Unit 4

Question 1

Calorie intake?

Answer 1

The HICs are the largest consumers of calories with the USA, France, Canada, Germany and Italy all over consuming with 3,480-3,770 calories per capita per day. MICs tend to have the most balanced diet with India and the Philippines having 2,170-2,390 calories per day per capita.

Question 2

Kalahandi Syndrome?

Answer 2

• Between 1998 and 2003 rice production in Kalahandi exceeded local needs and contributed to India’s national reserves
• Most farmers however don’t own their land and cant afford to buy the rice they grow for their landlords. As a result 50 million tonnes rotted in the countryside while people went hungry.
• This is the ‘Kalahandi Syndrome’ and it occurs globally.
• If the supply of food was distributed evenly according to the World Health Organisation’s minimum daily calorie requirement then a surplus could supply an additional 800 million
• The tragedy is that the WHO estimates that currently 800 million people worldwide cannot afford to buy their recommended daily calorie intake

Question 3

Evolutionary eating issues in HICs?

Answer 3

• We were used to a little fat, sugar and salt diet
• Whenever we consumed some we got a brain signal to ‘binge’
• Now it is readily available so we are prone to ‘binge’ unhealthy foods
• Food businesses have learnt through practice that people will come back for this so they continue to make fatty, sugary and salty foods
• High Fructose Corn Syrup – cheaper than sugar – does not trigger receptor that stops eating
• Corn subsidised by USA – farmers produce more – used to make high fructose corn syrup and to feed cows – leads to high energy foods and meals (burgers) = obesity
• Health ‘halo’ – perception that its healthy but its not
• Lower class – buy the cheaper processed food for its high energy content, price and ease to cook

Question 4

UN’s Classifications of food insecurity?

Answer 4

The UN’s Integrated Phase Classification (IPC) system has 5 levels of food security

• Phase 1: Generally food secure
• Phase 2: Moderately/borderline food insecure
• Phase 3: Acute food and livelihood crisis
• Phase 4: Humanitarian emergency
• Phase 5: Famine/humanitarian catastrophe

Question 5

UN definition of famine?

Answer 5

The UN defines famine as ‘ when 1/3 of children are acutely malnourished and 4 out of every 10,000 children dying each day’.

Question 6

Boserup?

Answer 6

• As population increases, humans find new way to increase food production through new mechanisms thus we never reach a crisis point
• This is partially created due to the economy supporting this
• Monsanto, Round Up pesticide which is used to produce corn but it kills normal corn so use GM round up ready corn so yield is heightened

Question 7

Kuapo Kokoo?

Answer 7

• In 1993, a group of farmers in Ghana formed a cooperative to sell their own cocoa. It was supported by the UK Department for International Development.
• Farmers get a social premium of $150 per tonne due to fair trade
• In 1998 it came together with the body shop, Christian aid and comic relief to found the divine chocolate company.
• Divine chocolate is sold in the UK
• In Africa, riven with war, political stability is just as important but fair trade can help stabilise this with greater incomes

Question 8

UN Millennium Development Goals

Answer 8

• End date 2015
• First goal was to ‘eradicate extreme poverty and hunger’
o Reduce by half the proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day
o Reduce by half the proportion of people living through extreme hunger

Question 9

Views of the UN Development Goals?

Answer 9

UNDP Article ‘From one meal to three in Bangladesh’
UNDP’s UPPR initiative has improved living standards for more than 2.3 million people in Bangladesh.
Some 14,000 high-school age girls continue to stay in school as a result of education grants, and more than 250,000 people have benefited from social development activities.
Micro-loan of $85 - improved livelihood of mother Begum to a monthly income of $15 after expenses
• ‘More Money or More Development: What Have the MDGs Achieved?’ (Kenny and Summer December 2011) Center for Global Development – Working Paper – Peer reviewed researched
o ‘It is impossible to say with any certainty what was the impact of the MDGs’
o ‘Lack of Legal Authority’
o ‘The MDGs have been a powerful force in framing debate and providing donors with a framework for action’
o ‘Only so much a declaration can do’

Question 10

Golden Rice?

