🟣Population And The Environment Flashcards
Grass roots approach Burkina Faso
Mark out change of slope with a water tube level - measuring tube attached to two measuring sticks at either end (spirit level). Farmers are trained how to do this.
Build a foundation trench along the marked contour
Lay stones along the contours of the land in long lines 25 to 30cm high
Use large stones then infill with small stones
Grasses can also be planted along the barrier.
Increase crop breeding (Green Ghana)
Western Africa, has lots of fertile land but suffers food insecurity.
Ghana signed up to a G8 initiative and decided to focus on 5 crops (cowpea, maize, cassava, rice and yam).
Increase crop breeding Gene Revolution (Kalahandi, India)
Strategies and ​new technology​ ​(e.g. GM crops) can increase the amount of food being produced, which therefore increases food security as there is more food ​available​, and this food may also be ​healthier​.
Managing ​farms more successfully through training, farming equipment, and ​high yielding varieties (HYVs) can increase food supplies. This means a country has more food available​ ​to distribute to its population.
Strategies to increase food security by reducing post production losses (Uganda)
Controlling moisture content and avoiding direct crop contact with exposed soil during drying.
Understandins the impact of weather conditions al the time of harvest. so that harvesting is undertaken at the opumum time (lor example, rain dampens crops leading to mould growth).
Drying crops by reducing the moisture content below the level required for mould to grow.
Precautions to avoid damaging grain during threshing.
Killing all life stages of insect pests prior to storage by placing the grain into a solar oven for 1-5 hours.
Training and guidance on proper storage of crops.
Airtight containers.
Strategies to increase food security by reducing growth demands (UK)
Greater numbers of people eating less meat and consuming more plant-based food as part of their diet would free up more land for crop production for human consumption. This may require better marketing of plant-based food, improvement of meat substitute products or implementing policies to disincentivise meat consumption. There would undoubtedly be a reaction against this by pastoral farmers, especially in wealthier countries. Arguably a lot of farmland, especially steeper or marginal land, is only suitable for pasture and cannot be used for crops, so it is already being put to its most effective use.
Consumption of meat (beef, lamb and goat) is projected to rise 88 percent between 2010 and 2050. Beef, the most commonly consumed meat, is resource-intensive to produce, requiring 20 times more land and emitting 20 times more GHGs per gram of edible protein than common plant proteins, such as beans, peas and lentils. Limiting meat consumption to 52 calories per person per day by 2050-about 1.5 hamburgers per week–would reduce the GHG mitigation gap by half and nearly close the land gap. In North America this would require reducing current beef and lamb consumption by nearly half. Actions to take include improving the marketing of plant-based foods, improving meat substitutes and implementing policies that favour consumption of plant-based foods.
Climate smart farming in Nepal and India
Helps manage agricultural systems respond effectively to climate change - sustainably increasing productivity and incomes, adapting to climate change and reducing greenhouse gas emissions where possible.
Healthy soils help to mitigate the effects of climate change and lead to better yields, more biodiversity and improved ecosystem services. Farm practices such as agro- ecology, conservation farming, using crop rotations and cover crops, or keeping permanent pasture can help capture CO2 in the soil in the long term.
(Eg. Increased access to Irrigation to promote crop growth and soil health)
Strategies of improving food security? (4)
Produce more food
Import more food
Food aid
New ways of producing food
Increase crop breeding (Green Ghana) advantages
Around 50,000 farmers have learned useful skills such as warehouse management. So crops can be stored in warehouses rather than homes so less crops are spoiled.
200,000 farmers using improved seed varieties that are higher yield crops.
Many farmers have increased their maize yields by up t o 400%
Increase crop breeding (Green Ghana) disadvantages
A new plant breeders bill has been put in place to protect the new companies that produce high yield variety crops. Farmers used to swap seeds, this is now illegal and they have to pay for new seeds.
Inorganic fertilisers are too expensive and so some farmers cant afford them.
Those farmers who can afford the new fertilisers have sometimes used too much. This has caused pollution.
Burkina Faso Grass roots approach aims
• This idea was to trap the rainwater that falls.
