Food Security - Food Production & Security (GCSE Biology)

Food Production & Security

Food Security

What Is Food Security?

We have already discussed how the population is growing at an alarmingly high rate. One of the problems that can develop due to this is a lack of food security. Many areas of the world now have a great shortage of food. This is known as a famine. Ethiopia, once one of the world’s richest countries, suffered a horrible famine in the 1980s. This affected 100s of thousands of people.

• Food security is defined as having enough food to feed a population. When a nation has food security, they are able to feed their population.
• Many biological factors can reduce food security:
  1. Population increase. As birth rates increase and health care improves, the population will increase. This leads to a greater demand for food. This can threaten food security.
  2. Changing diets. As diets have changed around the world, people no longer eat the food that is found in their region and have began to rely on importing food. This means that some of the most scarce resources are spread around. There is also increased meat and fish consumption and animal farming.
  3. Pests and pathogens. New pests and pathogens have developed that crops and animals are no longer immune to. This threatens food security. An example of this is the H1N1 swine flu that gripped the world in 2009.
  4. Environmental changes. As the environment changes, there is increased rainfall and increased droughts in different places. This can lead to crop failures, threatening the food security.
  5. Increased costs of agriculture. As land becomes more and more expensive and agriculture is requiring more inputs e.g. fuel for transport and crops are becoming cheaper, farmers are moving professions in search of greener pastures. This threatens food security.
  6. Conflict. War and conflicts in areas can threaten the supplies of food and water. The annexation of Crimea for example, has led to a massive shortage of water in this region.
  7. Sustainability issues. More renewable sources of energy are being used one of which is using biofuel. Land is used to grow crops for biofuel instead of food crops.

Sustainable Methods

As people must be fed, sustainable methods are required. Golden rice was considered a great way of feeding those with Vitamin deficiencies. Now more and more time is being spent researching sustainable methods of food production.

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