Online
January 2010
AQA SPECIAL 5
John Rutter
Managing food supplies in LEDCs
Despite the stories of malnutrition,
famine and death that regularly hit
our TV screens with heart-rending
pictures of starving children, the fact
is that there is too much food in the
world. Unfortunately, it is often in the
wrong place.
The Food and Agriculture
Organisation (FAO) of the United
Nations has perhaps the world’s
biggest database of food availability,
and regularly releases statistics on
global consumption. An average male
needs around 2,500 kilocalories (kcals)
of food a day; the FAO has calculated
that, if the available food could be
distributed equally to the whole
world’s population, each person could
have more than 2,700 kcals.
People in some countries have access
to much more than this (Figure 1).
Figures for dietary energy supply
(DES) show that, between 2001
and 2003, those in the UK had an
average of 3,440 kcals a day, with
3,710 available to the residents of
Luxembourg. Meanwhile, in many
African countries, figures were
substantially lower – 1,520 kcals in
Eritrea, and 1,860 in Ethiopia. These
average figures hide inequalities
within the countries themselves.
There are increasing numbers of
obese people in both Eritrea and
Ethiopia, while many of the poorest
people eat much less than the average,
leaving themselves more vulnerable to
debilitating illnesses, unable to work
and earn money for their families.
Many of them will die young.
There are, however, examples
of remarkable successes in the
management of food supplies
across the world. Only 50 years ago,
spiralling population increases in
the developing world gave rise to
Malthusian prophecies of widespread
starvation and death across Asia and
South America. The doomsayers
reckoned without the rise of
technologies and alternative methods
that have increased food supply and
ensured production has kept pace
with population increase in many
parts of the world.
Some of the ways in which the
food supply has been managed and
production has increased are outlined
in the case study examples that follow.
The green revolution
The transformation of agriculture
in LEDCs in the late 1960s came
as a result of research at specialist
scientific centres around the globe,
the extension of the new technologies
to peasant farmers, and the
development of the infrastructure to
make it all possible. The increased use
of fertilisers, pesticides and irrigation
were all previously known techniques,
but it was the development of highyielding varieties (HYVs) of seeds
that provided the main breakthrough.
Wheat, rice and maize were the main
crops worked on, and the HYVs
were bred to grow quicker with
thicker, shorter stems, maximising
photosynthesis into the growth of
the grain. IR8, the ‘miracle rice’
produced at the International Rice
Research Institute (IRRI) in the
Philippines produced yields up to 10
times that of traditional rice (with
the application of large amounts of
fertiliser). IR8 helped the Philippines
to become a net exporter of rice and
Figure 1: Dietary energy supply per person per day (kcal/person/day) (2003)
Key
More than 3400
3000–3400
2600–3000
2200–2600
1800–2200
Less than 1800
No data
Source: FAO/Wikipedia
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Fig 611_01 Mac/eps/illustrator 11 s/s
NELSON THORNES PUBLISHING
Artist: David Russell Illustration
January 2010 AQA SPECIAL 5 Managing food supplies in LEDCs
2500
2000
4.00
Production (MMT)
Yield (tonnes/ha)
Area harvested (million ha)
3.50
3.00
2.50
1500
2.00
1000
1.50
1.00
500
0
1961
pollute the environment. The latter
effect seemed to have been proven
in February 2009 when a study was
published showing that genes from
genetically modified corn had escaped
into wild varieties in rural Mexico.
Tonnes/hectare
Million metric tonnes/million hectares
Figure 2: The increase in world cereals production
0.50
1971
1981
1991
2001
0
Source: International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications
India to become self-sufficient in the
attributes using selective breeding.
GeoFile Series 28 Issue 2
crop over the following two
decades.
