World’s Food Security: A Sociological Understanding

In the current world, there is the ominous clang of weapons, the unhealthy and inconclusive competition of trade, and above all, the war to establish influence through a show of power in any way, on one hand. On the other hand, there is the cry of hungry people, the shame of not being able to feed their children, and the guilt of being unable to live a subhuman life. In weapons, trade, or in the show of power, there is sound, there is noise, but the power of the sound does not rise in the same way in crying; shame and guilt weaken this sound even more. There is discussion about sound or noise; no one wants to talk about silent issues unless they absolutely fall into pressure.

These words have to be said remembering World Food Day. Food has a unique place among human rights.

First, let's see what we mean by the concept, food security. The World Food Conference in 1996 defined food security as “when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food choices for an active and healthy life.” Since 2015, the concept of food security has focused mainly on food calories rather than food quality and nutrition. Again, in 1974, more emphasis was placed on food supply in the definition of food security. The opposite situation is food insecurity. There are many causes of food insecurity. The most important causes are considered to be high food prices and disruption of global food supply due to war. There are also climate change, water scarcity, land degradation, agricultural diseases, epidemics and disease outbreaks, which can lead to food insecurity. The effects of food insecurity include hunger and even famine. Chronic food insecurity leads to high levels of hunger and famine. Chronic hunger and malnutrition in childhood can stunt children's growth.

The implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) under the direct supervision of the United Nations since 2015 has been progressing under the direct supervision of the United Nations in order to build a peaceful world that is livable for all people by ensuring balanced development. The United Nations has set 17 specific goals worldwide and has given instructions to various nations to implement them. The second of these goals is concerned with food security, which is titled, ‘End hunger, achieve food security and improve nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture’. This goal includes ending hunger for all by 2030, with a priority for the poor, women and children living in vulnerable environments, and making food production and agriculture systems sustainable for that purpose.

Bangladesh is one of the countries that have signed up to the implementation of the ongoing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Earlier, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were implemented at the initiative of the United Nations. Although Bangladesh’s achievements in the MDGs are commendable, that continuity has not been maintained in the SDGs. We will now see what is Bangladesh’s position in the SDGs, especially in reducing hunger? At the same time, what is the state of hunger and food situation in developed countries like the United States, some countries in Africa known as low-income countries, and the whole world?

Bangladesh
In October last year, the Global Hunger Index (GHI), highlighting the position of 127 countries, including Bangladesh, in terms of hunger and food, published a report. The organization determines the position of countries based on four criteria: malnutrition, underweight for height in children under five years of age, under height for weight in children under five years of age, and child mortality rate. Bangladesh ranks 84th out of 127 countries. 11.9% of the total population of Bangladesh is malnourished; due to this, 2.9% of children die within five years of birth and 23.6% of children's normal growth is disrupted.

According to the United Nations Sustainable Development Report in 2024, Bangladesh ranks 107th out of 167 countries in achieving the SDG goals. The previous year, it was 101st out of 166 countries and 104th out of 163 countries in 2022. Citing this United Nations report, the General Economics Department of the Planning Commission of Bangladesh has prepared a report titled ÔSustainable Development Goals: Achievements and Challenges of Bangladesh’. It is said here that Bangladesh has scored 64.35 out of a total score of 100 in achieving the SDGs. Of the 169 targets set in the SDGs, Bangladesh is on track to achieve only 29.7% of the targets. The situation for achieving the rest is not satisfactory. In addition, the government had mapped out an SDG by distributing work among various ministries and departments to accelerate the achievement of the SDGs. But reports on that responsibility are not regularly available from all ministries/ departments. Therefore, it is difficult to get a clear idea of how far a ministry is ahead or behind in fulfilling its assigned responsibilities.

United States
According to a 2024 United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) study, the prevalence of food insecurity in the United States was 11.1% between 2016 and 2021; in the world's largest food producer, nearly one in six people is Ôfood insecure’, including 17 million children. A 2012 study in the Journal of Applied Research on Children found that rates of food insecurity varied significantly by race, class, and education. Among kindergarten and third-grade students, only 5% of white children were food insecure, compared with 12% of black children and 15% of Hispanic children.

Africa
The hunger situation on the African continent is becoming increasingly dire. In 2023, nearly 300 million people were undernourished. This number rose to 306 million in 2024. The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) described the situation in five African countries as Ôcatastrophic’; the countries are Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The situation is also similar in Angola and Mozambique.

Worldwide
In 2023, 28.9% of the world’s population (2.33 billion people) suffered from moderate or severe food insecurity, meaning they did not have regular access to enough food. They ran out of food at some point in the year and, at worst, went without food for a day or more. Globally (except in Oceania), women are more likely to be food insecure than men. This gender gap has widened during the COVID-19 pandemic, with 32% of women globally experiencing moderate or severe food insecurity in 2021, compared to 27.6% of men. A UN report says the number of hungry people in the world is increasing, while aid from rich countries is decreasing. The money the UN can raise will not reach 117 million of the 307 million people it wants in 2025. In 2024, it was only able to raise 46% of its target. The same thing happened in 2023.
Food security is not just about satisfying hunger. It is a major indicator of a country’s state tendencies. A country that has food security means that-
·    There is no discrimination in terms of social, political, economic, religious or gender perspectives
·    There is always a free state of social mobility
·    The active presence of scientific social stratification is ensured here
·    There is an independent and natural continuity of politics and history
·    There is a system of transparency and accountability in all organs of the country
·    There is a reasonable income gap criterion
·    There is no place for individual interests, group interests, etc. here
·    Social justice is well established here

It is also possible to measure the scale of the described issues. The higher the number of marks a country gets, the more positive the food situation and state trend of that country is. It is necessary to discuss the first four concepts a little. Because they are directly related to the social structure and the last four are mainly dependent on the first four. First, sociality, politics, economy, religion, gender etc. are the basic aspects of the life of every citizen. Society is formed by people of many types of identities such as birth, ideology, profession and belief. This is recognized as a real situation in all countries of the world. In order to ensure the rights of citizens and build a society without discrimination, the first and foremost requirement is to make the human dignity of all groups equal and parallel. Secondly, it is an essential responsibility for any state to ensure that an objective environment for employment of all citizens exists in terms of qualifications and interests. Thirdly, the real character of the state depends on the kind of criteria on which all the people living in the state are stratified. Fourthly, the stability of the political system and keeping the process of history-making active in an independent and normal state upholds the process of nationality. In the long run, it becomes a symbol of the identity of the state.
The United Nations and its related organs are constantly working on the responsibility of preventing hunger of the fallen and deprived people and are informing the world about it at different times. This is certainly their achievement. But in this regard, I have a question. Has the United Nations ever drawn any picture of the social structural obstacles described above? In other words, it is not possible to bring people out of the vicious cycle of hunger without a clear explanation and analysis of what factors are active in the social systems of countries trapped in the hunger trap, why hunger has not been eradicated for ages, whether there is any influence of external forces in these countries, whether so many types of humanitarian aid and assistance have been unable to determine a sustainable way, and what is the historical and socioeconomic background of hunger in a country or nation. It does not seem that the problem will be solved by simply pointing to external factors such as food price increases, war, climate change, etc. as the cause.

For this, we have to go deep into the social structure. We have to understand the role or tendency of entrepreneurs in combating hunger along with the hunger-stricken societies. In the picture we get of the hunger situation in the United States and the world, we observe the actions and reactions of psycho-social factors rather than the economic factors. Such research is urgently needed to build a hunger-free world.


Babul Chandra Sutradhar
is a human rights activist
and a researcher.