Food Case Studies Flashcards
Climate Vietnam
Vietnam: Farmers enjoy longer harvesting seasons of 2 to 3 per year
Soil Vietnam
2018-2019, Mekong Delta of Vietnam, very high rice production of 25.2 tonnes -> highly fertile soil
Relief Vietnam
Slopes modified to create flat land for farming in Sapa, Vietnam (rice terraces)
Commercial Farming Vietnam
1986, Vietnam, ‘Doi Moi’ policy in 1986 farmers private ownership of land. Farmers incentivised to produce rice as they own output -> increase rice production
Status of land
- Kenya, combination of large landowners producing cash crops for world market (tea) and subsistence farmers who do not own their own land -> food security gap in population
Gov Policies Singapore + Tech
- Singapore: Lim Chu Kang agrotechnology park, land set aside by gov to produce over 1000 tonnes every year in less than 1 hectare of land
- Since 2017, local farms in Singapore produce up to 8% of vege, 8% of fish, 26% eggs consumed her
Food Policies stockpiling
- Singapore,stockpiles a 3 month supply of rice, requiring importers to import a minimum of 50 tonnes every month
- maintains 2 months’ worth of imports in government warehouses for up to a year
ASEAN rice reserve
- China + Japan + ASEAN Commits to supply rice for a reserve to provide food-aid during natural disasters and more. China contributed 300k tonnes of rice, Thailand contributed 15k tonnes.
HYV
- 1970 to 2010, IR8 variety of rice enabled rice production x2, wheat production x4
- saved india from famine in the 1980s
pesticides
- 1980s, California, USA: The pesticide Malathion was used widely to address fruit fly problem in orchards
irrigation
- 1991, Libya North Africa, The Great Man-Made River is one of the most extensive irrigation project which has made it possible to grow crops in the Sahara desert
salinisation
- 1960, Murray-Darling Basin Victoria, Australia -> salt commonly found in landscapes and river -> concentrated due to irrigation and land clearing
eutrophication
- cut off water supplies of 10 million at eutrophic lake taihu in china
Climate change -> food shortage
- 2020 Australia heatwave, temperatures up to 49°C -> damaged wheat crops, 30% decline in wheat production
- loss of food production up to 50% in certain countries
Extreme weather food shortage
cyclone yasi, queensland aust, 2011
destroyed 75% of banana crops and 20% of sugarcane crops
cost australian agriculture up to $800 million
Pests
2009 Libya Africa, armyworm invasion -> all crops and plants in path devoured, 46 villages severely food insecure
Civil Strife
2011, the Syrian civil war -> displacement of millions of people and significant damage to agricultural infrastructure, 60% decrease in wheat producion
Poor Governance policies
2010, Madhya Pradesh, India 40000 villagers deprived of land due to mine, steel plant and port development
Demand in emerging economies
2050, people in India will spend 32% more on food. An extra 400 million to feed, and they already have difficulties feeding the current 1.3 billion, with 270 million people affected by malnutrition.
Cost of oil and transport
- 2008 oil price increase to 147/barrel, financial crisis -> 43% rise in food prices
Biofuels
25% of all food crops in USA used for vehicles year -> could be feeding 330 million
Lack of accessibility & inadequate food distribution and storage
India, poor road network and no cooling storage facilities causes 40% of fruit and vegetables to perish before reaching consumers. -> 20 million tonnes of food waste
Silos storage
2009 Timor-Leste FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation) 10000 silos, reduced loss to pests by 20%
Biotech
- Drought resisrant corn which needs less rainfall -> grown on western great plains of USA which revieves 600 mml of rainfall
