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Why do a high percentage of people in LEDC work in farming:
Many people live in
rural
areas, most
common
job.
Many are
subsistence
farmers/grow their own
food.
Much work is
labour
intensive (lack of
machinery
) as they cannot afford machines.
There are few other
employment
opportunities/factories etc.
Subsistence farming: producing
products
for
family
only.
Commercial farming: farming for
profit
, often using
chemicals
and
artificial fertilisers.
Irrigation: when crops are
watered artificially
/given more
water.
Labour intensive farming: using no
machines.
Pastoral farming: based on the
raising
of
animals
for
meat
and
milk
Arable farming: uses
land
for growing
crops
, such as
wheat
,
corn
, and
rice.
Mixed farming: a combination of crops and livestock on the same farm.
Key causes of food shortages:
Poverty
, people connot afford food.
Overcultivation
/overgrazing
War
/conflicts
Can't afford
agricultural technology.
Inflation/
prices
of food become too
high.
Corruption.
Why LEDCs suffer from
food shortages
:
Drought.
Flooding.
Hurricanes
, destroy crops so
famine.
Wars/
conflict
-
Sudan
etc.
Pests
-
locusts
etc eat
crops.
Overpopulation
/
increasing population
Lack of
technology
Lack of
space
to grow
crops.
CS: Famine; Ethiopia:
Overcultivation
as
fields
are not given
fallow
time.
Overgrazing
due to keeping too many cattle, especially in the
northern
region of
Tigray.
Lack of
investment
in
irrigation
/
fertilisers.
Still using traditional
farming
practices such as
ploughing up
and
down slopes.
Poverty
prevents them buying
fertilisers
/
pesticides.
CS: East Africa:
2011
mid
2012
-
Horn
of
Africa.
Severe food shortage across
Somalia
,
Dijibouti
,
Ethiopia
ond kenya.
Threatened livelihood of
9.5 million.
In somalia, mostly affected farmers in the south.
Bantu
tribe were displaced due to the
food shortages.
920,000
refugees had moved to
Kenya
from
Somalia.
Tens
of
thousands
of people died in southern Somalia before
famine
was declared.
Solutions to food shortages:
Food aid:
Relief food aid - delivered
directly
in times of
crisis.
Programme food aid - given to
local
government for
sale.
Project food aid - targeting
specific
groups in country.
Green revolution:
Creation
HYVs
to boost yield by
2-4
times.
Drought
resistant.
Responsive to
fertilisers.
Shorter
growing
season.
Farmers
educated and offered
credit
to buy access to
fertilisers
and
machinery.
Poor harvest of crops impacts on LEDCs and MEDCs:
LEDC has many
subsistence
farmers.
MEDC not as
dependant
on agriculture as many people work in tertiary.
MEDC import food/can still earn
money
to buy food.
More likely to have
stores
of food in MEDC'S.
Poor
harvest
in LEDC will cause
poverty
/in MEDC'S just lower
profits.
LEDC's can't
afford
to buy food or new
seeds
if poor harvest.
LEDC government has no money to
import
food.
Increasing output in MEDC:
Use of
fertilisers.
Irrigation
Removal of
hedgerows
(bigger farms so more machinery etc.)
Terracing
on steep slopes.
Pesticides.
Hydroponics - plants
grow
without soil, add
nutrients
into sand etc.
Aeroponics - no
soil
at all.
Increasing output in LEDC:
Increased
mechanisation
i.e. tractors.
Greater use of
fertilisers.
More
irrigation.
GM
crops
Education
about
farming
techniques.
The farm system: A farm can be described as a
system
with
inputs
,
processes
and
outputs.
Inputs:
Rain
Temperature/
growing
Sunshine
Relief
Soil
Labour
Transport
Machinery
Processes:
Sowing
Fertilising
Feeding
Harvesting
Outputs:
Milk
Cattle
Crops
Meat
Manure
Hay
Reducing soil erosion:
Contour
ploughing/do not plough
up
and
down slopes.
Smaller herds of
animals
so
less erosion.
Tree planting as
windbreaks
/
plant hedgerows.
Let area
fallow.
Add
manure
/ artificial
fertilisers.
Crop
rotation.
Terracing.
Climate affecting farming:
Temperature determines
crops
grown.
Crops need to be
grown
where there is on
adequate
growing
season.
There must be
sufficient rainfall
for crops to
grow.
Too much
rainfall
may
flood crops.
Cereal crops
need
sunshine
to
ripen.
In areas with
frost
/long winter
hardy
animals may be
kept.
Physical factors affecting farming:
Soil
fertility
/
quality
/
depth.
Amount of
rainfall.
Relief/height/slope/flat
land.
Number for frost
free
days.
Drainage.
Temperature.
Amount of
sunshine.
Other factors affecting farming:
Market.
Availability of government
subsidies.
Quotas.
Availability of
finance.
Land
availability/size of farm.
Demand/
profitability
Accessability
Labour
How relief of land influences farmers' decisions:
Crops usually
grown
on flat/
low
land as easier to
mechanise.
Soil's likely to be more
fertile.
Steep slopes used for
grazing
sheep/
pastoral
farming.
Thin soils on steep slopes will result in
poor
yields from crops.
Sheep are hardy ond can survive
cold
temps, on
mountains.
Sloping land better
drained
than
flat
land.
Extensive farming:
Large scale farming
, where
farmers
grow
crops
in
large fields.
Intensive farming: A type of farming where animals are kept in
large numbers
in a
small area.
Benefits of mixed farming:
Different
types of
products
to
sell.
If one product does not do well the farmer has others to
fall
back on.
Easier
to
adapt
to market
changes.
Manure
from animals can be used to fertilise crops.
Crop
waste
can be used to
feed
animals.
Farmer has work
throughout
the year.
Why some farmers are subsistence farmers:
Poverty
Lack
of
land
Lack of
markets
Technology
Tradition
Lack
of
education
and
skills
Effects of food shortages:
Malnutrition
resulting in physical
limitations
e.g.
Rickets
(Vitamin D deficiency) and Kwashiorkor (
protein
deficiency).
Reduces a person's ability to
work.
Agricultural
land may not be well tended.
Food
production may
fall
further.
Other
economic
production may fall too.
Leading to cycle of
ill health
and
low productivity.
How farming damages the environment:
Natural
vegeration/trees destroyed.
Loss of
habitat
as trees cut down.
Poisoning
of insects by
fertiliser.
Impacts on
food
chain
Reduction in
biodiversity.
Soil
erosion.
CS: Large Scale Commercial Farming; Lynford Farm in East Anglia, UK:
Inputs:
Temps of 16 °C.
50
mm of rainfall a year
High
sunshine
hours.
Very fertile
peat
soil.
5
full time workers plus
seasonal
workers.
Several tractors, combined
harvester
, sprays, fertilisers, ventilatEd
potato
store.
Outputs:
5000 tonnes
of potatoes to
supermarkets.
400
tones of peas to canning company.
Sugar beet to a factory in
Ely
(
10 km
away).
Wheat to grain merchant - surplus to
EU storage.
CS: Small scale subsistence farming; Ganges Valley, India:
Inputs:
Rich
fertilised
soil deposited by
Ganges.
21
°C temp.
Monsoon
rains
Rice
seeds
Small
1
hectare farms.
Lots of
workers
Hand
labour
Processes:
Weeding
Irrigation
Watering
Outputs:
Rice
Some
wheat