Global food security by Oladeji Temitayo.

Roles of farmers in food and nutrition security

Agriculture, food security and nutrition have been in existence for a while, and researches and,
well detailed articles, including journals have been written, covering a large scope of agriculture
affecting food and nutrition. Agriculture serves as a source of food there by creating a direct
link which enables household production transform into consumption. Farmers have more
impact on what they produce due to the fact that food consumption and nutrition is usually
affected by what they produce.
Farmers are seen as the main food producers in developing countries, which leads to an
increase in the flow of food, into the market place. Time past farmers have played a role in
curbing post-harvest losses of nutrient. A reduction in post-harvest leads to an increment in
agricultural income and nutrition, thereby aiding good quality food supply. Post-harvest
activities such as “storage, commercial and in-home processing and preparation can take a toll
on nutrient availability by increasing the usage of nutrient-rich foods and also increasing the
nutrient density of foods consumed by infants, and decreasing nutrient losses from processing
of widely available foods”. Production of food and nutrient is a challenge farmers face and as a
result of this, the international agricultural community decided to pay more attention, in seeing
how farmers achieve sustainable development.
In light of the above, sustainable development is defined as a ‘’development that meets the
needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own
needs’’, all this being done in “socially acceptable, economically efficient and environmentally
friendly manner” (WCED, 2012). Sustainable agriculture can further be defined as a ‘’farming
approach which includes environmentally-friendly method of farming that allows the
production of crops or livestock without causing damage to the farm as an ecosystem, including
effects on soil, water supplies, biodiversity, or other surrounding natural resources’’. According
to the international assessment of agriculture knowledge, science and technology for
development (IAASTD 2009) ‘’there are close linkages between food security and sustainable
agriculture and places farmers at the heart of sustainable food and nutrition security’’.
2. Farmers, gender, food security
For farmers to have real impact on nutrition, it needs to be gender sensitive and oriented. It has
to consider both the role of the men and the women in agricultural sector. Gender analysis will
take into account factors such as women’s roles as agricultural producers and care givers.
Successful and detailed examples and case studies showing impacts of gender-sensitiveness in
curbing hunger and malnutrition are provided in Tripathi et al. (2012). Women play a key role in
food, security, nutrition and health and should henceforth benefit from the intervention since
they already have less access to resources and opportunities at large.
3. Challenges farmers face
i. climate change; a major challenge is understanding how it can be re-designed to suit the food
system to be healthy, sustainable, and more resilient. Climate change can alter the production
of some certain crops most especially in some Africa countries, thereby making it difficult for
farmers to plant, or harvest, which in return reducing food production and livestock. Climate
change is a barrier to actual farm produce, using Africa as a case study, ‘’the impact on crops
will be devastating particularly that most crops in Africa are already grown close to their limits
of thermal tolerance’’ (Conway, 2009). Analyst has It that by 2025 the per capita water
availability will be worsening with an increased water scarcity, stress and vulnerability. By the
end of the century, grain crops (that constitute the major staples) will be most affected with up
to 72% decline in wheat yields and up to 45% yield reductions in maize, rice and soya bean
(Adhikar et al., 2015).
ii. seeds, manure, fertilizers and biocides; seed is a critical and basic input for attaining higher
crop yields and sustained growth in agricultural production. Distribution of assured quality seed
is as critical as production of such seeds. Unfortunately, good quality seeds are out of reach of
the majority farmers, especially small and marginal farmers mainly because of exorbitant prices
of better seeds. A lot of soils have been used for growing of crops for years without caring much
for replenishing. Which has caused the soil to depreciate, leading to low productivity, but can
be tackled with the use of adequate fertilizers and manures.
iii. lack of mechanization; despite the use of mechanization (the use of machines or automatic
devices) in some parts of the country, most of the agricultural operations in other spheres
(countries) are carried on by human hands. These farmers make use of wooden and
conventional tools such as cutlass, hoes, shovels, sickles just to mention a few, which leaves
them with blisters on their hands and other forms of injuries.
iv. Scarcity of capital; agriculture is an important field and it requires capital, for start-up and
sustainability. With the increase, advancement and new introduction of technologies, capital is
needed, because of the role it plays in acquiring most of these materials/ equipment. Farmers
are faced with capital challenge, and without proper funding, seeds, manures, machines, just to
mention a few cannot be acquired which ends up discouraging farmers from venturing deep
into agriculture, thereby reducing the chances of food sustainability.

Conclusion
This paper has highlighted five dimensions of vulnerability confronting farmers and the global
food system; the threat of climate change, gender sensitivity, scarcity of capital, lack of
mechanization, seed, manure and fertilizer. With the above view it is therefore prudent to say
that the world is short of farmers. In conclusion, we need to have a rethink on how farming can
be suitable for farmers in other for this not to pose a major threat to global food security and
sustainability. The empowerment and support of farmers most especially the small-scale farmer
should be a major priority. With an inclusion on the use of good communication tools, as well
as experts in weather forecasting (climate). Orientation of gender sensitive and empowerment
of female farmer should be a priority, since studies have shown that female farmers add more
input in farming (both production and sales). Allocation of funds to farmers by the government
should be brought into consideration, most especially small-scale farmers. With all this put in
place, farming becomes easy. This therefore will lead to the youths (graduates and
undergraduates inclusive) to venture into agriculture thereby increasing the numbers of famers
globally, likewise food production.

References
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