Food Production, Hunger, and Malnutrition PDF

Summary

This document provides an overview of food production, hunger, and malnutrition globally. It examines trends in global food production and discusses factors contributing to hunger and malnutrition. The report includes statistics and analysis of these significant issues.

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Stuvia.com - The Marketplace to Buy and Sell your Study Material Chapter 4: Food, hunger and malnutri1on 1. Food producIon, hunger, malnutriIon World food producBon World food producBon has kept up with populaBon growth o Food producBon has increased in a faster rate than the popul...

Stuvia.com - The Marketplace to Buy and Sell your Study Material Chapter 4: Food, hunger and malnutri1on 1. Food producIon, hunger, malnutriIon World food producBon World food producBon has kept up with populaBon growth o Food producBon has increased in a faster rate than the populaBon o Except in sub-Saharan Africa Growth in producBon is caused more by increases in yield (kg per ha) than by increases in the amount of cropland o If you take an area and see how much food you can produce; this has increased o There is an increase of producBvity o Due to improved seeds, ferBlizers, pesBcides, tractors,... There is enough food available at the start of the 21st century to provide every person with 2350 calories per day (daily average required for a healthy and acBve life) o but its distribuBon is uneven BUT it has not been the case everywhere (Asia vs Africa) o Asia: the cereal yield has increased a lot and the land only a li;le bit § Food producBon has gone op as a result of producBvity o Afrika: The land used for cereal has increased more than the producBon § Afrika is lagging behind Hunger and malnutriBon FAO esBmates that in 2022 between 691 and 738 million people (8.7 – 9.8% of the world populaBon) are hungry or undernourished (i.e., do not have regular access to enough dietary energy for a healthy, acBve life) The Global Hunger Index Report indicates there are alarming levels of hunger in 9 countries and serious levels of hunger in 34 countries WHO/UNICEF esBmates of malnutriBon focus on stunBng, wasBng and overweight o 22% of children under five are affected by stunBng o 7% of children under five are affected by wasBng StarvaBon is uncommon, but malnutriBon and disease are complementary Women are more vulnerable to malnutriBon than men 29 Downloaded by: carolinaalmeidadj | [email protected] Want to earn $1.236 Distribution of this document is illegal extra per year? Stuvia.com - The Marketplace to Buy and Sell your Study Material 1.1. World food security A report issues by the food and agricultural organiza6on Key messages: Global hunger in recent years has remained stable and has even increased a li;le bit o Is different than we has observed in previous years o Manly due to the pandemic: has had the effect that food prices have gone up, people that don’t have a lot of money can buy less food o The war between Russia and Ukraine: food prices also gone up PredicBons: picking up again where we le` o By 2030 hunger will sBll be on the planet if the evoluBon goes as planned o But there are always events that no one can predict and can disrupt the evoluBon Food insecurity: indicated a similar tendency than people suffer to acces food Two main indicators to measure hunger 1. Undernourishment: the condiBon of an individual whose habitual food consumpBon is insufficient to provide, on average, the amount of dietary energy required to maintain a normal, acBve and healthy life 2. Food insecurity: refers to limited access to food, at the level of individuals or households, due to lack of money of other resources. o The severity of food security is measured using data collected with the Food Insecurity Experience Scale survey module, a set of eight quesBons asking to self- report condiBons and experiences typically associated with limited access to food Percentage of people that suffers from undernourishment (orange) Absolute numbers (black line) from 2005 up unBl 2012 the absolute numbers went down Then it stabilized a bit, but in recent years both lines have increased again o Started before the pandemic, but the pandemic and the war in Ukraine have added to that Hunger is not going down anymore! 30 Downloaded by: carolinaalmeidadj | [email protected] Want to earn $1.236 Distribution of this document is illegal extra per year? Stuvia.com - The Marketplace to Buy and Sell your Study Material 1.2. Global hunger index Global Hunger Index (GHI) is a tool for comprehensively measuring and tracking hunger at global, regional, and naBonal levels. GHI scores are based on the values of four component indicators: 1. Undernourishment: the share of the populaBon with insufficient caloric intake 2. Child stunFng: the share of children under age five who have low height for there are, reflecBng chronic undernutriBon 3. Child wasFng: the share of children under age five who have low weight for their height, reflecBng acute undernutriBon 4. Child mortality: the share of children who die before their fi`h birthday, partly reflecBng the fatal mix of inadequate nutriBon and unhealthy environments Key messages: Global hunger remains too high, and progress on reducing hinger has largely stalled o The 2023 global GHI score is 18.3 – considered moderate – down less than one point prom the 2015 global scale 19.1. The right to adequate food is being violated for nearly three-quarters of a billion people every day The stagnaBon relaBve to 2015 largely reflects the combined effects of several crises o These include the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine war, economic stragnaBon, the impacts of climate change, and the intractable conflicts facing many countries of the world o Their compounding effects have led to a cost-of-living crisis and exhausted the comping capacity of many countries especially those where hunger was already high before the crises hit due to power imbalances