Food Security and the Paradox of Muslim Countries

By Irfan Sungkar,

Food security is undoubtedly an issue of prime importance that Muslim countries are facing today, as it penetrates to the heart of the concept of human survival.

According to the World Food Summit 1996, food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy lifestyle. Hence, it is not only a question of food availability, but also the ability of the population to have access to food, which is related to the distribution system, ability to pay, and so on.

Some of the food security effects resulting from domestic agriculture and food production may be expressed through market mechanism and transmissions, but others are public goods, such as the assured and secured feeling of a certain level of self-sufficiency or the provision of national strategic needs, for example food safety and balanced nutrition.

Many Muslim countries after gaining national independence became dependent on agriculture and food production. They became the producers and suppliers to the world food market, particularly in terms of primary agriculture and food products. However, the value added of these agriculture and food raw materials was very small and almost negligible; that is when they bought back processed food products for domestic consumption to feed their population, they had to pay much more.

In addition to that, many Muslim countries face problems of inadequate food production due to insufficient food supplies and inefficient food distribution system. In this context, this has led to dependency on massive import from other countries to meet their basic requirements. Overdependence on food imports threw some of the poor countries including those of Muslim countries into a vicious debt cycle.

In the global context, the negative consequence of food security is staggering. The number of people without enough food to eat on a regular basis is estimated to be more than 800 million out of a 6.4 billion world population. Over 60 per cent of the world's undernourished people live in Asia, and a quarter in Africa, whereby most are Muslim-majority countries. The latest FAO figures indicate that there are 22 countries, 16 of which are in Africa, in which the prevalence rate of malnutrition is over 35 per cent.

The Islamic Concept on Food Security

Now, let us look at the Islamic concept on food security. Many scholars such as Hassan [1991] has reiterated the Islamic position on food security. There is no doubt that food, clothing and shelter are bare necessities for the survival and basic needs of a human being.

Prophet Muhammad p.b.u.h prayed: “Allah, I ask thy refuge from apostasy, scarcity and ignominy” (reported in Bukhari); and “Allah, I ask thy refuge from hunger for it is the worst bed fellow” (reported in Nasa’i).

The vision of an organised Islamic living is among others, the guarantee to every human being of the fulfilment of their basic needs, which literally include food security.

Despite the well-to-do of the society and religious responsibility to the needy, the state or government leaders bear the ultimate responsibility of arranging fulfilment of basic needs including creating a policy to overcome food security issues. In reality, this represents a daunting task for many Muslim countries at present given the lack of clear and consistent economic and food production policy. In the context of state leadership, as stated by Hassan [2001], the Prophet p.b.u.h said that: “The Ruler is the guardian of one who has no guardian” (reported in Tirmidzi).

Therefore, it is clear that the role of state leadership is important to ensure that food security can be achieved. However, there are also ample evident from the Holy Qur’an for man to be involved in food production: “He it is has made the earth a cradle for you, and has traced out for you ways (of livelihood) thereon and (who) send down waters from the sky; and by this means We bring forth various kinds of plants” (Qur’an, Surah Ta’Ha, verse 53).

The Paradox of Muslim Countries: Diverging Wealth

The paradox of the problem is demonstrated by the striking phenomena that many Muslim countries are experiencing food shortages and deficits in food trade balance. Production factors are plenty; population and labour supply is enormous and at the same time cheap, and land is abundant while Islamic banking and finance are flourishing.

The paradox is clear. For example in Middle-Eastern countries alone the total size of their Sovereign Wealth Fund easily exceeds USD 1.2 trillion. But on the other hand, numerous Muslim countries are experiencing tragic conditions of food shortages and chronic inflation. It is really shocking to note that the two major food famine in recent history in which millions of people dies of starvation occurred in Muslim countries.

In the early 40s, widespread famine and hunger in Bengal (currently known as Bangladesh and the state of West Bengal in India), which existed due to economic malfunction, had resulted in the deaths of more than four million people from starvation and malnutrition. This happened when the food production in that area was high; except most of the food was exported and this left the domestic population to face famine and starvation.

Food as the New Weapon for Global Dominance

Nowadays, it is easy to witness that global dominance can be achieved in so many ways. Gone are days when modern warfare is the only deterrent. Indeed, food is successfully being used as a weapon to achieve economic and political domination, and hegemony as well as political subservience of poor countries.

The simple fact is, however we try to preserve our own justification that we are progressing, we will always be internally unstable and externally vulnerable so long as food security is a threat. Although self-sufficiency in all food products is neither desirable nor economically justifiable, we should, at a considerable degree, have a certain ‘safety level’ and ‘group accessibility’ to food products, especially those of staple food products.

Overcoming Food Security

We are now at a juncture of mindset change… We have been fed by the thought that our own resources are limited so we have to preserve it and get something else that we do not have. First and foremost, we must understand that our resources are not limited. It is our ability as humankind to use resources at an efficient and productive manner that is limited, and not the resources itself.

Increasing food supply within a country is the most favourable option, although it does not guarantee that poor people will have access to it. Hence, accessibility to food and the objective of food security can only be achieved if the economic status of the lower income groups can be upgraded. In the Islamic approach to economic development, every person in a community must contribute to the development of the community. For example Zakat: through effective collection and distribution of Zakat, the wealth of communities could be improved.

Our ideas are not complete and we are living in a society where we are the laggard. We are no longer winners. The good old days will only be back when we are able to re-set our minds and deliver effective and comprehensive socio-economic policies that are able to increase our self-sufficiency in food production. Only then will the present paradox faced by many Muslim countries be history for our grandchildren...

Courtesy: The Halal Journal