Urban Agriculture and Food Security, Nutrition and Health

The concept of food security has been on the international agenda as far back as 1948, when the Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirmed that “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and his family, including food.....” Article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights went further, in 1966, when it affirmed the “right of everyone to be free from hunger”. This right to food is even characterised as a “fundamental right” and is acknowledged as the primary economic right of a human being. This global concern heightened after the 1974 World Food Conference, when diminishing world food supplies and large-scale food shortages triggered responses in the international community that focused on increasing domestic agricultural production and creating international grain reserves. Food security was identified with commercial food prices and physical food availability, rather than with demand and consumption, especially by the poor and vulnerable.