5 Food Security Measures to Ensure In Your Homes – Copy

5 Food Security Measures to Ensure In Your Homes

                                          5 Food Security Measures to Ensure In Your Homes   Food security is a critical global issue that needs to be addressed, with 1 out of 9 people suffering from hunger. Food security according to the World Health Organization (WHO), is defined as ‘when all people have physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life’. We live in a time of economic instability and uncertain climate. Accessing nutritious food, is important now than ever. The foundation of food security starts at home but it is now a major challenge for households worldwide. Ensuring your family’s access to nutritious food is crucial for stability and sustainability. This will protect your household from food shortages and increase your resilience. This article will discuss 5 ways to can protect your home, each offering a practical guide on how to empower your household against food insecurity.   Proper Meal Planning Meal planning is a very essential tool that helps protect your home from food insecurity. It ensures food availability, reduce unnecessary food wastage and promotes healthy living. A proper guide to carry out this plan is; Assessment of each family member’s dietary needs- it is important to put this into consideration while planning. Creation of a weekly food plan- meals for an entire week should be planned Making a food item or grocery list- this itemizes everything you need for meal preparation. Shopping for food items- purchase of listed items should been done, also, remember to check the expiry date of good products you purchase if you’re going to be buying in bulk or storing for a long time.   2. Proper Food storage This is another important means to ensuring food security in your home. Food storage will help prevent spoilage and contamination of food items, prevent wastage and increase the shelf life of food. Some tips to ensure proper food storage are; Dry storage for grains- clean and air tight containers should be used to store grain products such as beans and rice to help prevent contamination and spoilage. Refrigeration of perishable products at 40°F(4°C) Proper labelling of containers or bags used for storage for proper identification. Non-perishable goods such as canned foods should be stored well too.   3. Growing your own food Cultivating your own food in your backyard or that unused land can help boost food security. It helps to increase food availability, reduce cost of external food supply, as a food source during emergencies. If you want to start cultivating your own food; Prepare an organic fertilizer rich soil Start will small crops to grow Plant the seeds, water them regularly to ensure efficient growth When it’s harvest time, harvest carefully to avoid wastage and properly store the excess product harvested.   4. Pest Control Pests are organisms that destroy plant and crops. This can cause food insecurity in a home. Effective pest control helps protect your crops or food items against damage, reduce food wastage and contamination. Reduce pest infestation by; Proper food storage Ensuring the kitchen and storage area is clean always. Use of pest repellants plants.   5. Emergency food supply During financial or economic crises, emergency food supply will protect your household against food insecurity.  Stock non-perishable food items such as canned goods in bulk. Examples of food items that should be classified as emergency food supply are canned meat, vegetables, grains, water.   In conclusion, each home has to be protected against food insecurity by all means. Therefore, proper meal planning, food storage, encouraging gardening, pest control and emergency food supply will help empower a household against food insecurity. All these should be known and implemented to promote food security in a home! Also Read : How To Promote Food Security Through Security In Nigeria

5 Food Security Measures to Ensure In Your Homes

5 Food Security Measures to Ensure In Your Homes

                                          5 Food Security Measures to Ensure In Your Homes   Food security is a critical global issue that needs to be addressed, with 1 out of 9 people suffering from hunger. Food security according to the World Health Organization (WHO), is defined as ‘when all people have physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life’. We live in a time of economic instability and uncertain climate. Accessing nutritious food, is important now than ever. The foundation of food security starts at home but it is now a major challenge for households worldwide. Ensuring your family’s access to nutritious food is crucial for stability and sustainability. This will protect your household from food shortages and increase your resilience. This article will discuss 5 ways to can protect your home, each offering a practical guide on how to empower your household against food insecurity.   Proper Meal Planning Meal planning is a very essential tool that helps protect your home from food insecurity. It ensures food availability, reduce unnecessary food wastage and promotes healthy living. A proper guide to carry out this plan is; Assessment of each family member’s dietary needs- it is important to put this into consideration while planning. Creation of a weekly food plan- meals for an entire week should be planned Making a food item or grocery list- this itemizes everything you need for meal preparation. Shopping for food items- purchase of listed items should been done, also, remember to check the expiry date of good products you purchase if you’re going to be buying in bulk or storing for a long time.   2. Proper Food storage This is another important means to ensuring food security in your home. Food storage will help prevent spoilage and contamination of food items, prevent wastage and increase the shelf life of food. Some tips to ensure proper food storage are; Dry storage for grains- clean and air tight containers should be used to store grain products such as beans and rice to help prevent contamination and spoilage. Refrigeration of perishable products at 40°F(4°C) Proper labelling of containers or bags used for storage for proper identification. Non-perishable goods such as canned foods should be stored well too.   3. Growing your own food Cultivating your own food in your backyard or that unused land can help boost food security. It helps to increase food availability, reduce cost of external food supply, as a food source during emergencies. If you want to start cultivating your own food; Prepare an organic fertilizer rich soil Start will small crops to grow Plant the seeds, water them regularly to ensure efficient growth When it’s harvest time, harvest carefully to avoid wastage and properly store the excess product harvested.   4. Pest Control Pests are organisms that destroy plant and crops. This can cause food insecurity in a home. Effective pest control helps protect your crops or food items against damage, reduce food wastage and contamination. Reduce pest infestation by; Proper food storage Ensuring the kitchen and storage area is clean always. Use of pest repellants plants.   5. Emergency food supply During financial or economic crises, emergency food supply will protect your household against food insecurity.  Stock non-perishable food items such as canned goods in bulk. Examples of food items that should be classified as emergency food supply are canned meat, vegetables, grains, water.   In conclusion, each home has to be protected against food insecurity by all means. Therefore, proper meal planning, food storage, encouraging gardening, pest control and emergency food supply will help empower a household against food insecurity. All these should be known and implemented to promote food security in a home! Also Read : How To Promote Food Security Through Security In Nigeria

