Foods Ecg Rn Rev

8/10/2019 Foods Ecg Rn Rev

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Food Security

The current world foodsupply; Scientific and

technical advances that

have increased worldfood supply: the Green

Revolution


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Food Security Equation

Compares value of food production deficit in

household with income and liquid assets

available to purchase food Food production deficit: food needed on top

of any home production to provide all

household members at all times with enough

food

The value of this deficit is minimum cost of

purchasing such a supply of food


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Value of food production deficit in a

household Income and liquid assets

available to purchase food

A household is more food-secure when right

hand side of equation is bigger relative to left

It becomes less food-secure when left-hand

side of equation is bigger relative to right


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Thus:

Food purchase requirement X Price of

food Income and liquid assetsavailable to purchase food

When price of food the left hand side

gets bigger

Food insecurity

When price of food the left hand sidegets smaller Food insecurity


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Current Trends in Per

Capita Food Production Food production has grown faster than

population

Worldwide food production per capita has inpast 35 years by 5% per decade

Food production per capita in developedworld, where population growth slower, has

grown much more rapidly However, in developing countries, food

production has grown at slower rate thanpopulation, so production per capita has

declined


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Current Trends in Per

Capita Food Production Since 1961, worldwide calories per capita

have increased over 20%, from 2,235calories per person per day to 2,712 caloriesper person per day

Similarly, protein availability has increasedabout 17% to 72.4gms per person per day

One interpretation: if the world

s foodsupply were evenly divided among the

people of the world, there would beenough food for everyone


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Food Security Trends

Reasons for concern:

Grain production/person is decreasing

Seafood catch/person is decreasing Fisheries being pushed past a sustainable yield

Overfishing

Stock depletion

Decline in catch

Some species no longer available


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Ways to increase food

production Increase amount of land used for agricultural

production

Increase amount of arable land

Irrigation to previously arid areas

Draining overly wet areas

Terracing hilly areas

Increase yield of land

Plant breeding

Double or triple cropping

Fertilization


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Increasing Yields

Increases in crop yields in last half - 20thcentury may be one of greataccomplishments of human history

Cereal yields almost doubled since early1960s

Smaller increases in sub-Saharan Africa,

transition economies of former Soviet Unionand Eastern-bloc countries

Yields increases have slowed: averagegrowth today is 0.5 2 % as compared to

over 3% growth rates seen in 1960s


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What Makes Yields

Increase? Productive inputs (labor, fertilizer,

machinery, etc.) are used more

intensively on each acre of land New technology increases the output

obtainable without increasing inputs

Farmers increase their efficiency

lesspotential output lost to poor farming

practices


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Yields and Technology

Increased yields result from better agriculturaltechniques:

Crop rotation

Timing and levels of fertilizer applications

Selective animal breeding

Trial and error as well as information obtained

in scientific experimentsSince the 1960s, most highly publicized new

technology has been new seed varietiesdeveloped in so-called Green Revolution


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The Green Revolution


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Background information:

Fertilizer Fertilizer industry began with discovery of a

method to synthesize ammonia, before WWI

Growth slowed by world events: WWI, GreatDepression, WWII. Ammonia needed to

produce nitrates for explosives during wars

Increased demand for food for Allied war

effort spurred researchin US that led to

Green Revolution


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Background information:

Fertilizer After WWII, increased amounts of low-cost

nitrogen, synthesized from ammonia, became

available Fertilizer use an indispensable component of

modern agriculture.

Estimated that 40% of todays 6 billion people

are alive thanks to discovery of process of

synthesizing ammonia


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Norman Borlaug

Collected about 8500 varieties of wheat

grown in Mexico; found 2 that were resistant

to rust With tweezers and magnifying glass bred

these 2 to other high-yielding varieties:

technique known as cross breeding.

By 1957, wheat rust problem was solved


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Norman Borlaug

Also experimented with higher-yielding

varieties: As yields increased, heavier grain

caused plants to tip over, known aslodging

Taller varieties were crossed with dwarf

varieties, which had shorter and stronger

stems

By 1963, wheat yield had gone from 11

bushels to 30 bushels per acre


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Lodging


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Green Revolution Spreads

Success in Mexico led to establishment of othercenters around world. An example ofresearch to increase rice yields:

Traditional rice varieties sent panicle (seedcluster) high above plant. Seeds can storebut dont make energy and seed clustershades top leaves so photosynthesis lessefficient.

Scientists bred rice plants whose top leafextended above panicle to take maximumadvantage of sunshine


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Increasing Rice Yields


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The Green Revolution:

Achievements New semi-dwarf varieties

of rice, corn and wheat areless likely to fall over in

wind and heavy rains andcarry more seeds

Widely adopted in Northand South America and

Asia

Have double or tripled theyield per acre whilereducing costs

Have saved millions of

people from starvation


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Green Revolution

Achievements Unlike traditional varieties, these

varieties have high tolerance for

large amounts of fertilizer


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Food Production has

increased, arable land has not


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The Green Revolution: More than

increased food production Trained scientists and farmers

throughout the developing world

Established national agriculturalresearch systems

Influenced government agricultural and

water policy


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Criticisms of the Green

Revolution New seed varieties encourage farmers

to use more fertilizer, irrigation and

pesticides, potentially damaging toenvironment

New varieties may have crowded out

traditional varieties and may lead to lossof species diversity


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Criticisms of the Green

Revolution Benefits of GR have been most evident in

regions where water for irrigation is available Wheat and rice grow best in tropical regions with

40 inches annual rainfall

Sorghum and millet grow in semiarid tropics, suchas sub-Saharan Africa, where rainfall < 40 inches

Wheat and rice are more responsive to fertilizer

than sorghum and millet Thus, benefits have concentrated in wetter tropics;

this may have increased income inequalitybetween regions


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Prospects for Future Yield

Growth

Can crop yields continue to grow?If so, at what rate?


