7.2 Reading: How can we achieve environmentally sustainable and healthy diets?

I like this article Dangour et al. (2017). His arguments are very clear on the obstacles to achieve environmentally sustainable and health diets. The food system as in the case of production, processing and trading, marketing and distribution and consumption at any stage impact the environment and change in environmental factors such as temperature, rain fall etc and human activities mainly for food production can also impact the food system.  Therefore, the food system is struggling to allocate equitable nutritious and healthy diets because of socioeconomic, political, and cultural factors driving the food system trajectories. The demand of the growing population with their socioeconomic drive towards consuming more of processed and inorganic foods; and their quest to migrate to urban cities have also influence their nutritional life style putting pressure on the food system to provide equitable nutritional diet.

 I like the part of the augment that compares the demand of agriculture land for infrastructural transformation as another growing factor that is affecting the food system. This is more evidence in the developing countries and cities. (eg. The City of Freetown after surviving 11 bloody years of war is under pressure for infrastructural development. Valleys and streams where vegetables were grown have all be developed into dry land for building dwelling houses. This has automatically led to decrease in the production of vegetable crops like lettuces, cucumber etc. and subsequent increase in price that is effecting the nutrition of low income consumers.)  

The above scenario could support the argument that farm lands are under pressure to be converted into infrastructural development lands. What is the government policies doing to stop or alleviate such drastic land conversion system?  As this could affect the process of delivering equitable diet for all. The government and human right policies also circumvent to address these actualities.

Moreover, the dependability on the western countries from the south for their staple food like cereal and dairy product etc. can always increase inequality in achieving nutritional diet. Africa countries for examples have low food production due to factors like climate, technology, education and finance. How can Government policies break these barriers to achieve equity in food system. This calls for international collaboration.

            The future routes may become disastrous for humanity if the current efforts are not                        actualized to carter for the growing population a health and nutrition diet. The gap                          between the undernourished and the over nourishment is great and are both deadly