Food security is an important barometer for the existence of conditions that permit countries to develop and maintain inclusive socioeconomic environments that can ensure sociopolitical stability. A state of food security entails that enough nutritious food is available and accessible at all times for all
Food security is an important barometer for the existence of conditions that permit countries to develop and maintain inclusive socioeconomic environments that can ensure sociopolitical stability. A state of food security entails that enough nutritious food is available and accessible at all times for all people. No society has managed to fulfill this objective, but most nations strive to achieve and maintain it at least for most of their people, most of the time. Successfully doing this depends in part on the economic systems and public policies in place. These include policies used to manage the natural resource base necessary to produce food, mainly freshwater and agricultural land, and to make this food accessible through the prevailing distribution of income, infrastructure, and public services. The stability of food supplies and markets is central to preventing hunger.
Stability is a rare commodity in the MENA region. Its countries’ economic systems have historically oscillated between socialist and free market orientations, neither of which has taken adequate care of the natural resource base needed to achieve food security. Taken together, policies have also often been inconsistent and even incoherent. The principle of sustainability in natural resource use and managemen