Understanding Food Production to Help with Malnutrition

Understanding more about food production can help to address the current challenges that see 2 billion people in the world go malnourished and 1.4 billion are classed as overweight.

A new report from the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations shows that a knowledge different food s and food production methods can help in understanding under nutrition and deficiencies in nutrients in the diet.

The FAO report shows that the cost of malnutrition, through lost productivity and healthcare, could be as high as five per cent of global income.

Other revealing figures are laid out in the group's World Food Day paper which communicates a simple ethos: Healthy People Depend on Healthy Food Systems.

The report explains the importance of eating a ‘variety of foods’ and that this involves a balance of quality and quantity to provide a full range of
nutrients.

Agriculture’s role in providing such a balance is emphasised as part of a three way combination also consisting of health care and sanitation.

Without the right people, processes and environment in place, food systems are not ‘healthy’ and, in the absence of a properly functioning food system, the paper said that medical technologies are often forced to intervene.

At the same time the Save Food campaign has shown that a quarter of the world’s current food loss would be sufficient to feed 870 million starving people while 842 million people are currently still suffering from hunger – about an eighth of the world’s population.

Just 25 per cent of food that is thrown away or spoiled due to faulty storage or transport damage could therefore easily cover the worst food shortages.

Year after year, around 1.3 billion metric tonnes of food are thrown away because they have become spoiled on account of faulty storage or inadequate transport facilities or because they do not satisfy the aesthetic requirements of retailers or consumers.

This is about one third of the total food production. This food accounts for 28 per cent of all the available arable land and 250 cubic kilometres of water per year.