It is a major tragedy that millions of people currently live with hunger, and fear starvation. This is despite the fact that Food security or “access for all at all times, to a sustainable supply of nutritionally adequate and safe food for normal physical and mental development and healthy, productive lives” is a basic human right embedded in the constitution of most Developing Countries. It is also despite the fact that sufficient food is produced on a global level.
Food insecurity is an obstacle to human rights, quality of life, and human dignity. It was estimated that, during the last decade of the twentieth century, 826 million people were undernourished: 792 million in developing Countries and 34 million in developed countries. In developing countries, more than 199 million children under the age of 5 years suffer from acute or chronic protein and energy deficiencies. An estimated 3.5–5 billion people are iron deficient, 2.2 billion iodine deficient, and 140–250 million vitamin A deficient.
