3.2.4.2 environment and population

Question 1

What does data show us about food consumption in recent years?

Answer 1

The dietary energy has been steadily increasing on a worldwide basis; availability of calories per capita from the mid 1960s to the late 1990s increased globally by around 450 kcal per capital per day and by over 600 kcal per capita in developing countries. The per capita supply of calories has remained almost stagnant in sub-Saharan Africa and has recently fallen in the countries in economic transition.

Question 2

What is undernourishment or hunger according to FAO?

Answer 2

Dietary intake below the minimum daily energy requirement

Question 3

How do dietary energy requirements differ?

Answer 3

Gender, age and different levels of physical activity

Question 4

Is the dietary energy requirements the same for every country?

Answer 4

The amount of energy needed for light activity and minimum acceptable weight for attained height varies by country depending on the gender and age structure of the population. It ranges between 1,700 and 2,000 kcal per day

Question 5

How is undernourishment calculated?

Answer 5

Using the average amount of food available for consumption, the size of the population, the relative disparities in access to food and the minimum calories required for each individual

Question 6

How many people were undernourished in 2012 according to FAO?

Answer 6

868 million

Question 7

Are more people becoming undernourished?

Answer 7

No - undernourishment has decreased across the world since 1990, in all regions except Africa where it has steadily increased

Question 8

What is the Millennium Development Goal concerning hunger? Has it been reached?

Answer 8

Halve hunger between 1990 and 2015 - not reached due to decrease not big enough

Question 9

What caused lots of people to go hungry?

Answer 9

The global financial, economic and food-price crisis in 2008 - especially issue for women and children - sudden increase in prices prevented many people from escaping poverty, because the poor spend a larger proportion of their income on food and subsistence farmers are net consumers of food

Question 10

How can farms be considered open systems?

Answer 10

Inputs:
Physical - temperature, precipitation, rainfall
Cultural - farm size, local diet
Economic: farm machinery, money availability
Behavioural (the farmer): Age and experience, openness to new ideas

Processes:
e.g. jobs on the farm - ploughing, weeding, harvesting
OR
calving, milking, feeding

Outputs:
e.g. products from the farm
Fruit, animal products (milk), vegetable crops

Losses:
Soil erosion, leaching of soil nutrients

Hazards:
Drought, hail, fire, crop disease

Question 11

What is commercial farming?

Answer 11

it is carried out so that the majority of the produce is sold and the income generated can provide a livelihood for the farm workers as well as be invested back into the farm

Question 12

What is subsistence farming?

Answer 12

This means that the majority of the produce is consumed by the landowner and the farm workers, though a little surplus may be sold to buy other living requirements and/or be invested in the farm

Question 13

What is intensive farming?

Answer 13

It is usually relatively small scale and is usually:
- capital intensive: money invested in soil improvement, machinery, buildings, pest control, high-quality animals. There are few people employed and so output is high per hectare and per worker, e.g. tomato production in the Netherlands
- labour intensive: the number of farm workers is high and so there is high output per hectare but a low output per worker, e.g. rice cultivation in the Ganges valley

Question 14

What is extensive farming?

Answer 14

farming is carried out on a large scale over a large area - varies greatly - areas where although labour force is low there is high capital per input e.g. on quality seeds/animals or pesticides and insecticides e.g. wheat farming in the Canadian Prairies - other areas still have low labour force but rely on sheer amount of land they are farming to provide sufficient output for their needs e.g. sheep ranching Australia

Question 15

What is agricultural productivity?

Answer 15

key measure of the economic performance of agriculture and an important driver of farm incomes - represents how efficiently the agricultural industry uses the resources that are available to turn inputs into outputs
it is a relative measure - see if improvements are made by comparing one year to another
assessing potential for greater productivity is a critical first step on the pathway to producing more with less
need to consider longer-term trends from year-to-year often shaped by factors outside farmers control

Question 16

What factors shape agricultural productivity in the short-term?

Answer 16

weather, animal disease, policy interventions and general economic conditions

Question 17

How is agricultural productivity measured?

Answer 17

in terms of yield - how many kg of grain per hectare, kg of meat per animal, litres of milk per cow

Question 18

What is the most commonly used measurement of agricultural productivity?

Answer 18

total factor productivity (TFP)

Question 19

what is TFP?

Answer 19

the ratio of agricultural outputs such as livestock output to inputs such as land and labour. As producers use inputs more effectively and precisely or adopt improved cultivation and livestock raising practices, TFP grows while using a fixed or even reduced amount of inputs.

Question 20

How to improve TFP with crops?

Answer 20

• higher yielding, disease resistant and drought or flood tolerant crop varieties
• more efficient and timely cultivation and harvesting practices
• using technologies that indicate precisely when and how much water and fertiliser to apply

Question 21

How to improve TFP when raising livestock?

Answer 21

• breeding animals for favourable genetic qualities and behaviour
• using better animal care and disease management practices
• adoption of high quality feeds contribute to greater productivity

Question 22

Has agricultural output increased or decreased for LICs?

Answer 22

LICs have boosted their agricultural output dramatically since the mid-1980s and a growing share of their agricultural output is now attributable to TFP, the efficiency of production.

Question 23

How do you raise agricultural productivity in LICs?

Answer 23

requires massive investments in agricultural research and development, rural infrastructure and support for the special needs of smallholders farmers, women producers and co-operative producer associations

Question 24

Has agricultural output increased or decreased for HICs?

Answer 24

decades of public and private investment has had a powerful impact on agricultural research and development, rural infrastructure and extension of productive technologies and innovations to the farm level

Question 25

How do farmers make decisions on how to use their land?

Answer 25

• their own strengths and knowledge
• cultural factors
• economic variables
• physical factors

Question 26

What are the two most important physical factors that help farmers decide how to use their land?

Answer 26

climate and soils; they are close related because soils are often determined by climate and the natural vegetation of the area