Answer 10

Improving the nutritional value of Golden Rice through increased pro-vitamin A content (Jacqueline A Paine et al, 2005) - constantly improving science - ‘Golden Rice 2’ - very strong future for GM rice
Pros
•Can substitute 50% RDA of vitamin A
•Low cost solution to having a balanced diet once developed
•Beta -carotene (pro-vitamin A) to help combat vitamin A deficiency
• Does not require a massive change in the local farming system as they are already producing rice
• Healthier populations in the developing world makes them more productive which benefits the economy
Cons
• Need large quantities to get the total vitamin A intake recommended so that it will not solve the problem but reduce it.
• General bad image of GM foods due to fears of health concerns
• Opportunity cost – could of taught people how to farm a balanced diet – carrots – easier and cheaper to grow a wider range of food due to GM health checks and permits

Question 11

DAL Dairy in Sudan?

Answer 11

• Importing Western Cows – Friesian – most productive
  Air-conditioned because they can’t withstand the heat – feed alfalfa
  Artificial insemination – can produce 5x as many offspring
  Energy intensive
  Use of antibiotics as it is highly susceptible to disease – bioaccumulation
  Increased waste – eutrophication Does not provide many jobs
  Fight between productivity and jobs
  Requires skilled workers
  More milk for less water – economic and environmental
  Expensive - $50 million for cow factory – Sudan not ready – little backing and finance
  Producing food to a high standard
• Producing alfalfa using modern irrigation systems – centre pivot mechanical irrigation
  Uses less water More efficient than traditional
  Difficult to make economically viable, expensive machinery
  Needs skilled workers and resources to maintain which are rare in places such as Sudan

Question 12

Organoponico

Answer 12

Organoponico
After it lost its only trading partner and financial backer, USSR, they began to build organoponicos in response to national hunger and low food security
Allotments sprung up everywhere Now provide 90% of fruit and veg
Cheap
Organic – organic fertiliser
1 million tonnes of food each year Other than fruit and veg other foods are rationed by the state
5 pounds of rice a month
Allowance subsidised by government
Local food security

Question 13

Al Rahba Farms?

Answer 13

• Al Rahba Organic Farm – owned by ‘Integrated Green Resources UAE’ (IGR)
• Air-conditioned farms with irrigation systems
• Chicken waste – organic fertiliser
• High-carbon footprint farming methods
• Chicken waste is sustainable
• Chickens are not sustainable – water and imported grain
• Only sustainable from government subsides
• Not as organic – does not have a reduced impact on the environment
• Government trying to kick-start a farming industry so that they become more self-sufficient and are protected when global food prices spike or oil prices crash
Supermarket surveying revealed that 90% of fruits were locally grown after stratified sampling.

Question 14

Los Mesos Flacos?

Answer 14

Diversification strategies so that they have other sources of food when they can’t afford it
Save the Children – Non Profit NGO – supplies training and seeds to have home gardens so that they are domestically food secure
Silo’s to secure stable food – buy grains, corn, rice when prices are low and store them all year – safe from rain and rodents -The CAN/PRODECOOP project has produced a rich participatory experience that lead to the creation of Community Grain Distribution Centers
Heifer International – non profit working in Mexico – works in communities to diversify their sources of food and income so they are not dependent on coffee
The Survey reported that diversification has had a positive effect on food security, income generation and general household stability
Solutions can be seen to have worked as the number of thin months identified has lowered in all four locations – In Nicaragua for example it has lowered from 3.64 (2007) to 2.5 (2013)

Question 15

Fair trade view?

Answer 15

Do Consumers care about ethics? (Pelsmaker et al, 2005)
Belgians are willing to pay 10% premium but the don’t buy fair-trade as the average premium is 27%
Peer-reviewed and has been cited 328 times

Question 16

Golden Rice view?

Answer 16

Improving the nutritional value of Golden Rice through increased pro-vitamin A content (Jacqueline A Paine et al, 2005) - positive outlook - created ‘Golden Rice 2’

Question 17

Venezuela solution?

