Population and Resources

Population and Resources

1. Food security - Everybody having a sufficient access to food for a healthy diet and effectively to not have anxiety about where their next meal is coming from.

   • Food security exists when...
     • Food is available - varies depending on climate, population size and growth, agricultural system, natural disasters and civil unrest.
     • Food is affordable - when food prices increase due to a decrease in availability/increase in demand, poor people will be unable to feed themselves.
     • Physical access - the capacity to buy/acquire food varies over time.
     • Food is good quality/nutritional.

2. Food security is necessary for development because...

   • Without food security people are more susceptible to disease, leading to less energy to work/produce food - nutrition is an essential foundation for poverty alleviation.
   • Malnutrition affects peoples intellectual capacity - undernourishment pre-birth is associated with poor cognitive development.
   • Malnourished children will not attend school as frequently which will limit their educational progress creating a less skilled workforce.
   • Food insecurity means that people focus their efforts on daily survival rather than using their energy to move forward and develop the community.

3. Population growth causes food insecurity because...

   • Malthusian scenario where population growth outstrips food supply.
   • Puts pressure on rural land so it becomes over-cultivated and can result in increased soil erosion, decrease in soil fertility and therefore lower crop yields.
   • Puts pressure on water sources for domestic and agricultural use - causes over abstraction of water and decreasing water sources available for future agricultural use.
   • Encourages people to move onto marginal (poor quality) agricultural land where yields are lower due to poor environmental conditions.

4. Threats to global food insecurity

   • Climate change - falling yields in hotter temperatures and threatens to upset stable monsoon pattern.
   • New agricultural technology - seed management/patents by TNC's lads to a rapid decline in food varieties as favoured seeds are mass marketed reducing biodiversity.
   • Biofuel - for transport which takes up valuable land to grow.
   • Increasing food prices - rising demand from developing economies as they can afford a diet with more meat content and higher food prices in western supermarkets is having an effect on developing countries.
   • Small farm sizes - lack capital to invest, and are vulnerable to fluctuating prices.
   • Conflict - some areas lack political will.

5. Solutions to food insecurity

   • Increase productivity
   • Make sure plants and animals grown for agriculture are resistant to diseases.
   • Investing in soil science, crop nutrition and soil management practises.
   • Invest appropriately in water capture and irrigation capability (especially where water is short).