6GEO4 Unit 3 Life on the Margins: the food supply problem

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6GEO4 Unit 3 Life on the Margins the food supply
problem
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What is this option about?

• The Life on the Margins food supply problem
  option focuses on why so many people live at the
  edge of survival, whilst there is enough food
  globally to provide for all. See the food
  spectrum diagram below
• In addition to studying places suffering
  inequality in food supply and security, you will
  need to understand
• The complex causes of food insecurity
• The impact of desertification
• Efforts to try to manage food insecurity.

Decreasing health------ health balance ------
Decreasing health Famine--Malnutrition-----goo
d diet ------- Obesity
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CONTENTS

• Food supply and security patterns
• Complex causes of food supply inequalities
• Desertification and life at the margins of
  survival
• Response to food insecurity and food supply
  issues

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1. Food supply and security patterns

• There are four subtopics you will need to
  research- see below table
• The concept of a global food crisis started in
  the 1970s with worries over the basic volume and
  stability of food supply.
• The food crisis has since widened, as shown in
  the FAO definition
• Food security is a key aim of the UN MDGs Goal 1
  Reduce by half the proportion of people who
  suffer from hunger by 2015

• Food security definition by the FAO
• a situation that exists when all people, at all
  times, have physical, social and economic access
  to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that
  meets their dietary needs and food preferences
  for an active and healthy life

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What is food security?

• Food security depends on direct and indirect
  factors
• Food must be
• Available
• Affordable
• Utilised

Food security -- Insecurity chronic hunger
(malnutrition) -- acute hunger (famine) Good
health -------------------------------------------
-----------------------Poor health
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Current issues 1. hunger hotspots
ASIA threats from war, political disputes,
natural hazards AFGHANISTAN BANGLADESH- NEPAL N
KOREA (DPRK)

• The main problem in food supply is its uneven
  distribution
• Over 50 of the worlds population live in low
  income, food deficit countries
• 2009 worldwide 850 million people suffer from
  hunger, 1.02 billion are undernourished , most
  of them in developing countries. (FAO)

EASTERN AFRICA - the Horn of Africa 20 m affected
by civil dispute, displacement, drought SOMALIA
KENYA ETHIOPIA SUDAN
-
LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARRIBBEAN drought and
over reliance on imported food and
aid GUATEMALA NICARAGUA HAITI
SOUTHERN AFRICA - Millions continue to be
affected by high levels of domestic prices, and
high seasonal food demand during peak hunger
months. ZIMBABWE LESOTHO SWAZILAND
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Current issues 2 Future Food supply and famine

• FAO report How to feed the world in 2050
  projections
• Global population of 9 billion will mean new
  and traditional demand for agricultural produce
  put ting growing pressure on already scarce
  agricultural resources.
• Global demand for food, feed and fibre will
  double.
• Crops increasingly used for bioenergy and other
  industrial purposes not food.
• Agriculture forced to compete for land and water
  with sprawling urban settlements, 70 population
  will be urban (50 at present)
• Agriculture will have to adapt to and also
  contribute to the mitigation of climate change,
  helping preserve natural habitats, protecting
  endangered species and maintain a high level of
  biodiversity.
• New technologies will be needed to grow more food
  with less people as rural depopulation continues
  in most regions .!
• Major Hotspot of deficit Sub-Saharan Africa

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Current issues3 Globalisation of food tastes,
under and over nutrition

• Food tastes are becoming more globalised, for
  example for westernised habits of meat eating,
  bread etc.
• People have more choices in urban areas
• The role of media is important soap and cookery
  programmes encouraging westernised dietary and
  sedentary habits for the more affluent
• The rising middle classes in transition economies
  such as India and China are changing their food
  habits.
• This is called the food transition from staple
  to often high protein and fats and sugars
• This has huge implications creating obesity
  and heart disease health risks. and changes in
  the social and physical environment of production
  areas.
• In countries where famine and under nutrition
  was traditionally the main issue, the reverse
  over nutrition is increasing , especially in
  India and China.
• Obesity has now reached epidemic proportions
  globally, with approximately 1.6 billion adults
  and 20 million children under 5 years old
  being overweight.(World Health Organisation)

