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The concept of food security is complex. It involves not only the production and processing of nutritious food, but also access by individuals to the full range of nutrients needed to maintain an active and healthy life.

Crop diversity is central to food - and nutritional - security. It underpins today's production and provides the raw material needed for ensuring continuing supplies tomorrow, in the face of a rapidly changing world. Crop diversity helps ensure not only a stable and sustainable supply of sufficient quantities of food - of energy and protein - but also plays a major role in ensuring its quality. Dietary diversity - a direct product of crop diversity - is itself considered desirable by nutritionists. And the supply of vital nutrients - of vitamins and minerals - can be enhanced through the judicious use of genetic diversity. New varieties can be developed with improved nutritional quality: with higher levels of vitamins, more readily available iron and other essential elements, better quality protein or with reduced anti-nutritional or toxic factors.

Significant progress has already been made, for example with the development of high beta-carotene sweet potatoes (beta-carotene is the precursor of vitamin A), in work to develop beans with higher levels of nutritionally available iron and zinc, and the development of varieties of grass pea (Lathyrus) with greatly reduced levels of paralysis-causing neurotoxin beta-N-oxalyldiamino-propionic acid (beta-ODAP)/beta-(N)-oxalylamino-L-alanine acid (BOAA).