ABSTRACT

For myself, one of the most striking observations I regularly encounter in the field of food security knowledge is the sheer short-sightedness of those claiming to further the cause. In particular, I refer to the origins and evolvement of the concept in both general and specific terms. The myth that the modern notion of food security is a relatively new phenomenon is one that continues to be perpetuated at the highest levels. In fact, it is staggering just how widespread this misconception is. This has worrying implications, not least of which is the notion that past lessons have not been learned or debated, let alone heeded. Examples are abundant and while many believe the first official reference to world food security was in Resolution XVII of the UN’s ‘International Undertaking on World Food Security’ at the World Food Conference in 1974, others firmly believe the actual concept itself also originated from this time (UN 1975; Maxwell and Frankenberger 1992; Maxwell and Smith 1992; Padilla 1997; FAO 2003a; Nehme 2004; FAO 2006; World Bank 2008; Forge 2009; IFAD 2009b; Lutz et al. 2010; SDC/ GPFS 2010; Tefera 2010; Yu et al. 2010; OCHA 2011). This list of references is nowhere near exhaustive; instead it represents just a cross-section of numerous people and multilateral bodies of global reach who still believe to this day in the relative infancy of the concept. I would indeed go as far as to say the idea that food security emerged fully formed as a concept in the mid-1970s is frankly laughable were it not for the pervasiveness of its many believers. Instead, research for this book has revealed a different more illuminating heritage. So where did this modern notion of food security, stripped of all its accumulated baggage and in its narrowest definition, originate? Did the idea emerge fully formed? Was it an accumulative process or has as it evolved out of something else? If not, what of its direct antecedents? In answer, there are two ways of looking at this: aetiology, the origin of the idea; and etymology, the origin of the term. Both are looked at here.