Securing Enough to Eat

The report defines food security as food that is available at all times, accessible to all, nutritionally adequate, and culturally acceptable. It argues that while global food supply has generally kept pace with demand, food insecurity persists due to failures in distribution and individual access. The document evaluates four policy paths: food self-sufficiency (now largely seen as unrealistic), trade liberalization (which offers supply stability but can undermine local producers), food sovereignty (which emphasizes national policy autonomy and peasant rights), and multi-functional agriculture (which integrates environmental sustainability and non-commodity public values into farming). It concludes that a pragmatic, flexible approach is necessary to reconcile economic, social, and ecological objectives.

• Food security is not merely a matter of global supply; an adequate global supply of food does not guarantee that individuals have access to it, as evidenced by hunger persisting in the United States despite a domestic supply that could feed the population twice over.
• Food dependency in developing countries has increased, with parts of Latin America and much of Sub-Saharan Africa shifting from being net food exporters to net food importers.
• The shift toward higher-value agricultural exports, such as shrimp and cut flowers, has created new livelihoods but increased vulnerability for farmers due to high export standards and the risk of total crop rejection from a single disease incidence.
• Trade liberalization can harm food security by increasing input prices for producers when government subsidies are cut and lowering domestic crop prices through increased imports, which particularly affects landless laborers in rural areas.
• The WTO Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) limits the tools governments can use for domestic agricultural policy, making it difficult for countries to maintain stable domestic prices that would encourage investment in expanded production.
• Food sovereignty advocates argue for the right of nation-states to determine their own food and agriculture policies, rejecting the role of multilateral trade rules, specifically the WTO, in dictating national priorities.
• International commodity trading and food processing are characterized by a high degree of concentration, with a few dominant firms exercising significant market power over the production chain.
• Multi-functional agriculture (MFA) recognizes that farming provides public values beyond food production, such as protecting biodiversity and maintaining rural landscapes, and argues that these services are not reflected in market prices.
• Industrial agricultural practices are causing severe environmental strain, including the depletion of soils, pollution of water sources, and a heavy reliance on energy sources that contribute to climate change.

APA

Murphy, S. (2005). Securing Enough to Eat. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/trade_securing_enough_to_eat.pdf

Chicago

Murphy, Sophia. Securing Enough to Eat. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2005. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/trade_securing_enough_to_eat.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Murphy |first1=Sophia |title=Securing Enough to Eat |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=January 2005 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/trade_securing_enough_to_eat.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{murphy2005securing, author = {Murphy, Sophia}, title = {{Securing Enough to Eat}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2005}, month = jan, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/trade_securing_enough_to_eat.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }