Food: Gateway 2 (Factors affecting Food Production, Effects of Production and Reasons for Shortages Flashcards
What are the categories for factors affecting food production?
PPET
- Physical
- Political
- Economic
- Technological
What are the physical factors affecting food production?
- Climate
- Soil and drainage
- Relief features
Describe climate as a factor affecting food supply. Support with examples if necessary.
- Average condition of atmosphere over a long period of time
- Temperature (rate of photosynthesis, range for different crops)
- Rainfall (range for different crops; eg. rice, high rainfall; soya bean, low rainfall)
Eg. Tropics
- High temperature and rainfall makes it conducive for growing crops
- Long growing season compared to temperate regions
Describe soils and drainage as a factor affecting food supply. Support with examples if necessary.
Soil fertility
- Determined by availability of air, water and nutrients
- Fertile soil: rich in minerals, high crop yields (eg. Mekong Delta in Vietnam–> high rice harvest)
Soil Drainage
- Improper drainage hinders growth of crops
- Rice, wet soil; oat, well drained soil
Describe relief features as a factor affecting food supply. Support with examples if necessary.
Gentle slopes
- Suitable for some crops, ease of farming
Steep slopes
- Rain removes topsoil (rich in nutrients)
- Reduces stability
- Still favoured for some crops (coffee, tea, grapes); better drained
Altitude
- Higher altitude, lower temperatures
- Eg. Strawberries
What are political factors affecting food production?
- Government policies (agricultural and food)
- ASEAN
Describe government policies as a factor affecting food supply. Support with examples if necessary.
Agricultural policies
- Determines how best to make use of limited resources
- Eg. India
- Education programme for wheat farmers on seed varieties, pesticide treatment, irrigation methods
Food policies
- Affects food production, processing, distribution, purchase and packaging
- Stockpiling–> setting aside and storage of food to ensure food security during emergencies
- Diversify food supplies–> more sources from more countries–> buffer against food shortages and price fluctuations
Describe ASEAN as a factor affecting food supply. Support with examples if necessary.
Eg. ASEAN Plus 3 Emergency Rice Reserve Agreement- 2011
- Commitment of rice producers to supply rice for a reserve (China, Japan, S. Korea)
- Can be used during disasters
- Rice and money contributed to reserves
Eg2. Thailand- 2012
- Programme to intensify rice production in the region
- Work with ASEAN members to increase effeciency in rice production
What are the economic factors affecting food supply?
- Purpose of farming
- Demand and capital
- Agribusiness
Describe purpose of farming as a factor affecting food supply. Support with examples if necessary.
Subsistence
- Solely to provide food to feed family
- Small land
- Capital; simple farming tools, use previous harvest’s seeds to grow subsequent crop
- Low crop yield
- Eg. Sub-Saharan Africa–> grow staples
Commercial
- Large scale production of cash crops for sale
- Large land
- Capital; advanced machines
- Large crop yield
- Eg. Europe, USA
Describe demand and capital as a factor affecting food supply. Support with examples if necessary.
- Determines intensity of food production
- Changes according to tastes and preferences of consumers
- Affects type and amount of crops produced
Eg. Corn in China
- Usually self-sufficient
- Exports corn
- In recent years, more corn needed to feed livestock due to growing demand for meat by wealthy Chinese
- Starts importing corn from USA
Describe agribusiness as a factor affecting food supply. Support with examples if necessary.
- Large farming companies involved in most or all parts of food supply change
- Priorities in scientific and business principals of farming
- Able to withstand impact of changes brought by environment
- Larger financial capacity–> able to absorb losses
What are the technological factors affecting food production?
Green Revolution
1. High yielding varieties
2. Fertilisers and pesticides
3. Improved irrigation
4. Mechanisation
Describe high yielding varieties as a factor affecting food supply. Support with examples if necessary.
- Improved crop strains with increased growth rates
- Improved resistance to pests, diseases
- Able to grow faster
- Requires more nutrients and water to sustain
Eg.
Wonder rice–> 100 days instead of 120
IR8–> increased output
Describe fertilisers as a factor affecting food supply. Support with examples if necessary.
- Applied to replenish nutrients in used soil from farming
Describe pesticides as a factor affecting food supply. Support with examples if necessary.
- Chemicals used to kill insects/weeds that destroy crops
Eg. India: arsenic to kill rats
Eg2. California: Malathion used to kill flies
Describe improved irrigation as a factor affecting food supply. Support with examples if necessary.
- Artificial means of supplying water to land in regulated amounts at regulated times
Eg: Libya, North Africa
- Great Man-made river
- Made it possible to grow crops in the Sahara Desert
- Network of underground pipes, canals and wells
Describe mechanisation as a factor affecting food supply. Support with examples if necessary.
- Refers to advanced machines for tasks otherwise carried out manually
- Speeds up processes
- Reduces reliance on manual labour
Eg: Japan
- Use of combined harvesters, harvests grain crops
- Cut down labour costs
What are the benefits of the Green Revolution?
- Increased crop yields
- Decrease in food prices
- Create jobs ( creation of lateral facilities–> factories, hydroelectric power stations)
- Reduced pressure to convert natural land to crop land
What are the limitations to the Green Revolution?
- Decrease crop variations
- Use of machineries–> may not be affordable–> debts
- Less manual labour, less employment; more rural to urban migration
- Pollution of land and water (pesticides and insecticides)
What are the effects of continuing intensification of food production?
- Effect of extensive irrigation on water and soil quality
- Effect of overuse of chemicals on water and soil quality
What is the effect of extensive irrigation on water and soil quality?
Water logging
1. Soil is oversaturated with water
2. Roots of plants deprived of air and nutrients
Salinisation
1. Water evaporates, leaving salt behind
2. Groundwater reaches upper soil layers, bringing dissolved salts–> crops fail
Eg. Murray Darling Basin, Australia
1. Salt commonly found in basin
2. Concentrated due to irrigation and deforestation
3. High evaporation, intensifies salisation
4. Soil surfaces harden, plants wither and die
What is the effect of overusing chemicals on water and soil quality?
- Overuse of chemicals, concentrated in soil
- Seeps into groundwater, contamination
- Excess washed into waterways
- Leads to eutrophication (algae bloom)
- Blocks sunlight to aquatic plants
- Death of animals and plants, depleting water of oxygen
Eg. Measures taken in USA
1. Control measures on amount of chemicals allowed for use
2. Raising awareness of eutrophication through campaigns
What are the categories of the reasons why food shortages occur?
PPES
1. Physical
2. Political
3. Economic
4. Social
What are the physical reasons for food shortages?
- Climate change
- Extreme weather events
- Pests
Describe climate change as a reason for food shortages and the category it is from.
Physical
a. Global temperatures increase
- Affects existing farmland (unpredictable weather, changed climate)–> less suitable
- Lengthening growing seasons in cool areas
- Loss of biodiversity in fragile areas
b. Shrinking of glaciers from global warming
- Loss of fertile lands from rising sea levels
- Seasonal melting might provide river basins with water during dry seasons. However, smaller glaciers = less water–> reduced harvest
Describe extreme weather events as a reason for food shortages and the category it is from. Give an example
Physical
- Weather events cause the loss of lives or damage to property = reduced food supplies
Eg. Cyclone Yasi (Australia, 3rd highest exporter of sugar cane)
- 50% of crops destroyed
- Disrupts exports of coal, tin and copper
- Inflate global commodity prices
Describe pests as a reason for food shortages and the category it is from. Give an example
Physical
- Pests damage crops
Eg. Liberia, Africa, 2009
- State of emergency declared
- Armyworm caterpillars invaded crops
- Devoured plants and crops
- 46 villages affected
What are the economic reasons for food shortages?
- Demand from emerging economies
- Soaring costs of fertilisers and transport
- Conversion of farmland to industrial crop production
Describe demand from emerging economies as a reason for food shortages and the category it is from.
Economic
- Some LDCs have developing economies that grow at very high rates
- Huge increase in food demand
- Depleted global food supplies due
- Due to rapidly growing middle class with more purchasing power and changing food preferences
Describe soaring costs of fertilisers and transport as a reason for food shortages and the category it is from. Give an example
Economic
- Affects cost of food production and thus food prices increase
- Consumers bear the brunt of the increase
Eg. Kazakhstan, 2011
- Energy cost (oil) leads to price hike
- Modern farming uses petroleum products to fuel machines and transport harvest
- Petroleum price increase, food price increase
Describe converting farmland to industrial crop production as a reason for food shortages and the category it is from. Give an example
Economic
- Growing crops for industrial use is more profitable than food crops
- Eg. Biofuels (from corn, sugar, palm)
Eg. USA
- 25% of food crops are used for biofuels
- Enough to feed 330 million people for a year
- 2006-2007 food price hike due to less available
What are the social reasons for food shortages?
- Lack of accessibility
- Inadequate logistics of food distribution and storage
- Rapid population growth
Describe lack of accessibility as a reason for food shortages and the category it is from.
Social
- Consumers unable to reach food (no transport, insufficient and out of range locations)
- Have to make do with reduced amount
Describe inadequate logistics for distribution and storage as a reason for food shortages and the category it is from. Give an example
Social
- Inadequate logs in terms of movement of food from farm to outlets
- Depends on good transport network
- May be affected by physical barriers
Eg. Timor Leste
- Experiences food shortages between harvests, need imports
- However, has a lack of storage and villages are remote, complicating access
Describe rapid population growth as a reason for food shortages and the category it is from. Give an example
Social
- Higher birth rates= insufficient food supplies
Eg. Sub-Saharan Africa
- By 2025, 75% of sub-Saharan Africans will have to rely on food aid
- Conditions for farming made worse by global warming
- Population growth pose threat to food security
