Week eight Food Security

Meaning of food security Food security means every person in a given area has daily access to enough nutritious food to have an active and healthy life. Food insecurity is live with chronic hunger and poor nutrition which threatens people’s ability to lead healthy and productive lives. the root causes of food insecurity are poverty, political upheaval, corruption, war, and the harmful environmental effects of food production. while the world witness surplus of food production, one of every six people has malnutrition in DC In India the food production can cover all its population while one out of 5 is in hunger because of poverty

Food production systems & human vulnerability There are three systems: Croplands produce mostly grains and provide about 77% of the world’s food using 11% of its land area. Rangelands, Pastures and Feedlots produce meat and supply about 16% of the world’s food using 29% of the world’s land area. Oceanic fisheries and Aquaculture supply about 7% of the world’s food. These three systems depend on small number of plants and animal specious: 50000 flora are eatable, 14 of them supply 90% of food calories, 3 of them (grain corps- wheat, rice, corn) provides 47% of the calories and 42% of the protein 2/3 of world’s population survive primarily on wheat, rice, and corn A small number of animals provide most of meat and seafood Food specialization put us in vulnerable position vis-a-vie diseases, environmental degradation, and climate change

Increase in f.P. by Tech. advances Increase use of farm machinery; High- tech fishing equipments; Inorganic chemical fertilizers; Modern Irrigation system; Effective Pesticides High- yield grain varieties Raising large number of livestock, poultry, and fish in factory-like conditions.

Agricultural methods Agricultural methods has two types: Industrialized Agriculture which uses heavy equipment and large amounts of financial capital, fossil fuel, water, and commercial fertilizers, and pesticides to produce single corps or monocultures. It goal is steady increase yield (the amount of food produced per unite of land) of any corps Traditional Agriculture consists of two main types: Traditional Subsistence agriculture uses human labor and draft animals to produce family usage Traditional intensive agriculture uses more human labor, fertilizers, and water to obtain higher crop yields IA is practiced on ¼ of all cropland and produces 80% of world’s food. Plantation Agriculture and Hydroponics (greenhouse) are new methods of IA. TA provides 1/5 of the world’s food in ¾ earth cultivated land engages 2.7B people

First Green revolution 1950-1979 It is a kind of Industrialized Agriculture and has three steps: I) develop and plant monocultures of selectively bred or genetically engineered high – yield varieties of key corpsانتخاب بذر مناسب و سیستم تک کشتی II) produce high yields by using large inputs of fertilizers, pesticides, and water. افزایش بازده وبکارگیری سم و کود III) increase the number of crops grown per year on plot of land through multiple cropping. سیستم چند کشتی سالانه

Second green revolution 1967-1996 The results of first green revolution introduced to the developing countries particularly China and India and Latin America. Producing more food on less land has a benefit of protecting biodiversity by saving many ecosystem from being destroyed and used to grow food corps. World grain production triples between 1950-96. Per capita food production increase 31% (61-85) and then declined.

Limitation on green revolution The cost of high inputs such as fertilizer, pesticide, and water are too much for most subsistence farmers in developing countries and therefore reduce crop yields Drop in per capita food production in many places including Africa from 1970. Need to increase water for irrigation by 80% in order for farmers to provide food for 2.6B more people during 2007-50 Declining the irrigated land per person(Esp. in India and China). Fertile croplands in costal areas are likely to be flooded by rising sea levels Increased drought and heat waves in some areas may effect green revolution Between 1950-90 gross rate of global grain yield per hectare was 2.1% but during 1990-2007 it was only 1.2%

Gene revolution First Gene Revolution: Second Gene Revolution: Crossbreeding through artificial selection for developing genetically improved varieties of corps and livestock animals. Started from centuries ago, is a slow process (15 Y) Reduction of Pests and disease effects made process shorter (5-10 Y). Second Gene Revolution: Genetic engineering to develop genetically improved strains of corps and livestock animals. It involves altering an organism’s genetic material through adding, deleting, or changing segments of its DNA. It enables scientists to transfer genes between different species that would not interbreed in nature. The resulting organisms called genetically modified organisms (GMOs) New corps’ GMOs may resist to heat, cold, herbicides, insect pests, parasites, diseases, drought, and salty or acidic soil.

Controversy over GM foods Projected advantages: Need less fertilizer and water More resistance to pests, disease, and drought Grow faster and grow in lightly salty soils May need less pesticides and tolerate higher levels of herbicides Higher yields and less spoilage Projected disadvantages: Irreversible and unpredictable genetic and ecological effects Harmful toxins in food from possible plant cell mutations New allergens in food Lower nutrition Increase in pesticide-resistance insects, herbicide-resistant weeds, and plant diseases and Can harm beneficial insects Lower genetic diversity

Food security restrains & environmental consideration Agriculture has a greater harmful environmental impacts than any human activities. Food production may be limited by its serious environmental impacts, including soil erosion and degradation, desertification, water and air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and degradation and destruction of biodiversity.

