Gateway 1 of Food

Question 1

Why do food consumption patterns differ between DCs and LDCs?

Answer 1

Economic factors
1. Pricing
Food prices will affect people in LDCs more than people in DCs because the former has less disposable income. For example, from 2006 to 2009, the sharp increase in food prices caused a global food crisis, greatly affecting the diets of those in LDCs. Many of them could not afford staple food. According to the FAO, this food crisis pushed another 100 million people into chronic hunger and poverty. In many LDCs, the rise in food prices triggered food riot and street protests which led to attempts by the governments to control the food prices. In DCs, the effects were not dramatic. While food prices still rose significantly, they did not cause food riots but instead only caused people to select less expensive options instead.

2. Disposable income
   Disposable income is the amount of money an individual has left after paying taxes. When people in both DCs and LDCs have higher disposable incomes, they have more purchasing power to consume a larger variety of food, this means that more meat is consumed than cereals as meat is often associated with wealth and status. However, as people in DCs generally have higher disposable income than people in LDCs, people in DCs have an increasing quality of diets. This is because people generally can afford expensive food that is believed to have certain health benefits such as organic food. For example, in DCs such as France, only 20% of every US$1 increase in income is spent on food. On the other hand, in LDCs such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, about 60% of every US$1 increase in income goes to spending on food. Between 1959 to 1991, Taiwan experienced rapid economic growth and this led to a higher income per capita. This resulted in the consumption of meat, fish and fruits to increase many folds while cereal consumption per capita decreased by half.

Social-cultural
1. Food preferences
Fast Food is food that is easily prepared and allows people to enjoy a quick meal. It is thus well received by people for its convenience and affordable price. In addition, people enjoy spending time in a fast food outlet for its comfortable dining atmosphere. For example, since 1991, India has opened up its economy to foreign investors. This has allowed many transnational companies to enter the Indian market. These include fast food chains from the USA, such as Mcdonalds.
Organic food is food that is grown without the use of artificial input, such as chemical fertilisers. More people choose organic food due to its perceived health benefits. For example, in Asia, demand for organic food has grown by about 20% annually since 1997.

2. Population growth
   With an increasing population. there would be a higher demand for food. The rate of population growth is higher in LDCs than in DCs due to lack of family planning and a need for farm labour in many LDCs. Therefore, the demand for food over the years is higher in LDCs than in DCs. For example, the FAO estimated that the world’s population is likely to increase from 7 billion in 2012 to 10 billion in 2050.

Political factors
1. Stability of food supply
When a country has a stable food supply, this means that it is able to provide safe and nutritious food to its citizens at all times. Governments can ensure a stable food supply by increasing food production and increasing food imports. Increasing food production can be done by improving technology to increase crop yield as well as allocating more land area for agriculture. However, LDCs still have a lower ability to increase food supply as they generally lack access to technology or finances to implement technology on a large scale. On the other hand, DCs have greater access to technology to improve food production, thus ensuring food stability. Food stability is affected by civil wars and natural disasters.
For example, at the height of the 2011 Libya civil war, the United Nations World Food Programme (UNWFP) reported that food stocks in the country were depleting faster than they could be replenished. Cities and areas with heavy fighting reported food and water shortages. Safety concerns also restricted people from venturing out to find or buy food.
For example, after a severe drought in Zimbabwe in 2008, there was a severe food shortage. The extremely low rainfall resulted in widespread crop failure. The worst-affected were those in the rural and neglected regions of the country due to their poverty and sole reliance on local food sources.

2. Food safety
   This refers to a system that provides guidelines and ensures proper handling in the preparation and storage of food. This helps in ensuring food-borne diseases do not spread and that food is safe for consumption. Governments must ensure that the food is safe for consumption by ensuring they comply with the food safety standards. They are also responsible for tracking down contaminated foods that cause food-borne diseases and remove them from the shelves. This is because food safety is threatened once there are outbreaks of food-borne diseases.
   For example, the tsunami triggered by the 2011 earthquake damaged the nuclear plants in Fukshima, Japan. Radiation from radioactive materials contaminated farmlands and water resources. Seafood imports from Japan to Singapore were thus restricted for many months following the disaster to ensure the safety of consumers in Singapore.

Question 2

What are the impacts of inadequate food consumption on individuals and countries?

Answer 2

Health
1. Malnutrition
This is a condition where one does not receive enough or a balanced amount of nutrients to maintain healthy tissues and organ functions. Malnutrition results in death or long-term developmental problems in individuals. People are also more susceptible to diseases and can fall sick easily or become less productive at work.
For example, in the USA, many elderly were found to suffer from a lack of nutrients because they consume too little food due to their difficulty in digesting or chewing food. (dcs)
For example, malnutrtion affects LDCs greatly with places such as Democractic Republic of Congo having 75% of their population suffering from malnutrition, due to lack of vitamins such as Vitamin A, resulting in visual impairment and blindness.