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Current issues 4 Environmental issues resulting
from food production

• The scale and intensity of food production on
  land and in the oceans inevitably means changes
  to natural ecosystems and loss of biodiversity.
• In the 1990s issues centred on the threats from
  the Green Revolution, and later GM crops. Overuse
  of chemicals and technology resulted in
  environmental pollution and human health issues
• The latest debate centres on deforestation and
  replacement of staple food crops by often
  subsidised biofuels, especially in Brazil and USA
• There are global concerns over Ecofootprints and
  food miles .
• Ethical concerns over food production methods are
  rising, centred on animal welfare and
  exploitation of workers

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Patterns of food supply and Law of diminishing
returns

• Some areas are naturally more suited naturally to
  food production eg the great plains of America
  and Russia for instance.
• Peri-urban areas have also been traditionally
  important in food supply eg Beijing Bangkok,
  Madrid. Such areas are under constant threat from
  urban sprawl
• Physical factors limit food production unless
  technology is available to overcome temperature,
  water and nutrient deficiencies. Irrigation,
  chemicals and greenhouses are costly however.
• Agricultural advances in yields have shown there
  is a law of diminishing returns which limits even
  GM products.

Point of diminishing returns no matter what new
input no real increased output
Additional outputs ie crop yields, livestock
Inputs ie labour, capital, machinery
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Why food supply varies spatially factors
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Types of life on the margins and role of food
security rural and urban

• URBAN

• RURAL

• The FAO calls this the "century of cities
  identifying food supply as a major challenge
• Supplying cities with safe and affordable food
  will strain the food supply and distribution
  chain to the breaking point.
• The challenge is greatest in LEDCs , where urban
  poverty rates are often over 50
• On average 30 more spent on food than in rural
  areas
• Long distances, bad roads, poorly maintained
  trucks and urban crowding cause spoilage of 10 to
  30 of produce in transit.
• City and suburban farms supply food to about 700
  m city dwellers 25 of the worlds urban
  population.
• New research increasing on creating hungerproof
  cities!

• Traditional food insecurity is characteristic of
  rural areas especially in poorer economies
• Sub Saharan Africa has highest rate of
  undernourishment
• India has increasing URBAN dwellers facing
  scarcity
• NB even New York has soup kitchens!

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2. Causes of global inequalities in food supply
and security

• Food production varies greatly
• Between 1960-1990
• World cereal production doubled
• Food production increased by 33 per person
• Daily intake of calories increased by a third
• Real food prices dropped by almost 50
• Yet almost 1bn people do not have enough to eat,
  mainly in poorer countries. WHY? You will
  study

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Factors affecting food security
Since 1992 the of short and long term food
crises directly linked to human causes has risen
from 15 to over 35
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Who are the vulnerable groups in food insecurity?
There are a huge range of people more vulnerable
to food insecurity. The key factor is wealth
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Population pressure and resource relationships

• Traditional pessimistic Malthusian Model

• Boserup /technocentric model

• Population outstrips food supply. Possible in
  some localised areas but not at global scale-so
  far!

• Inventions and technology keep pace with demands
  for food .
• For decades, agricultural science has focused on
  boosting production through the development of
  new technologies -can be
• low tech crop resistant plants, targeted
  irrigation ....
• high tech megadams, chemical pesticides....

Africa offers examples of systemic issues at a
continental scale since pre independence most
countries were self sufficient in food yet most
now rely on imports and aid and there are many
famine hotspots. Complex political-demographic
and environmental factors are at play here
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The food supply system
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Environmental alternatives in food production

• Traditional organic

• Modern higher technology

• Relatively low impact on the environment
• EU, reforms of the Common Agricultural Policy(
  CAP )foster more environmentally friendly
  agriculture, with a growth in LEAF farms( Linking
  Environment with Farming).
• However tends to be less profitable than more
  technologically based types, and has suffered
  with global recession of the early 20th C.
• NB majority of farmers in developing counties are
  still rooted in subsistence and small scale
  production methods which are often organic too
  because of poverty.
•  

• High impact on environment from modern farming in
  westernised countries since WW 2. Often large
  scale intensive or extensive commercial.
• Similar issues more recently in developing
  economies adopting Green Revolution techniques.

