Factors affecting food security

Students should be able to describe some of the biological factors affecting levels of food security.

Food security is having enough food to feed a population.

Biological factors which are threatening food security include:

• the increasing birth rate has threatened food security in some countries
• changing diets in developed countries means scarce food resources are transported around the world
• new pests and pathogens that affect farming
• environmental changes that affect food production, such as widespread famine occurring in some countries if rains fail
• the cost of agricultural inputs
• conflicts that have arisen in some parts of the world which affect the availability of water for food.

Sustainable methods must be found to feed all people on Earth.

WS 1.4 Interpret population and food production statistics to evaluate food security.