The Maya
of Mexico, for
Fig 611_02
Mac/eps/illustrator
11people
s/s
The growth in world maize
and
instance,
cultivated
the wild grass
NELSON THORNES PUBLISHING
cereal production (Figure 2)
showed
teosinte
over thousands of years in
Artist:
David Russell
Illustration
similarly dramatic results.
order to produce maize, now the
staple food crop for millions of people
There were problems with the HYVs
around the world. More recently,
– some of which have only recently
however, genetic engineering has
come to light. The increased use of
allowed these cultivation processes
machinery, irrigation and chemicals
to be compressed into a matter of
made the technology accessible only
years, rather than centuries, and
to the wealthier farmers, and many
genes from different plants have been
of those who could not compete
mixed together to create genetically
ended up as hired labour on land
modified crops.
they previously owned. Some
migrated to the city, increasing the
Much of the genetic modification
problems of urbanisation, while
has been in crops that are grown
others committed suicide rather than
in a number of LEDCs, including
face the embarrassment of financial
soya, wheat, cotton, sugar beet,
ruin. Environmental damage has
potatoes, peanuts, squashes and
also resulted from the reliance on
tobacco. The idea has been to make
chemicals, and there are reported
these plants resistant to disease and
cases of these pollutants entering the
pests, especially common in the hot,
food chain, causing cancer and mental wet conditions in many tropical
health problems.
countries, and also to develop crops
that can survive drought and high
Figure 2 shows that, while yields
salt conditions in other LEDCs.
have increased, the land available
These plants have the potential to be
for cultivation has not, and this is
a massive boost for agriculture and
beginning to have significant effects.
food production, as farming extends
With the world’s population estimated into marginal land previously judged
to increase to 9 billion by 2050, there
unproductive.
is a need for the land (a finite resource)
to become even more productive,
There are major concerns, however,
and there are calls for another
about the use of GM crops. They are
green revolution. However, some
rare in Europe because of negative
scientists, such as Lester Brown of the public opinion, but have been taken
United States Earth Policy Institute,
up by farmers in the USA, Canada
believe ‘…we are now pressing
and Australia, and in countries with
against the photosynthetic limits of
more pressing food supply needs
plants’ (source: BBC), meaning any
including Argentina, China and
more dramatic developments are
India. The main concern, currently
increasingly unlikely.
not backed up by scientific evidence,
is that GM foods may have impacts
on human health. More realistic are
Genetically modified (GM)
worries that the crops may become
crops
‘superweeds’, taking over large areas
Humans have always modified
of agricultural land, or could breed
food crops to bring out their best
with natural species and genetically
Geofile Online for AQA © Nelson Thornes 2010
Some African countries have already
banned the use of GM foods because
of the lack of scientific evidence
proving them safe. Many notable
scientists believe this is a mistake,
when the crops could help solve
the problems of famine in Africa
by providing high-yielding plants
growing in areas that were previously
thought unsuitable. The debate
rages on, while production is on the
increase in several LEDCs (Figure 3).
Land ownership and
colonisation
Bringing unused land into cultivation
has long been a method which
LEDCs have used to increase food
production. Initially the driving force
behind radical left-wing governments
in South America from the 1950s to
the 1980s, land reform was a favourite
cause of the dispossessed rural poor,
forced to work on farms belonging
to rich landowners for little financial
reward. Governments in Peru,
Bolivia, Guatemala and Nicaragua all
tried to give land to peasant farmers,
but were often thwarted because of
political interference from the United
States.
Recently there has been a resurgence
in land reform programmes in several
countries. The Bolivian government
of Evo Morales – the country’s first
indigenous president – passed laws
intended to give 77,000 square miles
of land (around three-quarters the
size of Great Britain) to the rural poor.
There has been fierce resistance to the
new law from landowners, but slowly
the effects are trickling through to
the poorest sectors of Bolivian society.
Other countries looking to enact
similar laws include Indonesia and
Kenya, which hopes to redistribute
coastal lands owned by absentee
landlords. Such laws always attract
severe opposition, however, often
from people in powerful positions.
Changes in land tenure in Brazil have
been completed using completely
different methods. Until 1990 Brazil
only produced enough beef to feed
itself but, since then, the industry
has grown to become the world’s
biggest producer, selling 1.9 million
tonnes a year, supplying much of
January 2010 AQA SPECIAL 5 Managing food supplies in LEDCs
peanut butter, and producing honey
and high-price cashew nuts. Basic
equipment is used with little capital
investment, and the money gained at
market ensures peasant farmers can
continue to feed their families.
