Increasing the Resilience of the Food Systems
In Islamic States in Face of Future Food Crises
11
 Secondary Research: A number of secondary sources were used, including:
o Previous market studies: Market research on food security and food crises,
including DS’ paper for the 8th International Conference on Islamic Economics and
Finance on “Global Food Security and Opportunities in OIC Markets,” and COMCEC’s
“Agriculture and Food Security in OIC Member Countries” Reports.
o Trade and sector reports: Informationwas gathered from the reports published by
the Economist Intelligence Unit, the International Food Policy Research Institute
(IFPRI), and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
o Academic articles and research papers: Information was gathered from the
European Scientific Journal, Environmental Management, and the Journal of Food
Security.
o Government data: Data was collected from various government publications and
websites, including those of ministries and official agriculture and food security
organizations.
o International organizations publications, including the UNFAO, UNWFP, IFAD,
UNICEF, and the World Bank.
o Press publications: Press releases from various agriculture and food production
industry playerswere reviewed, aswell as articles covering food security issues in
various publications and newswebsites including the Irish Examiner, Social Justice,
Breaking News, Agriland, AcreTrader, Food Processing Technology, Tharawat
Magazine, Oman Observer, Food Tank, and Eurasia Review.
1.4. Sustainable Food Systems and Linkage to Food Security
With the environmental, economic, and social challenges facing the world today,
sustainability has become a guiding principle for development. Food systems have been at
the heart of sustainability debates, with their negative effects on the environment from
pollution to food waste.24 Food systems include all participants and interconnected, value-
adding activities involved in producing, aggregating, processing, distributing, consuming ,
and disposing of food products. The concept of a sustainable food system, which is gaining
increased attention with its focus on sustainability, is defined as “a food system that delivers
food security and nutrition for all in such a way that the economic, social and environmental
bases to generate food security and nutrition for future generations are not compromised.” 25
As the definition of sustainable food systems illustrates, sustainable food systems and food
security are strongly linked with the aim of a sustainable food system essentially being to
“deliver” food security in a sustainable way. Economic sustainability entails ensuring
profitability to all participants within the food system from food companies and workers to
society and government entities. The focus of social sustainability is on equitable distribution of
24 Allen, Thomas and Prosperi, Paolo. (2016). Modeling Sustainable Food Systems. Environmental Management, (57),
pp 956–975.
25 FAO. (2018). Sustainable food systems: Conceptand framework.