ABSTRACT
So what is food security? At its very basic, food security deals with the notion that everyone has enough food to eat, not just today but every day. However as is discovered later, there is ample food being produced annually, so surely the simplest solution would be to just hand out the surplus food to those in need; would it not be? Well, in fact, in emergency situations, this is in essence what actually happens; therefore, it is a necessary and valuable tool short-term measure in such circumstances. Unfortunately, in non-emergency situations, only limited assistance is given and this is where things become problematical. There are several issues involved here, and a brief glimpse is given in the following discussion. There are economic issues concerned with the effects of introducing free or subsidised food into the local markets that could adversely affect local trading conditions and prices. Such action could destabilise the local markets and have knock-on effects on local livelihoods and future production, further aggravating a delicate or unstable situation. There are also policy considerations where if this practice were a regular occurrence, domestic governance might be tempted to cede responsibility to the international community, or perhaps more likely, the local community would come to depend on such handouts, reducing motivation to fend for themselves. This is particularly important as the prevailing development paradigm is not about handouts rather it is about empowering people and nations with the tools to provide for themselves. Other reasons too are discussed later however, suffice to say that long-term free or subsidised food in non-emergency situations is clearly not a solution.