and structural obstacles to food and nutriBon security The crises gave aggravated inequaliBes between regions, countries, and groups o While some countries have weathered them relaBvely well, others have experienced deeping hunger and nutriBon problems 31 Downloaded by: carolinaalmeidadj | [email protected] Want to earn $1.236 Distribution of this document is illegal extra per year? Stuvia.com - The Marketplace to Buy and Sell your Study Material 1.3. Child malnutri5on We have two problems: 1. A lot of children have insufficient food and that is visible in stunBng and wasBng (but those numbers are going down) 2. Children that have access to too much food (this is increasing) 2. Causes of hunger and famines 3 Causes of world hunger 1. Poverty and lack of money o Engel’s law: the richer, the smaller the share of food expenditures in total income § The richer, the more resources you have for other things § The poor spend 60 to 80% of their income on food 2. Low agricultural producBvity o There have been serious changes in how food is produced, the green revoluBon really has increased agricultural producBvity in many parts of the world o Subsistence farming (landbouw voor eigen gebruik) has low producBvity and high risk 3. Lack of nutriBonal informaBon o E.g., breas~eeding vs. infant food o In the past people were encouraged to replace breas~eeding with bo;le feeding, but this is not good for the health of the baby (ex by companies that sell infant food) 5 causes of famines (episodes of the lack of food) 1. Famines have become less frequent due to development and internaBonal relief efforts o e.g., World Food Programme, WFP, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize 2020 o Send emergency food so people don’t die 2. Major 20th century famines were caused by misguided communist reforms o Stalin’s collecBvisaBon in 1930s (7 million +) o China’s Great Leap Forward in the 1960s (30 million +) o Cambodia’s Pol Pot regime in the 1970s o North Korea in the 1990s (3 million +) 3. War and conflict in Africa (starvaBon in Biafra, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan,...) 4. Locust infestaBons (sprinkhanenplagen) o They eat everything that they can and destroy food 5. Misguided agricultural policies 32 Downloaded by: carolinaalmeidadj | [email protected] Want to earn $1.236 Distribution of this document is illegal extra per year? Stuvia.com - The Marketplace to Buy and Sell your Study Material 3. Agricultural economics, policies and poliIcs How can the government influence food produc6on? Economics and policies Typical characterisBcs of agricultural markets o Long run decreasing prices (and farm incomes) o Prices and incomes are unstable o Cyclical pa;erns (bust-boom & “hog/pork/ca;le cycles”) § When the price of one crop (gewas) goes up, the next year other farmers will invest in it § When many farmers do this, the next year the supply of that crop is huge, and the price will go down § So the next year the farmers will move to another crop § … Agricultural policies o Price floors (supported minimum prices) o Subsidies o Quota o Price ceilings Typical characterisFcs of agricultural markets 1. Decreasing prices and farm incomes. Why? Demand for food is price inelasBc, and its income elasBcity is low o Demand doesn’t (small) react to the price o If the income rises, the share of agricultural consumpBon will tend to decline. The addiBonal income will go to luxury foods There are important long run shi`s of supply due to producBvity gains, but limited demand shi`s o Changes over Bme o Agricultural producBvity tends to improve. Supply curve shi`s to the right. Short-term effects: o The supply influences by seasons and infestaBons o Large changes in price and small changes in quanBty (because of the steep supply curve) Long-term effects o If the supply curve slowly moves to the right (by an increase of producBvity), in the long run food prices will decline o So farm incomes will decrese 2. Price (and farm income) instability Supply of food is o`en depending on “nature” and highly variable Variability of supply leads to price instability Consumer expenditures (farmer’s revenues) are subject to large variaBons => Storing food helps stabilise prices Food price hikes (voedselprijssBjgingen) lead to investment in storage o but a lot of farm products can’t be stored for a long Bme -> storage is not always possible 33 Downloaded by: carolinaalmeidadj | [email protected] Want to earn $1.236 Distribution of this document is illegal extra per year? Stuvia.com - The Marketplace to Buy and Sell your Study Material 3. Boom-bust cycles and “hog cycles” What is good for one farmer’s income is not necessarily good for total farm income High prices may induce a farmer to invest in expanding his producBon with higher yield and income in future seasons If all farmers think and act the same, total output in future seasons will increase and prices will fall more than proporBonal (inelasBc demand), resulBng in a decline in total farm income Cycles (“hog cycles”) in prices and output may be the result (high investment, high output, low prices, disinvestment, low output, high prices,...) What can governments do? 1. Price floor To maintain the price (red line) at a higher level than the market equilibrium price o Consumers will reduce their demand o Farmers will increase their producBon o The government buys the surplus If the government did not buy the surplus, the price would return to the equilibrium level The price floor maintains farm income at a high level, at the expense of taxpayers Consumers pay a higher price and consume less than what they would in a market equilibrium => Very expensive way of maintaining high prices 2. Subsidy Government may promise a price and subsidise the difference between the promised price and the market price o Blue line: situaBon without government intervenBon With a subsidy, o Price will fall for consumers o Producers will receive a higher price -> more food is produced Farm income is higher than under