food security 6

Question 1

intensification definition

Answer 1

the process of making something greater, more extreme or more intense

Question 2

sustainable intensification

Answer 2

a strategy for combatting the growing resource demand from population growth
increase crop output from the same area: increased efficiency

Question 3

Malthus’s approach

Answer 3

population grows exponentially
food production grows linearly
there is a point where food production is less than the population: famine
this is the critical threshold
Malthus suggests we allow population decline at the critical threshold, in fact, the government should encourage this to decrease resource demand

Question 4

Boserup’s approach

Answer 4

population will grow exponentially
believes humans can solve the problem of limited resources
food production is not linear, begins linear but then increases by innovation when the critical threshold occurs
technological innovation prevents food shortages and facilitates increased population growth

Question 5

classical sequence of intensification

Answer 5

slash and burn -> bush fallow -> short fallow -> annual cropping -> multi cropping -> chemical fertilisation -> GMO

Question 6

implication of Boserup’s theory

Answer 6

intensification is forced by external phenomena (population growth)
why would you wish to work more if you can get away with less?

Question 7

labour and productivity returns

Answer 7

increasing returns: 1 unit labour causes >1 unit return (Boserup)
diminishing returns 1 unit labour causes 1 unit output
negative returns: 1 unit labour causes <1 unit return (surpassed the maximum output)
according to Boserup new technology is needed to increase the output beyond the maximum output

Question 8

real life population growth dilemmas

Answer 8

real life population growth is approximately super-exponential
faster than exponential
agricultural intensification: the myth of the population bomb:
- unprecedented population growth after WW2
- concerns about diminishing resources in the overpopulated world
- surge of neo-Malthusian ideas justified human rights abuses included India’s mass sterilisation of 1976; China’s one child policy of 1979

Question 9

agricultural intensification: the myth of the green revolution

Answer 9

-the green revolution: science based transformation of third-world agriculture (1960 -1990)
- high yield seed varieties, chemical fertilisers, pesticides, precision irrigation : intensification
- goal was to increase food production and eliminating the natural limits
- caused world food supply to double (1965-1985) In Asia food supply increased 100% with only 4% increase in cropped area
- but also, diseased soils, erosion of local agrarian practices, decrease genetic diversity

Question 10

in a new green revolution?

Answer 10

using new technologies to increase crop yield
tools like AI to suggest remedies to plant supplies, link to government strategies, track soil nutrients
precision farming tools like GIS

Question 11

conclusion on Boserup

Answer 11

Boserup methods requires constant innovation to endlessly avoid catastrophe
however, cannot stop global innovation due to need of resources for the human population