L11 - Causes of Food Surplus and Deficit

• the impact of conflict is measured by the number of people dead or missing, how much building infrastructure is damaged, the money spent on weapons and defence and the environmental impact and destruction
• if a country is in conflict it is impossible to develop health and education and food and water security
• brain drain is where skilled people and workers leave their country of origin and take their skills with them, making it harder to rebuild the country when the conflict is over
• a refugee is people who are seeking refuge from natural disasters, they are often forced to flee due to their religion or ethnicity or due to lack of access to food
• IDP is intentionally displaced persons
• an IDP chooses to remain inside their own borders and not migrate to another country
• everyone has the right to humanitarian assistance, to the right to protection from abuse, to the right to seek asylum
• there are 20 million refugees worldwide (2009)
• aid agencies provide food, shelter, medical care, education, and other services to people in need
• the cycle of poverty means that people recieve short term relief but cant work so they keep needing the basics but cant get more
• the average stay in a refugee camp is 17 years
• boat people are people who sail in boats because they dont make it to the camps so they try to make it to other countries across the water
• 17000 try to cross the border into south africa each month
• food security - or not having it - is intrinsically linked to several other causes. if there is a war, then people may become refugees and be forced to move away from their farms and food sourcess
• food insecurity can also be a cause of conflict if their land suffers from drought and they are starving, they may move to another area, putting further pressure on other communities
• food security can be linked to education - many people are uneducated and dont know what they should be growing to provide a good life for them
• short term aid:

  • gets people through a crisis
  • healthcare
  • treating disease
  • food
• long term aid:

  • small business loans
  • growing agriculture
  • helps people get out of poverty
• causes of food deficit and surplus:

  • drought
  • conflict
  • poverty
  • pests
  • technology
  • water supply
• climate:

  drought is one of the most common causes of food shortages. is causes huge losses not only of crops but also livestock. african countries such as ethiopia and somalia suffer especially from droughts that last many years. drought can lead to desertification
• climate:

  floods are often caused by tropical storms and can also cause huge losses of crops and livestock
• climate:

  climate change is altering normal weather patterns in many areas, droughts are becoming longer, floods greater and hurricanes more frequent
• conflict:

  conflicts and wars can disrupt farming and food production. fighting forces millions of people to flee their homes, leading to hunger as they find themselves without the means to feed themselves
• conflict:

  in times of war, food can become a weapon. food supplies can be seized by soldiers or destroyed
• conflict:

  farming areas may be mined to prevent the local people harvesting crops or growing food in the future
• conflict:

  wells and water supplies can be deliberately polluted
• conflict:

  aid workers are often prevented from reaching the people in need, as travelling through areas of conflict can be dangerous
• conflict:

  international aid can often not reach the most vulnerable people due to a high level of corruption and political instability in many LICs
• conflict:

  examples of this can be seen in the conflict of Somalia and the democratic republic of the congo in africa, which has contributed significantly to the level of hunger in the two countries
• technology:

  many LICs lack the money to invest in agricultural infrastructure such as:

  • roads to transport their produce
  • warehouses for safe storage
  • irrigation systems
  • machinery
  • which can reduce yields and therefore food supplies
• pests and diseases:

  • LICs often suffer from a wider variety of pests and diseases than HICs, due to the climate and lack of investment
• pests and diseases:

  cattle diseases, such as bovine or rift valley fever are prevalent along with insects such as locusts which can decimate a grain crop
• pests and diseases:

  other pests such as mice and rats will cause damage after harvest due to insufficient storage facilities for the crops
• pests and diseases:

  diseases such as AIDS and malaria worsen food insecurity, as they reduce the available workforce in agriculture
• water supply:

  the level of water stress within a country is when the annual fresh water supplies drop below 1700 cubic metres per person per year
• water supply:

  water stress can occur when there are floods when the water becomes dirty and polluted, when the water supply is unreliable, and when the population density is high such as cities in LICs
• water supply:

  with the current rate of climate change, almost half the worlds population will be living in areas of high water stress by 2030 , including between 75 million and 250 million people in africa
• water supply:

  HICs have the money and technology to manage water stress, using water transfer schemes and irrigation to enable them to produce foods that LICS do not
• poverty:

  • people living in poverty cannot buy nutritious food for themselves and their families
  • this makes them weak and unable to work on the land or earn money to support themselves
  • poor farmers often cannot afford to buy seeds, tools or fertilisers. this can limit the amount of crops they produce, as well as reducing the quality of the crops
• climate change:

  prior to 1999, africa experienced a subpar rainy season around every 5 to 6 years. today farmers battle with lack of rain every 2 or 3 years