2. Starvation
   This is when one is in an extreme state of hunger from a severe lack of food. An extreme form of malnutrition. It can eventually lead to death. It is more common in LDCs due to greater numbers of people in poverty, a lack of resources to counter natural disasters and an unstable political situation. For example, poor harvests and a civil rebellion have threatened 5 million people in Mali with starvation.

Economic
1. Lower productivity
When people consume imbalanced amounts of nutrients, they fall sick more often. this will cause them to work less productively, thus a lower productivity leads to lower income. This could eventually have a negative impact on the economy. Inadequate food consumption can also cause children to fall sick frequently and miss out on their school days This can cause them to lose their educational opportunities. For example, a 2011 report by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) showed a significant link between inadequate food consumption and lower productivity in LDCs such as India. Farmers who suffer from poor health due to malnutrition become less innovative and experimental.

2. Diversion of financial resources to healthcare
   People who suffer from malnutrition due to inadequate food consumption fall sick easily. This can lead to a higher demand for health services, increasing the overall cost of providing public health care.
   Hence, this will lead to a higher public health expenditure. In DCs, health care services divert a large portion of fund from their limited financial resources. Hence, other areas of development, such as housing and transportation are affected, leading to a slow down in economic growth in the country.
3. Long term debt due to food and financial aid
   Food and financial aid is provided for countries to help them cope with insufficient supplies of food. However, this can lead to long term debt problems. For example, the USA contributes to half of the global aid. However, food aid shipped from the USA to the needy countries was about 34% more expensive than if purchased locally due to higher cost of food suppliers and shipping. Hence, LDCs suffered losses amounting to between US$5 to US$7 billion.

Political
1. Social unrest
With inadequate food, people become unhappy with the government, resulting in social unrest. For example, when food prices in Mozambique rose by as much as 30% in 2010 due to increase in the cost of wheat imports. This eventually led to violent protests, with at least 10 people dead.

Social
1. Scavenging
With inadequate food, scavengers eat whatever they can find to prevent starvation. Scavenging carries health risks as the scavenged food contains high levels of bacteria or chemicals, such as mercury or lead. It also places people in illegal situations such as trespassing private property. Scavengers are also seen as a nuisance to the public. For example, in the poorest parts of Manila, Philippines, people without money have to sift through rubbish for food. Some of them even lift in their makeshift homes near the landfill site known as ‘Smokey Mountain’ to search for food easily through the waste.

Question 3

Impact of excess food consumption on individuals and countries

Answer 3

Health
1. Obesity and related illnesses
Obesity is due to excessive consumption of nutrients, resulting in fat accumulation. This can lead to various health problems such as high blood pressure, diabetes and cancer. Excessive consumption of food high in salt sugar can also causes illnesses such as kidney failure and hypertension. DCs have a higher percentage of people who are obese as the people have a stronger purchasing power to spend on food due to a high disposable income. Thus, they tend to take in more calories, with many consuming more potato chips and fast food. In LDCS, obesity is also becoming common due to increasing incomes. For example, from 1971 to 2000, the obesity rate in the USA increased to from 14.5% to 30.9% of the entire population.

Economic
1. Lower productivity
Obesity due to excess food consumption can cause people to suffer from obesity-related health issues such as high blood pressure, causing them to take more days of leave and be absent from work more frequently. Similarly, obese children fall sick frequently and would miss school more often, thus losing their educational opportunities. For example, it was found that the employees of Duke University in the USA were twice as likely to fall sick or be injured at the place of work when they had a Body Mass Index (BMI) of over 40. This resulted in enormous insurance payouts by the university to them.

2. Diversion of financial resources to healthcare
   With more obese people being treated for obesity-related diseases, such as diabetes, the government would thus have to allocate more funds to the healthcare system. This leads to high public health expenditure, reducing funds available for other economic developments.

Social
1. Food wastage
People become less careful in handling food when there is excess food available, leading to large food wastage. This problem is especially serious in DCs where consumers tend to throw away excess edible food. Food wastage can add problems to a country as the country has to find solutions to dispose the additional waste, leading to more strains on landfills.
For example, DCs contribute to food wastage of 230 million tonnes, which is enough to feed the entire population in Sub-Saharan Africa.

2. Dieting
   When people become overweight due to excessive food consumption, they tend to undergo a diet to lose weight as well as perform physical exercises. Dieting also provides employment and value to an economy. For example, in 2012, the weight loss industry in the USA was valued at US$20 billion. This included diet books and medical procedures for losing weight. The weight loss industry also provides job opportunities.