Food shortage in Mexico
Food security has been a constant concern in the world since the mid -twentieth century, when in the postwar period the main world leaders openly expressed the importance of this issue in the political agenda, due to the hunger triggered by World World War II, especially in Europe. This interest materialized in the realization of the United Nations Conference on Agriculture and Food, as well as in the creation of the United Nations Agriculture and Food Organization (FAO), in Octoberof 1945.
Ramos-Crespo and González, agree that the concern for food security is born just after World War II in Europe, against hunger triggered by this great conflict. In the mid-1970s (1972-74) in the midst of a food crisis caused by a decrease in world production and reserves, the uncertainty that a global food shortage of food was extended. Given this international concern, in 1974, the first World Food Summit was summoned, made by FAO, where the existing situation is analyzed, but only from the point of view of the production and supply of food worldwideand within each nation.
For the decade of the 1980s, the concept of food security travels from a macro vision to a micro analysis of vulnerability, depending on the "ownership or rights", as demonstrated by the Nobel Prize in Economics Amartya Sen in his work "Povertyand famine: an essay on law and deprivation ”, where he postulates that hunger is not caused by food availability problems, but by the impossibility of access to them. This argument is based on the fact that many famine situations occurred without the existence of a real food deficit worldIndividuals or families have to meet their food needs, the assets they have and the social, cultural and institutional environment.
In this new approach, food policies undergo a change in their conceptualization, since they are oriented towards vulnerable groups, creating specific programs to deal with the food situation of these sectors and thereby improve their quality of life. For its part, Arenas adds that, in the last two decades, food and nutritiondeveloping.
Food and nutritional security management is a determining aspect of socio-economic development and presents considerable complexity, since a multitude of factors intervene: environmental, economic, political, cultural, technological, legal-legal, as well as the social and institutional fabric.
FAO agrees that many factors affect the condition of food security: agricultural production, trade, income, food quality, quality of sanitation services, governance and political stability, among others. Therefore, the search for food security can be the conductive thread that articulate the different challenges that face and help in the construction of a sustainable future.
This is how the concept of food and nutrition. In addition, it can be analyzed on various scales (international, national and local), which increases its approach complexity. This conceptualization supports the four dimensions of the San, which resume many countries (including Mexico) and that Coneval defines as follows.
- Food availability: It is the first link in the San chain, it refers to food production and transformation. This dimension is based on the existence of different food products throughout the year and in hygienic conditions.
- Access: both physical access is considered, related to the conditions of supply and demand of the consumer, which in turn is based on the geographical regions of the country;such as economic access for the entire population, which depends on family economic income and the cost of each food.
- Stability: It refers to the fact that with a lack of dimension, the state of San will not be adequate, nor will it remain stable and this can lead to a state of sub -healing.
- Use: this dimension focuses on the biological use of food, since being adequate guarantees good nutrition in individuals.
In general, Mexico has resumed the political measures implemented worldwide, guiding in recent decades its food programs to the vulnerable sectors. Despite this, Coneval and Barquera et al. They agree that efforts have not had the efficiency and effectiveness to reduce this problem, since there are still millions of Mexicans who suffer from some level of food insecurity. That is, as Coneval stands out, despite the implementation of social programs in food matters that have been operating for several sexenios in Mexico, currently a fifth of the population does not have access to adequate food.
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