Figure 3: GM crop production in selected LEDCs (2007)
Mexico
Philippines
Uruguay
South Africa
Permaculture and the impact
of peak oil
Paraguay
China
India
Brazil
Argentina
0
5
10
15
Millions of hectares under GM crops
20
25
South America and exporting to GeoFile Series 28 Issue 2
Intermediate
Fig 611_04 Mac/eps/illustrator
11 s/sand appropriate
markets including Russia, Egypt
and
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technology
the UK. The cattle ranches that
haveDavid Russell
Artist:
Illustration
sprung up as a result of this trade are
Small-scale
technologies that use
mainly found in cleared Amazonian
local
knowledge
and resources in
rainforest and have been a major
cheap,
sustainable
projects offer
cause of deforestation.
hope for many communities in foodpoor areas. These include training
Settlers encouraged to move to
farmers in agricultural techniques
Amazonia engage in other types of
such as water conservation through
agriculture and have helped increase
land terracing, dam construction and
the Brazilian economy to a level
the development of rainwater-fed
where it is now one of the richest
irrigation.
LEDCs. Soya bean farmers have cut
down and ploughed up 5 million ha
In south-eastern Mauritania, the
of rainforest, making the country
village of Oulata managed to increase
the world’s second largest producer
its population whilst surrounding
of soya. Meanwhile, successive
areas were suffering huge levels of
governments have encouraged people
out-migration to the towns and cities.
to move out of the overcrowded cities
The installation of a series of solar
by giving them squatters’ rights to
panels, paid for by a Spanish NGO,
settle on plots of land in the Amazon.
has provided the power to pump
Hundreds of thousands of families
irrigation water to the village’s market
have taken the government up on
garden. The garden has been divided
the offer of free land and have moved
into 60 plots for the poorest families,
to the region to cut down the forest
growing crops including tomatoes,
and plant crops, including manioc,
watermelons, sugar beet and lettuce.
yams, sweet potatoes and maize.
The surplus is sold by a cooperative
Unfortunately many of these urban
and the profits used to buy seeds and
dwellers have little knowledge of
machinery. The garden has proved a
farming, and their efforts on the
lifeline for many families, enabling
infertile rainforest soils have caused
erosion and crop loss. The best option them to be self-sufficient in food
production, halting the exodus to
for many, once they have ruined the
the urban centres and encouraging
first plot, is to move on to another
part of the jungle, deforest it and start emigrants to move back home.
farming again.
In some areas where it is now
impossible to make a living from
The problems caused by
the land, intermediate technology
deforestation, including loss of
has been installed to help with
habitat, soil erosion and increased
the commercialisation of farming.
global warming, are well-known, but
Agroprocessing increases income
it is difficult to control the expansion
and access to food for the very poor.
of food production when Brazil has
UK charity Practical Action has been
an increasing population and when
instrumental in setting up smallso much money can be made from
scale industries in people’s homes,
agricultural industrialisation.
making value-added products such as
Geofile Online for AQA © Nelson Thornes 2010
One of the biggest threats to food
supply in LEDCs will be the decline
in the world’s supply of cheap oil.
According to the ‘peak oil’ scenario,
more than half the world’s supply
will have been extracted by the
middle of this century, after which oil
will become increasingly expensive
to get out of the ground. This will
have huge effects on the cost of food
production because, for instance,
agro-chemicals are reliant on oil for
their production. A pound of beef
takes three-quarters of a gallon of
oil to produce, when everything
including the fertiliser spread on
cornfields to the diesel that runs farm
machinery is taken into account.
One country that has already had
to tackle the effects of peak oil is
Cuba which, pre-1990, depended on
the Soviet Union for its supplies.
With the collapse of communism
the country’s oil supply was cut off
overnight, and the effects on food
production were widespread. People
started suffering from malnutrition,
pregnant women became anaemic
and the average person lost 20 pounds
in weight between 1990 and 1994.
The lack of oil hit power supplies
and, with no fridges, people were
unable to store food for long, while
food imports dropped 80%. Rationed
staple food decreased to one-fifth its
previous level.
