Thanks for your email, I am not sure about a roadmap (as there are many ways to achieving food security)

I'd say we welcome investment in agriculture, and in land. As you probably know already, if done the right way, it can lead to greater food security through creating jobs for poor people in rural areas. DFID shares your concern to see the rights of farmers protected and of course, food sovereignty isn’t just about the rights of farmers, but fishermen/women and pastoralists alike. We have a mutual interest in ensuring such investments do not reduce the overall food security of the developing country in which the investment is taking place, that the environment is not damaged, and that the rights of people who may currently be living on the land are not infringed? It’s not business-as-usual, and we’re looking at food security from an international perspective and what’s happening nationally, locally and, not just through a trade lens. You’ll agree that increasing agricultural productivity needs to be done in a sustainable way.

Thanks for your comment. Food security is relative as you say - much like poverty. I thought this link to Oxam's work in America on food security is interesting:

http://www.oxfamamerica.org/issues/hunger-food-security

You're spot on about ongoing risks to continuing food security in China. World Food Programme in China has looked into this in detail. At a macro-level China enjoys basic food security. Its production capacity is increasing steadily, but the country will face some challenge in maintaining its goal of food self-sufficiency. China's poorest counties are vulnerable to food security in some cases - and reaching those people at risk of malnutrition is tricky as they're scattered across the poorest and remote areas of the country. In a country the size of China - that is a daunting task!

Tom
Thanks, food security isn't going to go away any time soon - and with the frequency of downturns and crisis, I guess we should be thinking about long-term strategies that help us stay resilient.

"Despite a fall in the price of food on international markets since the highs of mid-2008, access to food is still not guaranteed for millions of poor people across the world."

Very true. It is something that I, as an American, found to be the case when I lived and traveled abroad in poor countries. Of course, poverty and lack of food security exists in pockets of the US, but obviously, the situation is graver in famine-stricken countries.

I wonder how much of the Chinese population is vulnerable to food security, notwithstanding natural disasters which could affect food supplies and access to it. I'm assuming that it's more marked in the countryside, as well as those who are of low socio-economic status in the big cities, such as Shanghai and Beijing.