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Reasons for Concern: the

PessimistsGrowth in yields has been slowing.

Scientists cannot continue to discover newways to increase yields

There are physiological limits: nutrientabsorption, photosynthetic capacity

Concern that yield growth not environmentally

sustainable: some believe current high yieldsobtained by putting extreme pressure onenvironment--can stand pressure of newvarieties for only a limited time, then yields

will naturally begin to decline


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Reasons for Hope, and a

Second Green Revolution Response to environmental concerns-

emphasis of agricultural research shifted in1990s from higher yields to reducing

environmental impacts (increase productionin environmentally friendly way); may explainsome of decline in yields seen recently

Worldwide average crop yields depressed bylarge drops in yields in former SovietUnion 90s, due to economy in transition(temporary)

Some decline may be related to low farm-level prices not technological feasibility


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A Closer Look: The Green

Revolution in India The Bengal Famine occurred in 1943 in British-ruled

India; estimated four million people died of hunger

that year in eastern India as a result of:

an acute shortfall in food production in the area

demands of WW II: food supply was low priority for

British rulers

Indian traders hoarded food in order to sell at

higher prices


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A Closer Look: The Green

Revolution in India When British left India in 1947, India

continued to be haunted by memories of

the Bengal Famine Food security was a paramount item on

free India's agenda, which led to GR inIndia

The greatest progress was made from1967-1978


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What was the Green

Revolution in India?Three basic elements:

1. Quantitative expansion of farming areas

2. Double-croppingexisting farmland:twocrop seasons per year d/t second artificialmonsoonin form of huge irrigationfacilities; dams built to hold large volumes ofnatural monsoon water (wasted previously);simple irrigation techniques adopted

3. Using newly developed strains of high yieldvalue (HYV) seeds


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Results of the Green

Revolution in India The GR resulted in record grain output of 131

million tons in 1978-79

Established India as one of world's biggestagricultural producers

No other country in the world that attempted

Green Revolution had such success

India also became an exporter of food grains

around that time


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Results of the Green

Revolution in India Yield per unit of farmland improved by

more than 30 per cent between 1947

(when India gained politicalindependence) and 1979


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Economic, Political results

of the Green Revolution in

India India paid back all loans it had taken

from World Bank for purpose of GR.

This improved India's creditworthiness India transformed itself from starving

nation to exporter of food. Thisincreased Indias status in the world,

especially the Third World


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Limitations of the Green

Revolution in India India has failed to extend high-yield value

seeds to all crops or all regions. Some areas

of India had impressive results, but resultswere less impressive in other parts of India.

Some starvation deaths still occur in India d/t

famine-like conditions. Question: has GR

failed in its overall social objectives, though ithas been very successful in terms of

agricultural production?


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Comparing the GR in China

and India Both China and India, the worlds 2 most

populous countries, have achieved

remarkable progress in food production Increased food production alone is not

sufficient to achieve food security

Huge stocks of grain have accumulated in

India, while 10s of millions need more foodbut dont have the money to buy it


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China and India Today

Chinas economy has grown about twice asfast as Indian economy over the past 2decades

Chinas per capita income is nearly twice thatof India

Does the 21st century belong to India?

India is an economic powerhouse and anutritional weakling.

Indias Malnutrition Dilemma:http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/11/magazin

e/11FOB-Rieff-t.html?ref=magazine


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Africa is the Greatest Worry

High rates of population growth; little

application of improved production

technology resulted during the last twodecades in

declining per capita food production,

escalating food deficits, and

deteriorating nutritional levels, especially

among the rural poor


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Africa is the Greatest Worry

In Sub-Saharan Africas the task ofagricultural development is more difficult dueto:

extreme poverty

poor soils

uncertain rainfall

increasing population pressures

political and social turmoil

shortages of trained agriculturalists

weaknesses in research and technology deliverysystems


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Subsistence farming

Agriculture provides the

livelihood of 70-85% of

Africans

3 out of 5 farms are

small, run mainly for

subsistence

On a typical farm,children are an essential

part of the workforce,

limiting their education

Th h ll f i i


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The challenge of increasing

yields on Africas small

farms Africas climate, soil and range of suitable

crops are more diverse than in Asia or LatinAmerica

Few of GR programs focused on staple cropsgrown in sub-Saharan Africa: sorghum, milletand cassava

Irrigation is uncommon in Africa

Fewer trained scientists available to work inlarge plant breeding programs


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Help for Africa - Borlaug

Borlaug involved in food crop productiontechnology transfer projects in sub-Saharan

Africa, working with maize, sorghum, wheat,

cassava, rice, and grain legumes, to promote: use of best available commercial varieties or hybrids

proper land preparation and seeding

proper application of appropriate fertilizers; when

needed timely weed control

moisture conservation, better water use if underirrigation


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More Thoughts from

Borlaug Developed world detached from soil and

agricultural production (low-cost food supply,urban bias)

Whether will be permitted to use newtechnology

Current production must be almost doubledby 2025; must recognize and seriousness ofarable land, food, population andenvironmental problems that lie ahead


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Norman Borlaug, 1914-2009

Photo from AmazingHeroes Youve NeverHeard Of

After his death on9/12/2009, Borlaugsstory was widely covered,so perhaps he will finally

become more well-known for hiscontributions to mankind

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Foods Ecg Rn Rev