Food production and soil limitations Soil erosion: is the movement of soil, especially surface litter and topsoil, from one place to another by the actions of wind and water 1/3 or more (38%) world cropland is losing soil faster than new soil is forming. Dust storm increased 10-fold since 1950 in Saharan region – Africa. soil erosion has two harmful effects; loss of soil fertility and water pollution in nearby surface water. Desertification: fall by 10% or more the productive potential of soil especially in arid and semi-arid lands due to a combination of prolonged drought and human activities. The process can be moderate (10-25%), severe (25-50%), and very severe (more than 50%) FAO 2007 report estimated some 70% of the drylands used for agriculture are degraded by desertification irrigation downside: while having advantages, it has some disadvantages I) salinization; repeated annual applications of irrigation water in dry climates lead to gradual accumulation of salt in the upper soil layer, which stunts crop growth, lowers crop yields, and kill plants II) waterlogging; water accumulates underground and raises water table. It may kill deep roots of plants or lowering plants productivities irrigation has advantage such as 20% irrigation cropland produce 40% World food

Food production & natural capital degradation Biodiversity loss: Loss and degradation of grasslands, forest, and wetlands Fish kill from pesticide runoff Killing wild predators to protect livestock Loss of genetic diversity of wild crop strains replaced by monoculture strains Soil loss: Erosion Loss of fertility Salinization Waterlogging desertification

Food production & natural capital degradation Water matters: Water waste Aquifer depletion Increased runoff, sediment pollution, and flooding from cleared land Pollution from pesticides and fertilizers Alga blooms and fish kill caused by runoff agriculture waste Air pollution: Greenhouse gas emission (CO2) from fossil fuel use Greenhouse gas emission (N2O) from use of inorganic fertilizers Greenhouse gas emission of methane (CH4) by cattle Other air pollutants from fossil fuel use and pesticide sprays Human Health: Nitrates in drinking water Pesticide residues in drinking water, food and air Bacterial contamination of meat, and contaminated water from waste

Improving food security Main approaches to improve food security by: Creating government’s program to reduce poverty and chronic malnutrition influence food production and consumption ; Relay more on locally grown food; and Cutting food waste.

Influencing food production Government use three main approaches to influence food production and consumption: Control prices; use price control to keep food prices artificially low, consumers are happy, farmers may not. Provide subsidies; give farmers price supports, tax breaks, and other subsidies to keep them in business and to encourage them to increase food production. This is an official policy in developed countries and if the production is high and price is low may affect farmers in developing countries Let the marketplace decide; it means elimination most or all price controls and subsidies and let farmers and fishers respond to market demand without government interference In developed countries farm subsidies is about 280B$/year. At global level government subsidies is about 31% of global farm income

Food security and poverty eradication Government program to reduce poverty can improve food security by: Reducing the population growth rate by family planning, education, and job creation; Lending small loan to poor people to initiate business or buy land Preventing health problems in children through immunizing children, preventing dehydration and blindness, keep space births logically, educate mothers on nutrition and childcare.

Relay on locally grown food To assist farmers to make a transition to more sustainable farming by buying local products. To support local economy and reduce the environmental impact of food production. To avoid food transportation cost and its related impact including greenhouse gas emissions. Create job opportunities such as local markets A meal using imported food production instead of local ones has 5-17 times more transportation related greenhouse gas emissions.

Cutting food waste Grown some of your food using organic methods Buy organic food Wash and scrub all fresh fruit and vegetable Eat less meat or no meat Use all part of your food, fruit and vegetable

Sustainable food production Sustainable food production requires: Reducing topsoil erosion; Sharply reducing overgrazing and overfishing; Using more efficient irrigation system; Employing integrated pest management; Promoting agro biodiversity; Providing government subsidies for more sustainable farming, fishing, and aquaculture; Growing crops in a mix of monocultures and polycultures; and Decreasing the enormous environmental impacts of industrialized food production.

Sustainable organic agriculture Organic agriculture is a kind of sustainable agriculture in which crops are growing with little or no use of synthetic pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, or genetically engineered seeds and livestock are raised without use of genetic engineering, synthetic growth regulators, or feed additives. It has more: high-yield polyculture, organic fertilizers, biological pest control, integrated pest management, efficient irrigation system and water- efficient corps, perennial corps cultivation and crop rotation, soil conservation and subsidies for sustainable farming and fishing It has less: soil erosion, aquifer depletion, overgrazing and overfishing, loss of biodiversity, food waste, subsidies for unsustainable farming, soil salinization, population growth and poverty.

Advantages of organic farming Improving soil fertility Reducing soil erosion Retain more water in soil during drought years Uses 30% less energy per unit of yield Lower CO2 emissions Reduce water pollution by recycling livestock waste Eliminate pollution from pesticides Increase biodiversity Benefits wildlife such as birds

Sustainable aquaculture Restrict location of fish farms to reduce losses of mangrove forest and estuaries Improve management of aquaculture waste Reduce escape of aquaculture species into the wild Raise some aquaculture species in deeply submerged cages to protect them Certify sustainable forms of aquaculture and label products accordingly