concerned not only with the food security of individuals or households but also with national food security, that is, the extent to which the national food system can function without excessive reliance on external food aid/imports and/or imports of food system inputs. Such dependency could lead to external political and economic pressures that could weaken national independence. This Discussion Paper provides a preliminary assessment of how such food security aims are currently being achieved or thwarted in Cambodia. The paper is intended as an introduction to the subject only, and a basis for discussion and ongoing research. Drawing primarily on information from secondary sources and interviews with selected government and agency officials, it attempts to piece together what is known about food security issues and to identify major gaps in knowledge. The paper reviews the current state of food security in Cambodia in the context of the country’s recent development; examines some of the main factors influencing food security; outlines recent agency responses to weaknesses in food security; and identifies some of the major pressures, tensions and priorities regarding Cambodian food security."(pg 1)
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1996-10
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With permission of the license/copyright holder