The dynamics of agricultural development and food security in Southeast Asia: historical continuity and rapid change

Food security is not a viable social objective unless it is also a profitable undertaking for input suppliers, farmers and marketers of output. Consumers must then be able to afford to purchase this food, secure in the knowledge that it is safe and nutritious. Achieving food security within these constraints of a complex economic system is a challenge because both poor consumers and small farmers must be effective participants. The standard approaches to food security – involving availability, access and utilization of sufficient food to lead healthy lives for everyone – do not deal with these issues of who does what.