Some People Believe That Countries Should Produce The Food To Feed Their Population And Import As Little As Possible | Band 8 IELTS Essay Sample

Some people believe that countries should produce the food to feed their population themselves and import as little as possible. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

Here is a band 8 IELTS essay on this topic written by one of our students. Need help with IELTS writing? Get your IELTS essays, letters and reports corrected by me.

Band 8 IELTS essay sample

Some people believe that countries around the world should decrease food imports, as well as increase food production to feed their population. Indeed, I advocate that such a policy must be adopted.

To start with, the countries with adequate food production are less impacted by the problem of food scarcity because when a nation’s food supply depends more on its imports, then at the time of disasters such as floods, pandemics and others, the food producing countries may have to halt their exports, resulting in food shortages. For example, recently, due to the Covid-19 lockdown imposed all over the world, Gulf countries had to cope with food shortage due to their dependence on food imports despite being rich. By contrast, developing countries like India which produce enough food for its people were not affected much. Increasing local production of food is also a great way to generate more employment opportunities in the country. Obviously, there are several benefits to being self-sufficient in food production.

Furthermore, imported food is not very healthy because it is treated with preservatives and additives. Since food has to travel thousands of miles before it reaches the end user, chemicals are added to them to enhance their shelf life. Regular consumption of such foods is bad for health. Importing is bad for the environment as well because their transport requires the burning of fossil fuels.

In conclusion, countries should try to produce as much food as possible and reduce the imports to stay protected from food shortages and dependence on other countries. Depending on locally produced food will also create more job opportunities for local people.