Food and Resources KQ3 (Strategies to overcome food shortages) Flashcards
Strategies to overcome food shortages
> Technological
1) Storage
- Refrigeration
- Silos
2) Farming technologies
- Green Rev
3) Biotechnology
- GM-Foods
> Agricultural
1) Multiple cropping and crop rotation
2) Water and soil conservation
- No-till farming
3) Farmland leasing
> Social
1) Support local farmers
- Purchasing local produce
2) Population control
- Education and family planning
- Access to healthcare facilities
> Political and Economic strategies
1) National
2) International
Technology: Storage
1) Refrigeration
- Keeps food fresh for longer periods of time
- Crops can be distributed to further places
- Larger variety of food made available
L: Large scale = expensive
- Adds to cost of food prod.
2) Silos
- Airtight structures for storing crops
- Reduce pest damage, increases storage life
L: May be unaffordable for LDCs
- Fungus can continue to grow if crops are not dried properly before storage
Storage examples
Timore-Leste
- Reduced loss of crops to pests by 20%-40%
Technology: Farming technologies
1) Green Rev
- F, H, P, H, I, M
- Increases crop yield, efficiency, productivity
- Enable food to be grown in places previously unsuitable
- i.e. irrigation in dry places ¨Great Man-Made River¨
L: May cause environmental issues if not managed well
( e.g. Eutrophication, Salinisation, Waterlogging)
Green Rev examples
e. g. HYVs
- Increased rice and wheat yield by 75% even with only 20% increase in farmland area between 1965-1980s
e. g. Singapore
- Computerised high tech farms decrease need for labour
Technology: Biotechnology
Def: Science of modifying living organisms
1) GM Foods
- Higher crop yield = higher income = countries more self-sufficient = less dependent on food imports
- GM Foods can be produced in areas previously unsuitable for agriculture (i.e. More resistant to EWE)
L: GM seeds usually only grown in large scale commercial farms in DCs, usually not affordable in LDCs
- Potential health risks = smaller demand
- Used only for limited crops
GM Foods VS HYVs
GM Foods: Gene modified, synthetically altered
HYV: Naturally altered, done through X-breeding
GM Foods examples
Drought resistant corn
- Tolerant of low rainfall
- Allows for growth in Western Great Plains, USA
- Rainfall <600mm/year
Used for top 3 crops
- Soybean, Corn and Canola
Agricultural: Multiple Cropping and crop rotations
- Multiple cropping: growing 2 or more crops at the same time
- Crop Rotation: growing of several crops at one specific time in specific orders.
A:
1) Leguminous crops as natural fertilisers
- Plants with pods
- Roots contain nitrogen producing bacteria
- Release nitrogen when plant dies
- Acts as natural fertiliser for next plant
- Prevents soil infertility
2) Minimise problems of pests
- Some species of crops act as pest repellent (garlic, pepper, onions etc)
- Repels pests from adjacent crops
- Reduce usage of pesticides
3) Dependence on single crop avoided
- Damaged crops will not have drastic effects on economy
- Other crops still able to be sold
- Reduces variability in prices
L: Limited space available to grow the large variety of crops
- Diseconomies of scale and requires more resources
Multiple cropping and crop rotation examples
e. g. Garhwal Himalaya, India
- Multiple cropping and crop rotation a practice known as “baranja¨
- Involves growing >12 crops on same field
- Harvested and rotated multiple times per year
Agriculture: Water and Soil Conservation
No-till farming: Farming without removing weeds from soil nor digging soil for planting
- Allows plant and natural material from previous growing seasons to be kept on surface of soil
- Maintains quality of soil through decomposition
- Soil is constantly re-fertilised w/ natural nutrients
- Soil protected from erosion and infertility
- Higher crop yield
Agriculture: Farmland leasing
- Countries which do not have sufficient land suitable for farming may choose to lease farmland from other countries
A: Generates income = used to help local farmers improve their farming methods
- Increases local and global food production
L: May reduce local food supply in countries already facing food shortages
Farmland leasing examples
e. g. Korea, 2008
- Negotiated 99-year lease on 3.2 million acres of farmland to Madagascar
e. g. Ethiopia
- Millions suffering from food shortage
- Rely heavily on food aid
- Lease out land to generate income
- No land for farming = intensified food shortages
Social: Support local farmers
- Purchasing locally produced foods
- Helps diversify food supplies
- Enhances food security, decrease reliance on food imports
- Demand for local produce = local farmers maintain share of food market
- Local produce cheaper = more affordable (no transport costs)
Social: Population control
- Essential to ensure people have sufficient food
- If population growth > rates of food prod. = food shortage
1) Education and family planning
- Sex education, community based family planning programmes
2) Access to healthcare facilities
- Contraceptives and clinics
