Food security is an essential element of resilience. It prepares for the worst, but even if the worst does not come it provide benefit such as boosting the local economy, supporting small and medium businesses, and often providing a greater variety of better quality food.
Food security is a critically important aspect of international development. It can be aided by better yields, but above all by careful consideration of contingencies, and preparing for the worst.
Livestock and food security
In arid regions, food for grazing animals may be available where vegetation for human food is scarce. This provides milk and occasionally meat.
Animal feed and food security
Highly inefficient food production practices, even when entirely within wealthy countries, have a global impact on food prices. Grain-fed livestock have a high ecological footprint, requiring large areas of land to produce the grain. Such practices increase the demand for grains, and thus food prices and food security, especially in developing countries.
This is much less true where animals graze on grass or eat scraps.
The impact is greater on developing countries and particularly on the foods purchased by the poorer segments of those countries, because the price of basic foodstuffs makes up a greater proportion of the price of purchased foods. Non-grain foods are not directly affected, but the demand for land to produce food for livestock will indirectly increase the price of all foods.