Issues Brief 9 - Food Security and Sustainable Agriculture

Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. Food security covers availability, access, utilization and stability issues, and ? in its focus on individuals ? also embraces their energy, protein and nutrient needs for life, activity, pregnancy, growth and long-term capabilities . Sustainable agriculture is not officially defined but generally refers to the capacity of agriculture over time to contribute to overall welfare by providing sufficient food and other goods and services in ways that are economically efficient and profitable, socially responsible, and environmentally sound.

This brief reviews international time-bound and some qualitative commitments in the area of food security and sustainable agriculture agreed to in: Agenda 21 (1992); Rome Declaration on World Food Security (1996) ; JPOI (2002); MDGs (2000) and CSD17 decision on agriculture, rural development and drought and desertification. Implementation activities against these commitments are reviewed as well as proposals made so far by member states and other stakeholders in the context of Rio+20 to fill gaps in implementation.