Answer 17

Crash of oil prices
93% of Venezuelans don’t have enough money to buy food and therefore skip meals
o Solutions – Control food prices – Control prices and imports of flour – Take over bakeries that fail to comply (Minka bakery)
o Failure – ran out of bread – not enough flour is imported – some imports are stolen by military generals
Anecdotal evidence

Question 18

Organiponicos methodology?

Answer 18

BBC documentary for information on Organiponicos (2010) (Secondary)
The BBC is an independent news organisation and is useful for objective food security information and facts. As a video documentary it is supported with anecdotal evidence and interviews with primary witnesses. Journalist interviews however are not conducted with scientific standards and therefore are not fully representative of the groups interviewed and the evidence presented is not peer reviewed, all of which negatively affects the usefulness of the source and its objectivity.

Question 19

Farm visit methodology?

Answer 19

Farm site visit, Abu Dhabi (Primary)
I was able to personally experience modern farming techniques at work, which are improving food security in an arid climate. There would be little bias therefore besides my own personal bias and the data gathered is intended solely for my own investigation, therefore being objective. The farm I visited however was chosen due to it being open to the public and was therefore opportunistic sampling, creating an issue of how reliable a representation it was of all farms in the region.

Question 20

Cloud seeding methodology?

Answer 20

The National Newspaper, Abu Dhabi, online article for information on Cloud Seeding (April 8th 2017) (Secondary)
The Article gives local information on cloud seeding, supported by interviews from experts who are directly implementing the changes, which is very useful. The source is also very up to date and as a website it is also live and can be edited for updates or factual errors. The National Newspaper however is a state-owned and controlled newspaper and is therefore prone to presenting positive views of government policies. Moreover, again as it is a newspaper it is not a peer-reviewed article by the scientific community and it being current means that not all facts have been established as of yet.

Question 21

Critique of the UN’s 2000 Millennium Development Goals methodology?

Answer 21

‘More Money or More Development: What Have the MDGs Achieved?’ (Kenny and Summer December 2011) Center for Global Development, Working Paper
A peer reviewed scientific article produced by the Center for Global Development, which is an independent body of researchers. The source is therefore very reputable and the information credible. The only issue is that it was published in 2011, which is prior to the completion of the end of MDGs in 2015 and therefore its conclusions do not represent work that may have happened within the final years.

Question 22

Los Mesos Flacos methodology?

Answer 22

Thin Months Revisited Final Report – Public Version May 2014 Written by International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) in association with Vermont University for information on Central America
A very useful source as it is a peer-reviewed scientific article detailing an extensive follow-up study on original study from 2007, focused on local and regional food security in Nicaragua, Mexico and Guatemala. To have accurate yields similar to those of the 2007 study, conditions on interviews were made and a control group was created to allow for contrast in results. The survey sent to these groups was also very extensive. Overall the source is very credible, with only a slight question of its objectivity being raised from it being funded by Keurig Green Mountain, Inc. (Keurig), a coffee TNC.

Question 23

Fair Trade methodology?

Answer 23

Oxford’s “A2 Geography for Edexcel” textbook for information on Fair Trade and the Kuapo Kokoo organisation (Secondary)
As the source is specifically focused on the content of the investigation it is useful. It is also a peer-reviewed textbook approved, edited and checked by several experts in the scientific community. It was published in 2009 however and therefore the information may not be as accurate.

Question 24

Success of the MDGs methodology?

Answer 24

UNDP article ‘From one meal a day to three in Bangladesh’ for success of MDGs
The UNDP is an international organisation, worked on by many experts in the field. They are also the pioneers of the MDGs, which is useful. Alternatively however, as they are the creators they may focus on the positives of the outcomes.

Question 25

Venezuala methodology?

Answer 25

The Independent - Venezuela’s socialist leaders seize bakeries as country’s ‘bread war’ escalates - 2017
As a newspaper is useful for topical and current information on issues of food security globally.

Question 26

DAL Diary methodology?

