The big idea: A place has food security when all its people, at all times, have reliable access to enough safe and nutritious food for an active, healthy life.
It is not just about growing enough food in total - it is also about whether people can physically reach it and afford it.
Key terms
- Food security - reliable access for everyone to enough safe, nutritious food.
- Food insecurity - when access is unreliable, so people go hungry or are malnourished.
- Availability - is there enough food produced or imported in the area?
- Access - can people physically reach the food and afford to buy it?
- Food emergency - an area where many people face severe, immediate hunger.
Three sides, not one: Food security has three sides: enough food is available, people can access it, and the food is used well (clean water, nutrition).
A country can grow plenty of food and still be food-insecure if the poor cannot afford it.
Many different factors can lower a country's food security. A strong answer names a factor and then explains the mechanism - how it cuts the supply of food or stops people getting it.
| Factor | How it threatens food security |
|---|---|
| Climate / drought | Failed rains and heat ruin harvests, so less food is grown |
| Conflict | War destroys farms and blocks supply routes and markets |
| Poverty / high prices | People cannot afford food even when it is on sale |
| Rapid population growth | More mouths to feed than the land and farms can supply |
| Land degradation | Soil erosion and overuse cut how much the land can grow |
| Pests and disease | Locusts or crop disease wipe out part of the harvest |
Turning a factor into an answer
- Name the factor (e.g. drought).
- Explain the mechanism - how it works (failed rains ruin harvests).
- State the effect on food security (so less food is available and people go hungry).
Explain how two different factors can lower a country's food security.
Model answer plan
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Practice with real exam questions
Answer exam-style questions and get AI feedback that shows you exactly what examiners want to see in a full-marks response.
A growing middle class changes food: As incomes rise and the middle class grows (e.g. in China, India and Brazil), what and how much people eat changes - and this puts new pressure on land.
How a growing middle class changes diets
- People eat more meat and dairy, which needs far more land and grain to produce.
- Demand shifts to processed and varied food, often imported from other countries.
- More food overall is eaten as people can afford a richer diet.
Explain how a growing middle-class population can lead to changes in what people eat.
Model answer plan
See the mark-by-mark plan — for / against / judgement, with marking guidance — in study mode.
Explain how a growing middle-class population can create land-use pressures.
Model answer plan
See the mark-by-mark plan — for / against / judgement, with marking guidance — in study mode.
China - the meat shift: As China's middle class has grown, meat consumption per person has risen several-fold since the 1980s.
Why it matters: producing that meat needs large imports of soybean feed, much of it grown on cleared land in Brazil - so one country's diet shift drives land-use change abroad.
How this is tested: Your stimulus is a shaded food-security map — a region-by-region map (e.g. the Horn of Africa) where the darkest areas are in food emergency and the lightest are secure.
Read the key first, then Describe where the worst-hit zones are ([2]) before you Explain two factors that lower a country's food security ([4]).
Read the key first. Which regions are darkest (most in crisis) and which are lightest (secure)?
Interactive diagram
Explore the labelled diagram, charts and maps for this topic in full study mode.
Describe the distribution of food insecurity shown on the map.
Model answer plan
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| Region | Location in the country | Food-security status |
|---|---|---|
| Afar | Far north-east / eastern lowlands | Emergency |
| Somali | South-east / eastern lowlands | Emergency |
| Tigray | Far north | Emergency |
| Oromia (central) | Central highlands | Stressed |
| Addis Ababa | Central | Secure |
| Southern highlands | South-west | Secure |
IB-style question - read the map
Using the table above: (a) identify one region in food emergency [1]; (b) describe where the food-emergency zones are located within Ethiopia [2].
How to answer each part
- (a) Identify an emergency region. Scan the status column - Afar, Somali or Tigray are in emergency.
- (b) Describe the location. The emergency zones lie mainly in the eastern and northern lowlands (Afar, Somali in the east; Tigray in the far north).
- Add the contrast. The central highlands and the south-west are more secure - so the pattern is peripheral lowlands vs the centre.
Final answer
(a) Afar / Somali / Tigray; (b) the emergency zones are in the eastern and northern lowlands, away from the more secure central highlands.
Explain two distinct factors that can lower a country's food security.
Model answer plan
See the mark-by-mark plan — for / against / judgement, with marking guidance — in study mode.
Easy marks: (1) Two distinct factors, not two versions of one. (2) Give the mechanism, not just the name. (3) End each with 'so food security falls / people go hungry'.