Disasterchannel.co,- If we talk about disasters, it must be closely related to the resilience of the community in dealing with it. As we know, when a disaster occurs, food is an important component, especially during emergency response times. On this occasion, disasterchannel will discuss the relationship between food security and disaster issues.
In the issue of disasters, food security is an important issue in preparing a community to face a disaster event. Before discussing the relationship between food security and disasters, we must know the definition of food security itself. In a journal entitled “Food Security” by Heri Suharyanto, he said that food security is everyone’s access at all times to sufficient food for a healthy life.
If we look at the data presented by Raphael Ane Atanga and Vitus Tankpa, it shows that disasters and climate change will affect the food security of a region. We can see how the flood disaster in the country of Ghana, specifically in the Tolon district in 2007, destroyed food production areas or agricultural barns in that area. Ghana’s Ministry of Food and Agriculture reported that 144,000 tons of food commodities such as corn, sorghum and rice were affected by production failure.
The consequences of this disaster which affected food production activities had a very severe impact on the country of Ghana, especially the northern Ghana region. At least 15 weeks later after the flood disaster, there were 50,000 people experiencing malnutrition.
The flood disaster in Ghana is an example of how disasters affect food production. Where if food production is damaged, it will affect the food security of a region. Of course, this phenomenon will result in further disasters in the form of social disasters, in Ghana’s case famine.
Reflecting on the case of the flood disaster in Ghana, we can conclude that disaster mitigation activities in food storage areas are very important. Every potential disaster in the food storage area must be mapped well, lest we don’t know which fields will be affected by a disaster. Don’t forget, we have to know what disasters will come to these fields.
The next step, we must prepare farmers, agrarian entrepreneurs, and related instruments, to face future disasters. Not only preparedness training for farmers, but also farmers or agrarian business people must be taught how to mitigate their barns from the threat of disaster.
Lastly, each food storage area must have a disaster contingency plan, where this document will be used during the emergency response period. Of course, with a contingency plan document, agrarian activists will know the flow and what to do when a disaster strikes.
Author: Abdurrahman Heriza
Editor: Lien Sururoh
Translator: Nugrah Aryatama
Source:
Heri Suharyanto, “KETAHANAN PANGAN,” JURNAL SOSIAL HUMANIORA (JSH) 4, no. 2 (November 3, 2011): 186–194.
Raphael Ane Atanga and Vitus Tankpa, “Climate Change, Flood Disaster Risk and Food Security Nexus in Northern Ghana,” Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems 5 (2021), accessed October 25, 2023, https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2021.706721.
Raphael Ane Atanga and Vitus Tankpa, “Climate Change, Flood Disaster Risk and Food Security Nexus in Northern Ghana,” Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems 5 (2021), accessed October 25, 2023, https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2021.706721.
Frederick A. Armah et al., “Impact of Floods on Livelihoods and Vulnerability of Natural Resource Dependent Communities in Northern Ghana,” Water 2, no. 2 (June 2010): 120–139.
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