How To Promote Food Security Through Security In Nigeria

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Food security is a mandatory requirement if humanity must sustain its existence on earth. Its absence is a serious threats to life. Food and Agricultural Organization stated that food security exist when all people, at all times have unhindered access to sufficient safe and nutritious foods that meet their daily dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. Central to this paraphrased definition of food security are food availability and access, food utilization and stability. These components must consistently interact to sustain and guarantee food security in any society. Besides climate change, Nigeria with a population of above two hundred million people has been facing challenges in food security over a decade. These challenges pose threat to growing a physical and mentally healthy people. Note, food is central to overall growth and development of human.  It is reported, in Q1, 2024 that about one hundred million people are food-insecure in Nigeria. It is also estimated, that about 16% of Nigerians will face severe food insecurity by June 2024. The identified key threats to food security in Nigeria include increasing insecurity in the northern parts which serve as food hub, continued conflict between farmers and herders, climate change, inflation and rising food costs occasion by unstable forex market. This menace is no doubt impacting on all four important aspects of food security highlighted above. It is noteworthy, to submit that, the most significant factor which has negative impact on Nigeria’s food security lately have become banditry, kidnapping, terrorism which are mostly pronounced in the entire northern region. Farm crops are destroyed by herds intentionally unleashed by herders; fires (arson) intentionally set by bandits. Farmers are kidnapped for ransom, taxed and levied by occupier bandits, chased out of the towns/farms for outright take-over by invading terrorists groups. Crops are also seized by these criminal groups. Given above-described scenario, it is arguable to conclude that the main source of threat to food security in Nigeria is insecurity. What is the way forward? To attain standard food security in any society oftentimes requires multi-dimensional approach that must include safety and security of the farm and the farmers. This piece shall make recommendations specific to security. These include; Rejig current security approach: national security has not fared well in recent time. Since resurgence of boko-haram terrorist group, other terror and bandit groups have emerged. Their continued existence, successful attacks, coercive dominance and expansion have proved one thing – whatever Nigeria is currently doing to curb, curtail, minimize and/or prevent the monster of insecurity is not working well. Most disturbing is the proliferation of lite arms and ammunitions which are the major tools/enabler of insecurity. Governments, especially at the centre must prioritize national security, and specifically human security.  Whatever it takes to protect lives and properties of the citizenry should take centre stage. Using the same security approach and system of 19th century to tackle security challenges of 20th century is not the way to go. Security is evolving, so should its management. Establish designated forest ranger: it is high time Nigeria considered establishing well functional forest rangers – a law enforcement agency solely dedicated to protecting the ungoverned space. If advanced economies of the West should have forest rangers, one wonders why a developing state confronting multi-faceted security threats should not go the way. Creating a unit within existing agency to tackle forest security threats is a good starting point, however having a separate agency charged with sole responsibility of guarding the forests in collaboration with others will most likely produce better outcome. Establish ministry of rural security: contemporary criminality has gone rural. The criminals have studied and understood that the rural society is not receiving fair security attention. The rural communities have very insignificance presence of gate-keepers. The hub of farming in Nigeria is in rural areas. To drive its adequate security will require a dedicated ministry of rural security to coordinate how this countryside should be protected. Have stringent punitive measures for agro-based criminality: while it is said that poverty defiles consequences – meaning that a hungry man is an angry man who can dare anything regardless of consequences. We cannot rule out the effect of punitive approach in conditioning or controlling human behaviors.  Punishment for crimes against food security must be proportionate with the intent of such criminals. A criminal who intentionally destroys farm crops, kidnap and kill farmers has intent to starve the nation to death; as such is a serious threat to national security and must be treated with equal or more stiff sanction. To a significant extend, punitive measures deter criminality. ALSO READ: Climate Change In Nigeria And Its Remarkable Impact In Agriculture