1.2 - What factors promote or hinder food production?

Rice growing in Kedah plains: Malaysia
1. Kedah sits in the north-west corner of Malaysia
2. The 'Rice-bowl of Malaysia'
  1. Contributed some 50% of the 1.63 tons total produced in 2001
3. 8th largest state - total land area 9,500 km sq...
  1. ...also 8th most populated state in Malaysia
    1. Population 1.9 million approx
4. Equatorial climate w/ monsoon season
  1. Wet season with rice
  2. Dry season - rice ripens + can be harvested
5. 76% of land under cultivation
  1. Approx 48,500 farm families live there
6. Also produces other goods - rubber, oil palm, tobacco
7. Irrigation from Muda Irrigation Project allows rice fields to be flooded during dry season and allows two rice crops per year
Supermarket-farmer relations
1. Argument that relationship is one sided in UK - unfair deals dictated by large supermarkets
  1. One farmer said to have been told to scrap 10 acres of cauliflowers after a supermarket decided they were too big
  2. want supermarkets to pay £billions of fines
2. British Retail Consortium want to stop people joining trade unions and reject third party unions trying to dictate deals between supermarkets and farmers
3. At height of British apple season - shelves stocked with more foreign that British - cheaper stock
4. Nicaragua - 78 Wal-Marts + more coming - one for every 75,000 people
5. Supermarkets require the use of pesticides, cleaning and packaging + guaranteed protection
  1. Problematic for small scale farmers with less money
6. HOWEVER - 16% higher sales for farmers who sold to supermarkets in 2000/08 than those who did not
  1. Supermarkets don't offer high price but offer stable one
    1. Very helpful for Nicaragua
Aero-green tech, Singapore
1. Worth $12 million
2. Use of aeroponics
  1. Spraying nutrients over plants in greenhouses
3. Use nets to keep out pests - no pesticides
4. Aero Green opens doors to public to see production
  1. Hoped to increase support for the technology
Restrictions on National Parks
1. Over 100,000 protected parks in the world
  1. Agricultural restrictions - 'Agricultural ties'
2. Is good for environment but can harms people's way of life
  1. The Masai and the Serengeti National Park
    1. Many people of central Africa are poor
      1. Masai people practice 'Nomadic farming' - moving around
        Good for environment - grass can recover
    2. Masai forced out of Serengeti National Park
      1. Established in 1950 to conserve wildife and encourage tourism
    3. Govt policies - encouraged commercial farmers to move into best dry-season land
      1. Savannah converted into cropland - natural vegetation removed + soil's nutrients used up
        BAD FOR MASAI
    4. Serengeti Region population expanded rapidly
      1. Increased pasture on land
        Larger herds grazing grassland
      2. Trees cut down for fuel - ground left bare - risk of soil erosion
    5. The intention of these interventions was to force the Masai farmers onto marginal land
      1. Traditional migration patterns disrupted + compelled to use smaller areas of land for cattle
        Result? OVERGRAZING
Common Agricultural policy
1. Allows European farmers to meet the needs of 500 million Europeans.
  1. Main objective - ensure a fair standard of living for farmers and to provide a stable and safe food supply at affordable prices
    1. Viable food production
    2. Sustainable management of natural resources
    3. Balanced devpt of rural areas throughout EU
2. Run by full range of stakeholders - 27 EU countries make the laws
  1. Direct payments to farmers
3. Budget spent?
  1. Income support for farmers who keep up standards - direct payments - 70% of CAP budget
  2. Rural devpt - help farmers modernise farms - 20% of CAP budget
  3. Market support - 10% of CAP budget
4. Are farmers treated equally?
  1. Due to CAP evolving - 20% of farmers receive 80% of aid - VERY UNBALANCED
    1. Enter text here
5. Encourages modernisation - farmers improve farms, process and sell produce + produce higher quality food
  1. More sustainable, environmentally friendly farming methods
6. Fraud?
  1. 0.02% accounted fraud of CAP's budget
Soil degradation in South-West Zimbabwe
1. Very slow soil formation rate in Zimb - 400 kg/ha/yr
  1. Soil erosion is much greater - 5 tonnes/ha/yr
2. Consequence of erosion
  1. General decline in crop yields
    1. Cultivation of maize may only be possible for another 15yrs before soil becomes too shallow
  2. Very high rates of siltation of reservoirs - esp dams used for rural water supplies
    1. Small dams likely to fill with sediment after 15yrs

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1.2 - What factors promote or hinder food production?

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