Global+availability+of+Food

Patterns of calorie intake: Daily food consumption. NB: Calorie intake is the unit for measuring hunger.
 * 2. Food **
 * Global availability of food **



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The map shows that the areas of highest calorie intake (over 3500 calorie per day) include Western Europe and USA. Lowest calorie intake (less than 2000 per person per day) occur mostly in Sub-Saharan Africa and parts of the far East, including Mongolia and Afghanistan. Australia, North America, Europe and China have daily calories of about 2500 - 3000 per person per day. Global food production is increasing rapidly in South East Asia and Latin America

http://www.glaciology.net/
 * ** Hunger ** : lack of food leading to death
 * ** Malnutrition ** : a diet that is lacking (or having too much) in quality and quantity of food.
 * ** Starvation ** : limited or non-existence of food
 * ** Famine ** : Long term and severe food shortage or unavailability of food in a given area.
 * Maramus – lack of calories in a diet
 * Kwashiorkor – lack of protein in a diet
 * **Obesity** – too much energy or protein in food
 * ** Hunger: ** chronic undernourishment or outright starvation leading to death.
 * ** Chronic Hunger ** is long term lack or shortage of food
 * ** Periodic Hunger ** is short-term hunger, caused by factors such as war, natural disasters, etc.
 * Widespread, chronic hunger and malnutrition may result from severe poverty, inefficient food distribution, or population increases disproportionate to the food-producing capacity of people in a region.

__ Question IB May 2007 __ // Explain the difference between chronic and periodic hunger. Give examples of where these types of hunger exist. [3+2 marks ] //

It is characterized by extreme weight loss, stunted growth, weakened resistance to infection, and impairment of intellect. It results in body weakness and reduces people’s capacity to work. It is also noted to reduce the body’s ability to withstand disease. Severe cases of malnutrition can lead to death. The two most common forms of malnutrition are marasmus and kwashiorkor.
 * a. Malnutrition: ** dietary condition caused by a deficiency or excess of one or more essential nutrients in the diet.

Natural causes include droughts, floods, earthquakes, insect plagues, and plant disease. Human causes include wars, civil disturbances, sieges, and deliberate crop destruction. IB Question Nov 2007 // Explain how hunger is measured and how it differs from malnutrition //**. **
 * b.Famine ** (Latin //fames, “//hunger”),: Famine refers to severe shortage of food generally affecting a widespread area and large numbers of people.


 * The concept of Food Security **

http://www.glaciology.net/ Related to the concept of food security are two concepts:
 * Definition **
 * Food security ** : //“Food security exist when all people, at all times, have access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.”// (FAO)


 * Food Availability deficit (FAD) **


 * Food Entitlement Deficit (FED) **


 * Food availability deficit ** – food shortage caused by **climate change** and its effects on food production, including transport, storage and relief organizations.

Sen (1981) therefore suggested that food shortage and hunger should not be viewed in terms of factors that affect food production but also factors that affect people's access to food.
 * Food entitlement deficit - ** Sen (1981) argues that food shortages could also be the result of **political and economic factors** and that areas of food sufficiency could also suffer from hunger as can be observed in places such as in India, Ethiopia, and Sudan.

Ways to increase food production include;
 * converting brownfield sites and water logged areas to farm lands.
 * Cultivating forested areas.
 * Adopting high yielding varieties (HYVs) of food crops or genetically Modified (GM) crops through the adoption of bio-technology. for example IR-8 rice which has the ability to produce 300% more than the original type of rice. **Case study- of the green revolution.**
 * Irrigation- cultivation of crops during the dry seasons through the use of dams and deg-outs so that farmers can cultivate crops in order to increase production.
 * Mechanization of farm labor- such as the use of combined harvesters, tractors, harrows as well as automated farms.
 * Application of chemical fertilizers such as NPK, Sasakawa Global 2000
 * **Fair Trade**- Farmers should be given fair wages, so that they can be encouraged to produce more food in order to ensure food security. A good example of fair trade is Blue skies in Ghana, Nestle, PG tips tetley e.t.c

Reasons for high food prices/ factors causing food shortages in developing countries 1. **Rising demand for food due to an increase in the world's population**. The World's population currently stands at about 7.3 billion this means that there is going to be an increase in demand for food in both developed and developing countries. Since population is rapidly growing in LEDC's at a level that is not at per with food production, it is bound that there will be cases of food shortages in LEDC's. 2. **Climate change**, leading to some places becoming dryer e.g Sahel and Savanna regions. This has led to a reduction in the rainfall pattern hence reducing the number of plants that can be grown in these areas. Other places are also getting over flooded e.g Bangladesh, India. over flooding destroys plantations resulting in food shortages in these areas. 3. **Soaring oil and energy prices**- this has led to a high cost of agricultural production and high transportation cost of from rural areas to urban areas. 4. **Affluence** - Many people are getting richer in many parts of the world, as a result, there is an increase in demand for food which they will buy at any price. This makes food unavailable for the poor who cannot afford these prices. 5. **Increase in the demand for bio-fuels**- this has led to the cultivation of food crops such as maize for the purpose of producing bio-fuels. This could have been used for consumption. 6. **Under investment in agriculture**.- in many developing countries, government have failed to invest in food production or provide subsidies to farmers to be able to invest in large scale food production. Consequently,many developing countries severe food shortages because the agricultural systems are limited to subsistence farming. 7. Natural hazards such as pest infestation, droughts, floods, disease infestation 8. Civil strife leading ti the destruction of farms Useful website: This is a text book written by Stephen Coddrington on the Geography of Food

Take a test on Geography of Food and Health [|Food security]