Mairead McGuinness Fine Gael MEP

Focus On - Food Security

Food security has become an important element of the work of the European Union. To achieve food security, people must, at all times, have access to sufficient quantities of food that is of a safe standard and is nutritious enough to meet their dietary needs. Food also needs to be priced so that it does not make it too expensive for the population to afford. In recent times food prices have risen considerably.

Reducing by half the number of people suffering from hunger by 2015 is a priority for the EU and the International community enshrined in the first Millenium Development Goal. Over 900 million people are estimated to be malnourished - most of them in Sub-Saharan Africa and in South Asia. Even if food prices ease, they are still very high and subject to volatility in some developing countries, affecting access to food for low income population groups.

Europe and the wider world need to produce enough food for a global population that is growing, while making use of scarce resources in a way that minimizes waste. Furthermore, food production and the sourcing of food must be done in a manner that balances the needs of people with environmental sustainability, while not disadvantaging developing countries that produce food for developed countries. Food security is a recurring theme in the Parliament's Agriculture Committee, of which I am a member, as the EU strives to ensure that food continues to be readily available in the EU at reasonable prices and imported in a fair manner from other countries.

Underlying my commitment to addressing the issue of food security, I was the Parliament's author of a report on Food Security and the Common Agriculture Policy in 2008.

My report addresses issues within food security such as pricing, the affect on the developing world and the role the Common Agriculture Policy can play in ensuring food security in the European Union in the future.