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3. The role of desertification in threatening
life at the margins

• The 4 main topics may be grouped as below table
  summarises
• The UN defines desertification as land
  degradation in arid, semi arid and dry subhumid
  areas resulting from various factors, including
  climatic variations and human activities.
• Land degradation means the reduction or loss of
  the biological or economic productivity of
  drylands.
• 70 of all drylands are classed as degraded
  ,excluding hyperarid deserts, and suffering
  desertification

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Drylands and desertification?

• Drylands Include all terrestrial regions where
  the production of crops, forage, wood and other
  ecosystem services are limited by water.
• 41 of Earths land surface, 2 billion people
  ,33 of world population.
• Climate classi?ed as dry subhumid, semiarid, arid
  or extreme hyper-arid.
• Precipitation often unreliable and sporadic hence
  ecosystems fragile and vulnerable to over use .
• On average low human well-being and development
  indicator 90 are in developing countries.
• Asia and Africa dominate, with less areas in
  Central America and Europe. The top 10 are
  Australia, China, Russia and USA
• Some smaller countries are almost 100 classed as
  dryland Botswana, Burkina Faso, Turkmenistan,
  Iraq, and Moldova

Desertification affects the food security of over
2billion people in drylands . Africa and Central
Asia are particularly at risk, with 3 key areas
of vulnerability in Sub-Saharan Africa the
Sahel, the Horn of Africa and SE
Africa Salinisation is a linked problem
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Causes of desertification

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• The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment identifies
  the cause as the result of a long-term failure to
  balance human demand for ecosystem services and
  the amount the ecosystem can supply
• See diagram for simplified complex causes
• Mismanagement and politics are often root causes
• Climate change is adding more complexity

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Food production in dryland /desertified areas

• Food production generally requires massive
  amounts of water. Examples
• 1 kg of wheat needs 1000l of water
• 1 kg of rice needs 3,000l.
• Irrigation can ensure an adequate and reliable
  supply of water which increases yields of most
  crops by up to 400.
• Although only 17 of global cropland is
  irrigated, it produces 40 of the world's food.
• Ongoing food availability depends on increasing
  irrigation efficiency and limiting environment
  damage through salinisation, damaged aquifers or
  reduced soil fertility

• Human population growth in drylands increased by
  18.5 1990 -2000.

Sensitivity to human pressure increases with
aridity
Human pressure decreases with aridity
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4. Management and Responses to Food insecurity
A strategy means the overall aims and tactics of
a scheme, It is implemented by various delivery
techniques involving a range of policies and
actual technology. Food security management
mirrors hazard risk management-see diagram
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Management target zones

• Increasing food production leads to greater
  availability of food and generates income which
  can help break poverty cycles.
• However there is a huge spectrum of long and
  short term strategies. These may involve
• Fairer trade,
• Reduced debt servicing,
• reduced subsidies to richer economies,
• Less tied aid,
• More community involvement,
• appropriate technology,
• infrastructure building.....

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Players
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Business as Usual or Sustainability in food
security?

• Seeking ways of providing food, water and energy
  that are long-lasting and have less of an impact
  on the environment has led to the quest for
  sustainable food supply systems ( the red star)
  need 3 overlapping criteria to work effectively.
• A well-functioning food system
• Improves human health and social well-being
• Is positive for the environment and the economy
  long term
• Can therefore cope with shocks from natural and
  human created disasters.
• Difficult to achieve without some form of
  negative externalities

Food consumption
Food production
Food processing distribution.marketing
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World Food summit 2009

• Aims of FAO and 180 member countries
• help for poorer farmers
• Strategies to halt rising food prices
• increase investment in science and technology,
  continue studying biofuels and cut the number of
  the world's hungry by half by 2015

• The global food insecurity situation has worsened
  
• The number of hungry people could increase by a
  further 100 m in 2009 and pass the 1bn mark
• Food prices remain high in developing countries,
• The global economic crisis is aggravating the
  situation by affecting jobs and deepening poverty
• Is it possible to eat well and save the planet as
  promoted by pressure group SUSTAIN?