Ireland, often touted as the food isle, is a major exporter of food and food produced here can feed up to 40 million people — we are the third largest exporter of butter globally and the fifth largest exporter of beef, staggering statistics for a small country.
This might lead us to believe that as a nation we are self-sufficient and need not worry about food security, however, we are net importers of many of our most consumed foods.
Chicken is the most consumed meat in Ireland and over 20% of it is imported while more than 80% of fruit and vegetables are imported and a considerable proportion of our prepared consumer foods come from abroad.
Furthermore, we are only 36% self-sufficient in the animal feed we use for beef and dairy production, although this excludes grass, the primary foodstuff.
We live in a globalised world and as a small, open economy these statistics should not alarm us. However, it does mean we are vulnerable to the volatility of global food markets.
Food security, defined by the World Bank as “all people, at all times, having physical and economic access to sufficient safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life”, is emerging as a concern not just in developing countries but also across developed economies, as a greater number of individuals fall into risk of food poverty.
Against the backdrop of an inflationary environment, global food prices increased by almost 30% between the start of 2021 and mid-2023.
Such was the concern regarding high food prices, that some governments in the EU, such as Croatia and Hungary, intervened in food markets by using legislation to limit food price increases, while governments in France and Ireland issued stark warnings to food industry executives regarding high prices.
In a developing country context, these issues are a matter of life or death. Despite significant progress in tackling hunger in recent years — the proportion of undernourished people globally has reduced from 23% to 13% since 2000 — the number at risk of starvation has sadly started to increase once again.
The World Food Programme estimates the number of people facing acute levels of food insecurity has doubled since 2020.
The global food security index, which captures measures of food availability, affordability, safety and sustainability impact, ranks Ireland as the second most food secure country in the world. The index shows improved rates globally from 2012 to 2019 but a downward trend since 2020.
The recent crisis is one of affordability rather than availability.
As the price of energy and fertiliser escalated following the war in Ukraine in 2021 and 2022, food exports from Europe did not decline, but they did rapidly increase in price, moving affordable food beyond the reach of many.
So, what are the factors compromising global food security?
First, the global food supply chain is long and complex, designed to operate efficiently in a just-in-time manner to bring low-cost food to a vast and varied market.
During covid, however, it became apparent that a single point of failure in the chain, a delay in transportation or a labour shortage can ripple and multiply throughout the supply chain globally.
Although we are now four years out of covid, new challenges are testing the resilience of our food supply chains. Geo-political risk, for example pirate attacks in the Red Sea, a major maritime gateway, has led to a re-directing of shipping routes, adding time and cost to supply chains.
Another major shipping route, the Panama Canal, is hampered due to drought, again forcing transporters to longer more expensive routes.
The second factor is geo-political instability. The invasion of Ukraine by Russia led to an almost 60% increase in energy prices, a quadrupling of fertiliser prices and a 70% increase in cereal prices, affecting affordable access to food across the world.
The ongoing conflict in Israel and Palestine is impacting food supply into Palestine and famine is now imminent in Northern Gaza.
Furthermore, Israel is a major global exporter of fruit and vegetables, and if trade is disrupted this will contribute further to global food market volatility.
Third, climate change is disrupting food supply through more frequent extreme weather events.
For example, the late frost in the Mediterranean in 2023 combined with the increased cost of powering greenhouses in the Netherlands led to a shortage of fruit and salad vegetables across western Europe.
The warming of the world is shrinking the regions of the world that are fertile and can feasibly produce food and, sadly, these are the regions projected to have the greatest population growth and so their ability to feed themselves will be further hindered.
So how do we overcome the factors affecting food security?
Tackling food waste needs to be a priority. The world produces enough food to provide every citizen with a balanced diet, yet over one-third of people go hungry as 30% of all the food produced is wasted by the consumer or lost in the supply chain.
Targeted education of consumers is required, scientific solutions to extend shelf-life and improve packaging can help, greater circularity in the supply chain by minimising the loss of food stuffs and by-products can all help.
We need to focus on sustainable intensification, inefficient production methods — a lack of education and capital for investment mean agricultural yields are far less than should be possible in many parts of the world. Closing the productivity gap while focusing on crop rotation and the use of sustainable production methods can improve self-sufficiency in many nations.
The World Trade Organization aims to promote free trade and minimise the cost trade, which is so important for developing countries wishing to advance their agricultural economies and those relying on imported food for survival. Sound and stable political systems that will embrace free trade, while difficult to ensure, are critical to global food security.
Finally, tackling climate change is essential. Investment in adaptation strategies and technologies which allow farmers to better cope with extreme weather events is crucial, especially in the parts of the world worst affected by climate change.
More importantly, policies, practices and technologies must be developed to limit the contribution of agriculture to climate change and to halt the pace of global warming.
However, it is crucial these policies do not dampen global food supply and lead to the unintended consequence of greater food insecurity.
