1.2 - What factors promote or hinder food production?

1.2 - What factors promote or hinder food production?

1. Rice growing in Kedah plains: Malaysia

   • Kedah sits in the north-west corner of Malaysia
   • The 'Rice-bowl of Malaysia'
     • Contributed some 50% of the 1.63 tons total produced in 2001
   • 8th largest state - total land area 9,500 km sq...
     • ...also 8th most populated state in Malaysia
       • Population 1.9 million approx
   • Equatorial climate w/ monsoon season
     • Wet season with rice
     • Dry season - rice ripens + can be harvested
   • 76% of land under cultivation
     • Approx 48,500 farm families live there
   • Also produces other goods - rubber, oil palm, tobacco
   • Irrigation from Muda Irrigation Project allows rice fields to be flooded during dry season and allows two rice crops per year

2. Supermarket-farmer relations

   • Argument that relationship is one sided in UK - unfair deals dictated by large supermarkets
     • One farmer said to have been told to scrap 10 acres of cauliflowers after a supermarket decided they were too big
     • want supermarkets to pay £billions of fines
   • British Retail Consortium want to stop people joining trade unions and reject third party unions trying to dictate deals between supermarkets and farmers
   • At height of British apple season - shelves stocked with more foreign that British - cheaper stock
   • Nicaragua - 78 Wal-Marts + more coming - one for every 75,000 people
   • Supermarkets require the use of pesticides, cleaning and packaging + guaranteed protection
     • Problematic for small scale farmers with less money
   • HOWEVER - 16% higher sales for farmers who sold to supermarkets in 2000/08 than those who did not
     • Supermarkets don't offer high price but offer stable one
       • Very helpful for Nicaragua

3. Aero-green tech, Singapore

   • Worth $12 million
   • Use of aeroponics
     • Spraying nutrients over plants in greenhouses
   • Use nets to keep out pests - no pesticides
   • Aero Green opens doors to public to see production
     • Hoped to increase support for the technology

4. Restrictions on National Parks

   • Over 100,000 protected parks in the world
     • Agricultural restrictions - 'Agricultural ties'
   • Is good for environment but can harms people's way of life
     • The Masai and the Serengeti National Park
       • Many people of central Africa are poor
         • Masai people practice 'Nomadic farming' - moving around
           • Good for environment - grass can recover
       • Masai forced out of Serengeti National Park
         • Established in 1950 to conserve wildife and encourage tourism
       • Govt policies - encouraged commercial farmers to move into best dry-season land
         • Savannah converted into cropland - natural vegetation removed + soil's nutrients used up
           • BAD FOR MASAI
       • Serengeti Region population expanded rapidly
         • Increased pasture on land
           • Larger herds grazing grassland
         • Trees cut down for fuel - ground left bare - risk of soil erosion
       • The intention of these interventions was to force the Masai farmers onto marginal land
         • Traditional migration patterns disrupted + compelled to use smaller areas of land for cattle
           • Result? OVERGRAZING

5. Common Agricultural policy

   • Allows European farmers to meet the needs of 500 million Europeans.
     • Main objective - ensure a fair standard of living for farmers and to provide a stable and safe food supply at affordable prices
       • Viable food production
       • Sustainable management of natural resources
       • Balanced devpt of rural areas throughout EU
   • Run by full range of stakeholders - 27 EU countries make the laws
     • Direct payments to farmers
   • Budget spent?
     • Income support for farmers who keep up standards - direct payments - 70% of CAP budget
     • Rural devpt - help farmers modernise farms - 20% of CAP budget
     • Market support - 10% of CAP budget
   • Are farmers treated equally?
     • Due to CAP evolving - 20% of farmers receive 80% of aid - VERY UNBALANCED
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   • Encourages modernisation - farmers improve farms, process and sell produce + produce higher quality food
     • More sustainable, environmentally friendly farming methods
   • Fraud?
     • 0.02% accounted fraud of CAP's budget

6. Soil degradation in South-West Zimbabwe

   • Very slow soil formation rate in Zimb - 400 kg/ha/yr
     • Soil erosion is much greater - 5 tonnes/ha/yr
   • Consequence of erosion
     • General decline in crop yields
       • Cultivation of maize may only be possible for another 15yrs before soil becomes too shallow
     • Very high rates of siltation of reservoirs - esp dams used for rural water supplies
       • Small dams likely to fill with sediment after 15yrs