Answer 26

'Super cows; part of Sudan's agriculture revolution'
BBC Documentary (Jan 2014)
The BBC is an independent news organisation and is useful for objective food security information and facts. As a video documentary it is supported with anecdotal evidence and interviews with primary witnesses. Journalist interviews however are not conducted with scientific standards and therefore are not fully representative of the groups interviewed and the evidence presented is not peer reviewed, all of which negatively affects the usefulness of the source and its objectivity.

Question 27

Pillars of Food Security?

Answer 27

Availability
Access/Utilisation
Stability
FAO Policy Brief June 2006 issue 2

Question 28

Definition of food security?

Answer 28

When ‘all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs… for an active and healthy life’ (World Food Summit, 1996)

Question 29

Definition of Availability?

Answer 29

The availability of sufficient quantities of food of appropriate quality, supplied through domestic production or imports.

Question 30

Definition of Access?

Answer 30

Access by individuals to adequate resources (entitlements) for acquiring appropriate foods

Question 31

Definition of Utilisation?

Answer 31

Utilisation of food through adequate diet, clean water, sanitation and health care to reach a state of nutritional well-being

Question 32

Definition of Stability?

Answer 32

A household should not risk losing access to foods as a consequence of sudden shocks (economic or climactic) or cyclical events (seasonal food security)

Question 33

Case studies for availability?

Answer 33

Organiponicos - simplistic - small scale
DAL Dairy - Green Revolution - large scale
Organiponicos better at increasing access - Dal Dairy increases amount available on local market but it is expensive

Question 34

Case studies for access and utilisation?

Answer 34

Kuappa Kokoo - small scale - also stability
Golden Rice- Utilisation - large scale
UN MDGs - International - largest scale

Question 35

Case studies for stability?

Answer 35

NGOs in Central America - diversification and silos - small scale - less susceptible to ‘sudden shocks’ - monoculture - pests or dry season - can eat their edible crops - silos - drop in cash crop prices - have food
Al Rhaba Farms - ‘sudden shocks’ being oil price drop - large scale

Question 36

All case studies?

Answer 36

International (large scale)
UN Development Goals (access)
Green Revolution - DAL Dairy (availability + slightly access) + Abu Dhabi (stability) + Golden Rice (utilisation) 
Local (small scale)
Organiponicos (Availability)
Fair Trade Cooperatives (Access)
Thin Months - (Stability)
Governmental (if it comes up)
Venezuela - (Access)
Al Rhaba Farms (Security)

Question 37

Introduction?

Answer 37

Food security is defined as when ‘all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs … for an active and healthy life’ (World Food Summit, 1996).
…… Suit to question……
To find the best scale for improving food security, therefore assessing the view, I shall investigate methods through the framework of the three pillars of food security (outlined by the FAO Policy Brief in June 2006 issue 2). These pillars can be seen in Figure 1 below:
Draw Pillars
Additionally, the FAO defines availability, access, utilisation and stability as the following:
Availability: The availability of sufficient quantities of food of appropriate quality, supplied through domestic production or imports.
Food Access: Access by individuals to adequate resources (entitlements) for acquiring appropriate foods.
Food Utilisation: Utilisation of food through adequate diet, clean water, sanitation and health care to reach a state of nutritional well being.
Stability: A household should not risk losing access to foods as a consequence of sudden shocks (economic or climactic) or cyclical events (seasonal food insecurity)

I will therefore explore ….. methods of improving food security through each of these categories (figure 1) to determine at which scale it is best achieved and therefore how valid the view is.

Question 38

Evaluation?

Answer 38

Simplistic = less adaptable to climate change
Organiponicos - BBC documentary - not a peer review study - interviews not representative- no long-term data to show what happens in bad harvests
UAE - the national (state-owned) - cloud seeding efficiency is controversial (national concedes that its ‘not an exact science’ - no evidence that if subsidies ended the industry would survive - energy intensive means larger price
CIAT and Vermont University - very credible and objective - only slight concern - Keurig - Coffee TNC funded it

Question 39

Cloud seeding facts

Answer 39

Sodium Iodide
58 Cloud Seeding Operations this year
Increased rainfall of 30% in UAE
‘Not an exact science’