• These stones slow down run off water and allow it time to infiltrate the ground and rich sediments to be trapped in the field.
• Soil has more moisture and organic content so is more stable
• This results in less erosion and more water and nutrients for the crops.
Planting pits are also used to hold more water around the plant and homemade compost is used to provide a fertility boost for the soil.
Burkina Faso Grass roots approach advantages
• Cheap – tube costs £3 (Oxfam have subsidised the cost), stones are free!
• Traditional – local people accept it
• Involves people in decisions – they are therefore motivated to make it work
• Collective – people work together
• Local resources – stones
• Environmentally friendly
• Minimal maintenance
• Skills are easy to learn (appropriate technology)
Burkina Faso Grass Roots evidence of sucess
• Has thrived since 1980s – so sustainable
• Food production across the central plateau of BF has seen 1/3 of a million hectares reclaimed
• The technique has spread from Burkina Faso to Mali and Niger.
• Barren land has been restored and vegetation re-established
• Benefits seen quickly so the scheme has been a big success
Does the stone lines strategy meet the criteria for food security
Use - yes doesn’t include much about storage however the UN and Oxfam or vide support storage
Availability - increase farm yield
Access - easy / cheap to implement
Stability - sustainable methods, works with nature, not global but useful in smaller areas
How might a ripened crop be contaminated (Uganda)
micro-organisms, chemicals, excessive moisture, fluctuating temperature, extremes mechanical damage or ineffective storage.
What is the most serious food related health risk in Uganda?
The constant threat of food poisoning caused by aflatoxin contamination. Aflatoxins are naturally occurring, highly carcinogenic poisons produced by a fungus that is particularly prominent in maize. It can develop when produce comes into contact with soil during harvesting, threshing and drying. The problem has become so widespread in East Africa that aflatoxin poisoning has become an epidemic.
How to reduce waste close to the fork?
Food labelling - confusion around use-by; ‘sell-by, best-before’ and other date labels can lead
people to throw out food that is still perfectly good.
Consumer awareness - buying only the food that is needed is more sustainable as theres more food left to feed others
Waste reduction targets - buying only the food that is needed is more sustainable as theres less food waste per household
Case study - Kalahandi case study disadvantages and advantages
There has been increase in rice yields and it exceeded local demand between 1998 and 2003 (contributed to Indias central food reserves).
Most Kalahandi farmers had reduced nutrition levels because they don’t own their own land so have to rent it or work as landless labourers. Rent is high and farmers are in debt (due to seed and fertiliser purchases), and their wages our low so they cant afford to buy the rice they grow.
Strategies to ensure food security - produce more food
Increase livestock and pasture productivity
Increase crop breeding
Plant existing cropland more frequently
Increase fish supplies
Intensification
Expansion
Application of technology to the world started after the 2nd world war.
Mechanisation and improved seeds, new fertilisers, and new pesticides and herbicides, all of which have been designed to work together. The improved seeds were created through selective breeding and hybridization. The fertilizers and pesticides are composed of artificialchemicals designed to provide just the nutrients that crops need and to target their main pests and weeds.
New high yielding varieties of wheat and rice.
Strategies to ensure food security - produce more food examples
India
Philippines
Green revelation
Strategies to ensure food security - produce more food problems
large use of pesticides - more pesticides in ecosystem = toxic chemicals, super bugs and resistance to the pesticides
Removal of peat bogs and hedges
Money is required - marginalising the poorest farmers, some farmers get bypassed in the more remote areas. Larger companies gained more control at the expense of the smaller rural farmers as they were unable to afford new technology.
Strategies to ensure food security - import more food
Increasing a country’s access to ​foreign markets means they can import food (removing trade barriers), increasing food security.
Trading agreements​ ​such as ​trade blocs​ can be very beneficial to a country that is struggling to ​provide enough food​ ​for its population.
Strategies to ensure food security - import more food examples
World trade of cereals for LIC’s
Strategies to ensure food security - import more food problems
Need capital Infrastructure effective storage and processing or the food will rot.
Price volatility.
