Food Security and Reasons Why LDCs Are Food-Deficit Countries

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Food Security and Reasons Why LDCs Are Food-Deficit Countries
Food security entails the availability of adequate, nutritious, sufficient, and safe food that enable people to maintain their health and have active lives. In particular, food security comprises of three primary elements, namely availability, access, and utilization. Food availability means that individuals in a specific country have sufficient and consistent food quantities. Moreover, it means that the nation can bring food from other places via aid or trade. Food access implies that people can get an adequate amount of food through gifts, aid, borrowing, home production, and purchase. Food utilization shows that meals have a positive nutritional value on people. The methods of storage and cooking must be hygienic to avoid disease outbreak due to poor sanitation. Almost all least developed countries (LDCs) face the problem of food insecurity, and they are considered as food-deficit nations.
Due to food insecurity in LDCs, the prevalence of underweight children is high. Indeed, underweight young people are considered to be those below the age of 5 years. These children are approximately 2 kilograms (kg) below the standard weight for those aged one year, 3kg for those between two and three years, and 4kg for the ones aged four to five years. From 2000-2008, African LDCs had a 25.9% prevalence of underweight children. The top five African LDCs with a high prevalence of underweight young people, in the same period, include Niger with 39.9%, Burkina Faso with 37.6%, Madagascar with 36.8%, Burundi with 35.2%, and Ethiopia with 34.6% (Lecture 7b 26). Consequently, many people in these countries do not have access to sufficient and nutritious meals.
Almost all LDCs are food-deficit nations due to various reasons. First, many individuals in these countries do not have s...