Increasing Food Supply

• Irrigation is the artificial watering of land
• Drip irrigation reduces reduces water lost via evaporation which increases crop yield
• Irrigation is expensive to implement and has ongoing costs
• Aeroponics is when plants are grown vertically without soil and are sprayed with a mist full of nutrients
• Hydroponics is when plants are grown vertically in nutrient rich water solutions
• Aeroponics and hydroponics can be used on marginal land and crops grow 2 - 3 times faster
• Aeroponics and hydroponics are expensive to set up and require technical skilled labour
• The new green revolution is when farmers are sustainable with crops and cattle by implementing water and soil conservation
• The new green revolution limits crop yield
• Biotechnology is genetically modifying crops to make them resistant to diseases, climates and pests
• Biotechnology increased crop yield e.g soy beans have a 24% increase in yield
• Biotechnology is ethically controversial
• Appropriate technology is using skills and technology that are cheap and easily available
• Appropriate technology is a accessible and affordable way to increase crop yield
• Appropriate technology is less efficient than other methods to increase crop yield
• Indus basin irrigation system (IBIS) is a large scale irrigation system where 1.6 million km of ditches, streams and 3 dams were built to irrigate crops
• Due to IBIS 14 million hectares of land is irrigated and hydroelectric power is generated from the dams
• It is expensive to repair the dams and canals built by IBIS and dams destroy habitats