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Community Food Security
In order to be healthy, people need to eat nutritious food. If we cannot grow,
buy, or trade enough food for our families and ourselves, we face hunger,
malnutrition, and many other health problems.
Food security means that everyone has enough safe and nutritious food all
year round to lead an active and healthy life. It also means food is produced
and distributed in ways that promote a healthy environment, community
self-reliance, and enough good food for every person and community.
Hunger has many causes. Some causes are environmental, such as poor
soil, changes in climate, and a lack of water. Hunger from these causes can be
addressed through sustainable farming (see Chapter 15) and better use of land
and water resources (see Chapter 6, and Chapters 9 to 11).
Other causes of hunger are political, such as unfair food prices, no land to
grow food, and corporate control of markets and food systems. Hunger from these
and other political causes can be addressed through community organizing.
To produce food, we need land, water, tools, seeds, and knowledge of how to
farm. To make sure that everybody has enough food, we need fair distribution,
affordable food prices, local markets, and food safety. To achieve these, we
must work for a just and sustainable world. Only by working towards a healthy
environment and social justice can we guarantee food security for everyone.