1.Technological
Storage
•One way to address food shortage is to improve the storage and transportation of food
•The use of refrigerated and frozen warehouse storage or delivery trucks can allow food to be kept fresh for a longer period of time
•Food wastage will be reduced as food will not be spoilt before reaching customers
•In LDCs, farmers may make use of a simple but effective technology such as silo, which is an airtight structure for storing crops.
Successes:
•With the use of refrigerated storage, crops can be distributed to places further away from its area of production. This allow for a larger variety of food made available and accessible for more people.
•FAO has helped to reduce loss of crops to pests by 20%to 40% by building silos in Timor-Leste.
Limitations:
•Refrigeration of food on a large scale is very expensive and adds on to the cost of food production.
•Silos may be unaffordable to poor farmers.
•Fungus can continue to develop when grains have not been dried before being stored in Silos
Farming technology
•Green Revolution which Includes the development of high-yielding varieties, the improvement of irrigation technology and the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides
•Some examples of irrigation include:
Flood: irrigation water delivered to a whole surface, such as rice fields
Mechanical move: a line of connected sprinklers travel across a field automatically, using a machine
Centre-pivot irrigation: a form of overhead sprinkler irrigation consisting of several segments of pipe joined together and supported by trusses, mounted on wheeled towers with sprinklers positioned along its length. The pipes are moved mechanically around a central point
Successes:
•Enabled food to be grown in places previously considered unsuitable for agriculture e.g. irrigation allowed farming to be carried out in areas that were previously too dry for growing crops.
•HYVs has increased rice and wheat production in developing countries by 75% between 1965 and 1980 with only a 20% increase in the area used to grow these crops.
•More efficient farming, reducing the dependence on labour e.g. use of computers in Singapore’s high-tech farms has resulted in fewer workers needed to grow crops in these farms.
Limitations:
•Environmental problems may result if not properly managed e.g. irrigation may result in problems such as waterlogging and salinization
Biotechnology
•Refers to the science of modifying living organisms such as plants and animals in order to meet the increasing demand for food
•When used in production of food, it is generally known as genetic modification
Successes:
Food could be produced in areas previously considered unsuitable for agriculture
Plants have been improved through biotechnology can withstand changes in weather such as fall in rainfall or a rise in temperature
This helps to stabilize crop yield as the crops are not affected by weather changes
An example of such plants is the drought resistant maize, which can grow in areas such as the Western Great Plains of the USA where the rainfall received in the area is about 600 mm
Reduced food wastage
A longer shelf life allows food to be sent to places further away from the country of production
For example, GM tomatoes were modified and able to stay fresh for up to 45 days, which is 3 times as long as a non-tomatoes
This helps to reduce food wastage
Increased crop yield
Increased productivity, leads to higher incomes for producers and lower prices for consumers
Countries will be self-sufficient in food production, reducing their reliance on imports of food
Consumers will have access to more food due to the lower prices for food
Limitations
High capital investment
GM crops are mostly grown in large-scale commercial farms in DCs due to the high capital investment involved so poor farmers LDCs could not afford
Food safety
Many consumers are wary of consuming GM food
As a result, the production of GM food is small as the demand is low
Limited use of biotechnology
Biotechnology is only used to increase production in certain food crops such as maize, soya bean and canola
Not use in producing other crops such as cassava, sorghum and banana
Multiple cropping and crop rotation
· Multiple cropping is a practice of growing two or more crops on a single piece of land at the same time. In countries where multiple cropping is not possible due to climate, farmers practice crop rotation.
Crop rotation is a way of growing several crops on the same land are in a specific order, following the changes in seasons. Hence, there is no planting of the same crop on the same piece of land continuously. It is a strategy to help farmers overcome soil erosion and prevent a decrease in soil fertility, which are vital in maintaining and increasing food production.
· There are several advantages of multiple cropping and crop rotation. The first relates to leguminous crops which are plants with seeds in pods.
o Firstly, leguminous crops such as ground nut and soy bean, have roots that contain bacteria in their root systems that produce nitrogen compounds. When these crops die, they release nitrogen in the soil which acts as a fertiliser for other plants. When leguminous crops are planted next to non-leguminous crops such as corn and sorghum the non-leguminous crops benefit from the nitrogen generated by the leguminous crops.
o Secondly, growing a variety of crops simultaneously minimises the problem of pests. When several crops are grown together, some species protect the others by acting as a pest repellent. For example crops such as garlic, pepper and onions may be planted next to other crops; such as tomatoes. These crops repel pests, such as aphids, away from the tomatoes.
o Dependence on one crop is avoided though both multiple cropping and crop rotation so that variability in prices, market, climate and pests and diseases do not have such drastic effects on local economies. In Garhwal Himalaya, India, a practice known as baranaja involves 12 or more crops on the same field. The crops include various types of beans and mullet, and are harvested at different times of the year.
Water and soil conservation
Water and soil are conserved when no-till farming is practiced
No-till farming is farming without removing weeds from the soil and without creating rows in the soil for planting
This methods allows leaves and branches from the previous growing season to be kept on the surface of the soil
This maintains the quality of the soil through the decomposition of dead plant materials that return nutrients to the soil
This helps in soil conservation where the soil is protected against erosion or deterioration
Leasing farmland to other countries
Some countries which do not have sufficient land suitable for farming may choose to lease farmland from other countries
For example, in 2012, Russia wanted to lease out land to countries in Asia Pacific such as Singapore, Japan and South Korea for farming
Each plot of land that is leased out will be 200,000 hectares and Russia has about 20 such plots of land to be leased out
In Ethiopia, food production is unable to sustain its population and farmland is even leased out though several million people rely on food aid
However, leasing out land to other countries may generate income that may be channeled back to help local farmers improve their farming methods to increase local food production