Cuba had been committed to
the green revolution, with a
concentration on pesticides, fertilisers
and mechanisation, but there was no
fuel for the machines, no animal feed
and no parts available to fix ageing
tractors. The Cuban people took
matters into their own hands, and
urban gardens flourished on every
available piece of land (Figure 4).
From being considered a worthless
profession, the status of growing
and selling food increased and, in
Havana, more than 1,000 kiosks
sprang up to sell home-produced
food. In smaller cities, between 80
and 100% of fruit and vegetables sold
were produced within a 5 km radius.
Basic methods of cultivation such as
January 2010 AQA SPECIAL 5 Managing food supplies in LEDCs
crop rotation, inter-cropping, use of
green manure, composting, oxen and
animals, ensured that 80% of food
produced was organic.
Now, the Caribbean island is
reaching self-sufficiency in food
production and has vastly reduced
its dependence on oil. The diet has
changed to include more vegetables
and fruit, resulting in less fat and
improved health. While Cuba has
been leading the way, other LEDCs
have also seen the advantages of
increasing their own urban gardening
(Figure 5). This kind of permaculture
– the process of creating sustainable
human habitats – means countries
can feed their people and reduce
their reliance on expensive imports
as food prices rise and the worldwide
economic downturn starts to bite.
Conclusion
Figure 4: Urban gardens in Havana, Cuba
Source: John M Morgan and Faith Morgan/Power of Community
Figure 5: Urban food production in selected LEDCs
City and country
Percentage of
households of
families involved
Produce
Yaoundé (Cameroon)
35
Various
Cairo (Egypt)
16
Livestock
Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso)
36
Various
Accra (Ghana)
15
Various
Dakar (Senegal)
Unknown
Vegetables
Kampala (Uganda)
35
Staple foods and
poultry products
Dar es Salaam (Tanzania)
37
Leafy vegetables
and milk
Jakarta (Indonesia)
Unknown
Vegetables
References
Cagayan de Oro (Philippines)
40
Various
Appenzeller, T. (2004) ‘The End of
Cheap Oil’, National Geographic: June
2004.
Evans, P. (2009) ‘Milking the Planet
Dry’, Geographical 81 (4): April 2009.
Meunier, P. (2008) ‘Seeds of Change’,
Geographical 80 (7): July 2008.
Millstone, E. and Land, T. (2006) The
Atlas of Food, Earthscan.
Morgan F., Murphy P. and Bachman
M. Q. (2006) ‘The Power of
Community: How Cuba Survived
Peak Oil, The Community Solution’,
DVD.
Smith, J. and Knill, R. (2008) AQA
Geography: AS Geography, Nelson
Thornes.
Web sources consulted include:
news.bbc.co.uk, www.guardian.
co.uk, www.practicalaction.org, www.
newscientist.com, www.isaaa.org,
www.accessscience.com and www.
communitysolution.org. www.fao.org
is an excellent source of facts and
figures on worldwide agricultural
production.
Shanghai
20
Milk, eggs and
vegetables
Suva (Fiji)
40
Various
Port Moresby (Papua New
Guinea)
80
Various
The pressures on food supply in
LEDCs will continue to grow as
population increases, agricultural
land is affected by degradation and
climate change, and agro-chemicals
increase in price due to the decline
in oil production. Advances in
technology may provide some of the
answers to the problems that LEDCs
face, but small-scale affordable
solutions are also needed and, in
some cases, a completely back-tobasics approach may prove the only
way to ensure future food supplies.
Geofile Online for AQA © Nelson Thornes 2010
Source: Adapted from Millstone E. and Land T. (2006) The Atlas of Food, Earthscan
Focus Questions
1. Describe and explain the problems LEDCs face because of disparities in
the worldwide food supply.
2. Using specific case study examples, show how high-tech solutions such
as genetic modification and the green revolution have helped improve
conditions of food security in LEDCs.
3. Explain how Cuba has coped with the problems associated with the
decline of peak oil. What lessons can other LEDCs learn from Cuba?
4. What kinds of technologies hold the key to the future management of
food supplies in LEDCs? Illustrate your answer with reference to named
case studies.