In most circumstances the main cause of food insecurity is not lack of availability but lack of access at the household level because of weak purchasing power and insufficient household agricultural production both characteristics associated with poverty millions of people cannot obtain enough of the food that is available locally to meet their dietary needs.And even access to sufficient food at the household level does not guarantee that all individuals will have an adequate food intake.That depends upon the distribution of food among household members,methods of food preparation,dietary preferences,and mother child feeding habits issues taken up further in Chapter10