Many individuals argue that nations must achieve self-sufficiency in food and limit imports to the minimum. This essay strongly agrees with this statement because nutrition is a matter of national security, and because importing food in large amounts is costly.
People cannot live without food. Therefore, any country that fails to feed its citizens puts their lives in another nation’s hands. This can be very dangerous should any conflict arise in international relations, as food can be used as a weapon to control countries. Moreover, the global trade system is vulnerable to any disturbance in peace or economics; thus, countries who depend mainly on imported food face difficult challenges when any event happens that alters the world’s harmony. For example, Egypt relies on wheat imported from Russia and Ukraine to fulfill its needs; therefore, since the war between the Russians and Ukrainians broke in 2021, Egypt has had a major shortage in wheat and its products.
Furthermore, food is one of the most expensive things to be imported because it is indispensable, and it is needed in large quantities. Many countries are facing economic challenges nowadays, and if they focused on producing sufficient food for the citizens, they would relieve themselves from a big part of their yearly expenses. For instance, an economic study published in The Economist in 2020 showed that food imports formed more than 40% of Egypt’s annual budget.
To sum up, achieving self-sufficiency in food is crucial to every nation. Firstly, this protects it from being prone to international unrest, and secondly, this will remove many expenses from the annual expenditures in countries which are struggling financially.