Lecture 1…

FOOD
- Any material which is processed, semi-processed, or raw that is used for
human consumption
- Provides sustenance, nutrients & energy
PILLARS OF FOOD SECURITY

● AVAILABILITY
○ Reliable supply of food of sufficient quantity and quality
○ Determinants:
■ Domestic production
■ Import capacity
■ Food stocks
■ Food aid

● ACCESSIBILITY
○ Having adequate resources (money) to obtain/access appropriate
food
○ Determinants:
■ Purchasing power
■ Income of population
■ Transport
■ Market infrastructure
○ Involves the following three (3) factors:

● UTILIZATION
○ Adequate dietary intake and ability to use nutrients in the body
○ Determinants:
■ Food safety
■ Hygiene
■ Manufacturing practices

● STABILITY
○ Permanent and durable access to food
○ Determinants:
■ Weather variability
■ Price fluctuations
■ Political and economic factors
HOW DOES URBANIZATION AFFECT THESE PILLARS?

Lecture 2…

PERIODS OF FOOD INSECURITY

NUTRITION
- Is the study of nutrients in food, how the body uses them, and the
relationship between diet, health, and disease
- Focuses on how diseases, conditions, and problems can be prevented or
reduced with a healthy diet
- Critical part of one’s health and development
- Better nutrition is often associated with many positive effects such as:
● Improved infant, child, and maternal health
● Stronger immune systems
● Safer pregnancy and childbirth
● Lower risk of non-communicable diseases

MALNUTRITION
- Caused by deficiencies, excesses or imbalances in a one’s intake of energy
and/or nutrients
- Is identified by three (3) conditions in one’s well being:
● UNDERNUTRITION / UNDERNOURISHMENT
- Occurs when an individual is not able to acquire enough food
to meet the daily minimum dietary energy requirements
- Has a period of one (1) year
- Measured by Prevalence of Undernourishment (PoU)
- Estimated percentage (%) of a population where one’s
habitual food consumption is insufficient to provide the
required dietary energy levels (population% w/ undernutrition)
- Has three (3) types:
● WASTING (Acute Malnutrition)
○ Low weight for height
○ Acute Malnutrition:
■ Severe (16 million children)
■ Moderate (34 million children)
● STUNTING (Chronic Malnutrition)
○ Low height for age
○ Children having an insufficient balance of nutrients
in the first 1000 days of life (2 years)
■ Leads to irreversible stunting of their
cognitive and physical development
● UNDERWEIGHT
○ Low weight for age
○ Has elements of both WASTING AND STUNTING
○ Often used as an indicator in programs aiming to
treat and prevent malnutrition in children
■ Uses the Body Mass Index (BMI)
● MICRONUTRIENT-RELATED
○ Micronutrient Deficiencies
■ Lack of important vitamins and minerals
■ Common micronutrient deficiencies:
● Iron/Vitamin B12 (Anemia and/or Iron Deficiency)
● Vitamin A (Vision loss and/or Night blindness)
● Zinc (Problems in bodily systems)
○ Micronutrient Excess
■ Vitamins & minerals exceeds the recommended intake
○ Three (3) methods have been identified to prevent these issues:
■ Supplementation (Pills)
■ Food fortification (Micronutrients in post-processing stage)
■ Biofortification (Micronutrients in initial planting stage)

● OVERNUTRITION
○ Involves obesity & diet-related non-communicable diseases
which may include the following:
■ Heart disease, stroke, diabetes and some cancers
○ Three (3) methods have been identified to prevent these issues:
■ Limit energy intake from total fats and sugars
■ Increase consumption of fruits and vegetables
■ Practice regular physical activity
○ What is the difference between being Overweight and Obese?
PREVENTIVE SYSTEMS ON FOOD SECURITY

Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES)

- Measures food security for the ff. purposes:
1. To assess the population prevalence of food insecurity
2. To identify vulnerable populations
3. To guide and monitor the effects of food security policies and
programs
4. To identify risk factors and consequences of food insecurity
- Based on three (3) domains:
a. Uncertainty/anxiety
b. Changes in food quality
c. Changes in food quantity
- Does NOT consider/assess food consumption and dietary quality

Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC)

- Describes the severity of food emergencies
- Aims to build technical consensus among key stakeholders based on data
● Stakeholders involves the population that is being affected
- Used as basis for resource allocation and immediate actions to prevent or
decrease food insecurity
Lecture 3…

HUNGER
- When one experiences an uncomfortable or painful feeling caused by
insufficient consumption of dietary energy
- Also known as “Food Deprivation”
- Its duration varies depending on a given situation:
- Temporary; one may not be having enough food to eat for a meal/day
- Enduring/Persistent; one does not get enough food to maintain their
physical needs over a long period of time

GLOBAL HUNGER INDEX (GHI)

- A tool that measures and tracks hunger globally, nationally, and regionally
- Importance:
● Raises awareness and understanding of the struggle against hunger
● Provides a way to compare levels of hunger between countries and
regions
● Call for attention in the world where hunger levels are highest and
where the need to eliminate hunger is greatest
- The index’s scores are as follows:
● Targeted Direct Feeding Programs
● Food-for-Work Programs
● Income-Transfer Programs
Lecture 4…

PLANT PATHOLOGY
- Scientific study of diseases in plants which is caused by pathogens and other
environmental conditions
- Aims to prevent diseases on economically important plants
- Scope of Responsibilities:
● Survey data
● Record new plant diseases
● Assess losses caused by plant diseases
● Study of plant diseases
● Find new methods of managing plant diseases
● Assist in the breeding of diseases-resistant plant varieties
● Train extension workers and pathologists to bridge the gap between
them for better crop protection
- Focus of Plant Pathology:
● Causes of Plant Diseases
● Mechanisms of Plant Diseases
● Interactions Between Plant Diseases and Plants
● Controlling and Management of Plant Diseases
PRINCIPLES OF PLANT PATHOLOGY

1. Disease is a malfunction of a plant, caused by a continuous irritance from

a plant pathogen. These pathogens are identified into two(2) types:

2. Disease results from an interaction of the following factors seen in the

Disease Triangle shown below:

3. Conditions which favor growth and health commonly also favor disease.
4. Overwatering & underwatering plants both exacerbate disease.
5. Plant disease management & strategies which include the ff.:
a. Cultural Practices
b. Epidemiology
c. Resistant varieties
d. Chemical pesticides
e. Biological control
6. A major approach to disease control is inoculum reduction.
- Inoculum is any pathogen’s part that can cause infection
7. Epidemics of introduced/invasive species are more severe than
epidemics of endemic/native species.
8. Quarantine is often the best method for combating disease.
DEFENSIVE MECHANISMS OF PLANTS