Sustainable food

Question 1

How many people in the world live with ‘food insecurity’?

Answer 1

950 Million in 2010

Question 2

What percentage of food insecure come from SSA and South Asia?

Answer 2

96%

Question 3

How many more tonnes of cereals and meat (annual prod) will need to be produced in the next 35 years to meet demand?

Answer 3

1 Billiion tonnes of cereals and 200 million tonnes of meat

Question 4

How many adults are overweight and how many are obese?

Answer 4

1.6 Billiion overweight

400 Million obese

Question 5

Physical factors promoting food production

Answer 5

Soil fertility - Alluvial soils rich in phosphurus and nitrates
Flat reflief - Prevents runoff and enables tractor use - Eg Canadian Prairies
Global warming - IPCC - 0.5 c increase = wheat yield up 20% in UK

Question 6

Physical factors hindering food production

Answer 6

Global warming - 0.5 in india = -20%
Increased rainfall variability - Up to 95% fall in yield in Zimbabwe in last three years
Losses to pests - farm output reduced by 50% in LEDCs (world bank)
Use of marginal land leading to degradation - 25% of agricultural land is degraded
HIV/AIDS - 3 million deaths a year, many sufferers are farmers + Malaria
Salinisation - Murray Darling

Question 7

Economic factors promoting food production

Answer 7

Official development assitance (ODA) - $1.2 Billion donated internationally in 2010
Higher demand for food encourages increased production

Question 8

Economic factors hindering food production

Answer 8

Trading blocs - EU limits imports from abroad by imposing tariffs
Government mismanagement - Governments in SSA high defence spending and inefficiency - African governments 4.5% of budget on agriculture
Monopoly power of global retailers - Small time farmers cannot compete with global monopolies in global market
Cash Cropping - More profitable for some farmers to produce biofuels than food

Question 9

Political factors promoting food production

Answer 9

FAO and NGOs - Education on efficient food production, improving use of irrigation and fertilisers
WTO - Promoting trade liberalisation to reduce tariffs on food producers

Question 10

Political factors hindering food production

Answer 10

Golden rice, higher Vitamin A content that would help deal with Vitamin A deficiency leading to 2 million deaths - Opposed by protesters and environmental groups and was stopped
Zimbabwe white purge - Mugabe removed white farmers and replaced them with native farmers who lacked knowledge, money and equipment. This reslted in decline of tractor usuefrom 45,000 to 10,000 and 35% yield decline

Question 11

Blue Revolution

Answer 11

Pros - Large export revenue to repay foreign debt

Cons - 15,000 whales each year cauught up in drift nets - Deterioration of water quality

Question 12

GM Crops pros - EG Innovation farm

Answer 12

Pros
African Rice -GM 400 grains per head compared to 100 from African rice
Needs less fertilizer
Disease and pest resistant - Bt Maize - Fig 16

Question 13

GM Crops cons

Answer 13

Cons
Eliminates biodiversity
May result in monocropping
Monopoly power of producers
Unaffordable

Question 14

Green revolution

Answer 14

Pros - 
Increased mechanisation in LEDCs 
Prices dropped by 28% in last 15 years
Cons - 
Excessive fertiliser = eutrophication
Desertification

Question 15

Environmental sustainability

Answer 15

Food must be produced without
Soil degradation
Overuse of scarce water supplies
Unacceptable levels of pollution
Degradation of ecosystems and habitats

Question 16

Sociocultural sustainability

Answer 16

Rural communities retain traditions

Small time farms must have stronger political voice

Question 17

Economic sustainability

Answer 17

Increased pay for workers

Well integrated markets