The big idea: Food security exists when all people, at all times, have access to enough safe, nutritious food for an active, healthy life.
Food insecurity is the opposite — people lack reliable access to enough food. Famine is the most extreme form: a widespread, severe shortage of food that causes mass hunger, malnutrition and a sharp rise in deaths.
The big Option F skill is to explain the causes of food insecurity and famine, and to weigh how different factors combine.
Key terms
- Food security — reliable access for everyone to enough safe, nutritious food.
- Food insecurity — unreliable or insufficient access to food (it can be chronic or sudden).
- Famine — an extreme, widespread food shortage causing mass hunger, malnutrition and excess deaths.
- Availability — is there enough food produced or imported in the area?
- Access — can people physically reach and afford the food (income, transport, markets)?
- Undernourishment — not consuming enough calories over time to stay healthy.
Food security has three pillars: Enough food can exist in a country yet people still go hungry. Security needs availability (enough food), access (people can afford and reach it) and stability (a reliable supply over time). A famine usually means several of these fail at once.
How this is tested: A bar graph of food insecurity by region (one bar today, one a future projection) is a classic Option F stimulus. The first marks ask you to State a value read straight off a bar, or to identify the region with the largest change. A paired map can instead ask you to Estimate an area in km² from the scale — show the working and quote the figure.
Read the key first. To find the biggest fall, compare each region's two bars — not just the tallest one.
Interactive diagram
Explore the labelled diagram, charts and maps for this topic in full study mode.
Using the bar graph: state the percentage of people with food insecurity in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2018, and identify the region with the largest predicted fall by 2028.
Model answer plan
See the mark-by-mark plan — for / against / judgement, with marking guidance — in study mode.
| Region | 2018 (%) | Predicted 2028 (%) | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sub-Saharan Africa | 35 | 30 | -5 |
| South Asia | 22 | 12 | -10 |
| Latin America | 12 | 9 | -3 |
| East Asia | 9 | 6 | -3 |
| North America & Europe | 3 | 2 | -1 |
Read the change, not just the value: To find the largest fall, compare the Change column (or subtract 2028 from 2018), not the 2018 figure alone. The region starting highest is not always the one that drops the most — South Asia falls by 10 points here, more than Sub-Saharan Africa's 5.
Using the table above: (a) state the percentage of people with food insecurity in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2018; (b) identify the region predicted to show the largest fall in food insecurity by 2028.
Model answer plan
See the mark-by-mark plan — for / against / judgement, with marking guidance — in study mode.
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Food insecurity and famine almost never have a single cause. Physical (environmental), economic, political and social factors combine — a drought is only the trigger; whether it becomes a famine depends on poverty, conflict, transport and government response.
| Type of factor | Examples | How it causes a shortage |
|---|---|---|
| Physical / environmental | Drought, flood, soil degradation, pests, climate change | Cuts the food actually grown or available in an area |
| Economic | Poverty, low incomes, rising food prices, poor transport and storage | People cannot afford or reach food even when it exists |
| Political | Conflict, civil war, corruption, weak government, sanctions, trade blocks | Disrupts farming, blocks aid and supply routes, mismanages reserves |
| Social | Disease (e.g. HIV/AIDS, malaria), rapid population growth, gender inequality | Removes labour from farms and raises the number of mouths to feed |
Real causal chains
- Conflict — fighting forces farmers off the land, destroys harvests and blocks aid convoys, so food cannot be grown or delivered.
- Disease — illness such as HIV/AIDS or malaria removes adults from the workforce, so fewer people can farm and incomes fall.
- Poverty — low incomes mean families cannot afford food when prices rise, so a poor harvest tips them into hunger.
- Poor infrastructure — bad roads and weak storage mean food rots or cannot reach the people who need it.
The Sahel and the Green Revolution: The Sahel belt of Africa (countries such as Niger, Chad and Mali) suffers recurring food crises: recurrent drought is the trigger, but poverty, rapid population growth and conflict turn shortages into famine.
By contrast, the Green Revolution in India from the 1960s — high-yield wheat and rice varieties, irrigation and fertiliser — sharply raised output and helped end recurrent famine in states such as Punjab, showing that the right technology and investment can rebuild food security.
Explain two human factors that could cause high food insecurity in a low-income country, and how each leads to a shortage of food.
Model answer plan
See the mark-by-mark plan — for / against / judgement, with marking guidance — in study mode.
Always give the mechanism: Don't just name a factor. Build the chain: conflict -> farmers flee + roads blocked -> harvests fail and aid can't arrive -> food shortage. The marks are in the how, not the label.
How this is tested - the [10] Examine essay: Paper 1 Option F ends with a 10-mark Examine essay, marked on markbands. The recurring task: show how environmental, economic, political and social factors combine to cause famine (or why food insecurity stays high), using one or more located examples.
Top band needs: accurate terms, factors from more than one category developed with a named example, a weighing of which factor matters most or how they interact, and a clear conclusion.
Examine how environmental, economic, political and social factors combine to cause famine, using one or more located examples.
Model answer plan
See the mark-by-mark plan — for / against / judgement, with marking guidance — in study mode.