a market outcome, but at the expense of the taxpayers financing the subsidy 3. ProducBon quota The government may impose producBon quota to limit total output (or pay farmers for not producing) Consumers pay more for food & less food is available compared to a free market outcome Cost falls (only the efficient farms can stay in business) and farm income is maintained There is no cost for the taxpayer, but there is an efficiency loss (less food for consumers and at a higher cost) Enforcement required o They have to ensure that nobody tries to sell more than the quota 34 Downloaded by: carolinaalmeidadj | [email protected] Want to earn $1.236 Distribution of this document is illegal extra per year? Stuvia.com - The Marketplace to Buy and Sell your Study Material 4. Price ceiling Opposite of price floor In countries where they don’t want the price to get too high o Eg in countries where a lot of people live in ciBes, and don’t produce their own food. They set a price ceiling so the urban populaBon stays saBsfied and there is no unrest In many developing countries, farmers must sell all their output to the government at a price lower than the free market price o Farmers produce less output (compared to the market soluBon) o There is excess demand (consumers perceive food as cheap and demand more than is available) o Food is raBoned (queues, coupons,...) so everybody gets a fair share o RaBoning leads to black markets and requires enforcement 5. PoliBcs and farm policy In most developed countries, the farm lobby is poliBcally more powerful compared to taxpayers’ interests o You have the farmers and the larger public, o`en it is the case that the farm lobby is more successful in influencing policies o Because in richer countries there are not many farmers (they can more easily organize and defend them) o US, Japan: subsidies o EU: price floors, subsidies & quota o SBgler’s theory of regulaBon: rent seeking occurs when benefits are concentrated, and costs dispersed In many developing countries, urban inhabitants are poliBcally more powerful than rural inhabitants (also as a result of urbanisaBon) o Governments want to keep the urban populaBon saBsfied o Food prices are kept low for consumers o Food purchasing boards buying at low prices 4. How food affects development MalnutriBon has a long-lasBng destrucBve effect on children o Vitamin A deficiency leads to blindness o Retarded mental development o ReducBon in resistance against disease Chronic undernourishment of adults leads to apathy, listlessness and lack of producBvity SoluBons: Agricultural producBvity Increasing agricultural producBvity and output generally reduces malnutriBon o Make sure that more food is produced/ available But... not always: the effect on poverty and malnutriBon depends on many factors o It can take a lot of Bme o The increasing products can be exported to other countries, so the populaBon doesn’t feel immediate effects 35 Downloaded by: carolinaalmeidadj | [email protected] Want to earn $1.236 Distribution of this document is illegal extra per year? Stuvia.com - The Marketplace to Buy and Sell your Study Material 5. How development affects food Food producBon: spectacular increases in agricultural producBvity have occurred in the Western world (North America, Europe, Japan,...) As development starts to occur, we know that the food pa;erns change We know much be;er how to increase the agricultural output o MechanisaBon (capital) and scienBfic knowledge (technology) o + Highly energy intensive agricultural producBon (farm machinery, producBon of ferBlisers, pesBcides, food transportaBon, processing and storage) o + Availability and use of water (irrigaBon) But: worries about sustainability (water, energy) and vulnerability (monocultures) o IrrigaBon o`en funcBons by pumping water from underground water sources, but at some point this will be exhausted, and you will run oit of water The structure of the agricultural sector has changed significantly Larger and fewer farms (economies of scale) Less employment in agriculture Development of agrobusiness: the large firms that are acBve in agriculture Loss of food (side of producBon) We produce more food than in the past, but in the food chain a lot of food is wasted o in retailing, food service and consumpBon – up to 1/4 Loss of farmland by erosion o irrigaBon and water logging, salinity, nutrient depleBon, deserBficaBon o If you transform a forest into a farm, the trees are removes, so you have more erosion and the loss of ferBle soil Urban sprawl (expansion of ciBes) and the irreversible loss of prime farmland Changing diet with development (side of consumpBon) The intake of calories and proteins increases with development Meat consumpBon increases with development – a very inefficient use of food grains o 1 kg meat = 16 kg grain/soya (food of the animals) o 1/3 of the world cereal harvest = for animal consumpBon More calories and proteins lead to obesity o On average people consume more calories of food if they live in richer countries o 1/4 of the populaBon of Europe; more than 1/3 in the USA! o Obesity is also a problem in emerging and developing world (not only in richer countries!) ReducBon in breas~eeding and rise of bo;le feeding in the developing world have negaBve consequences such as: o MalnutriBon, less natural birth control, weakening immune system, combined with poor water quality gives disease The nutriBon transiBon: the way people consume food changes in different development stages => On the one hand, a lot of people suffer from malnutriBon and having not enough food. But on the other hand an increasing amount of people consume too much food. 36 Downloaded by: carolinaalmeidadj | [email protected] Want to earn $1.236 Distribution of this document is illegal extra per year? Stuvia.com - The Marketplace to Buy and Sell your Study Material 6. The Green RevoluIon The Green RevoluBon refers to the introducBon of advanced agricultural technology in the developing world since the mid 1960s Use of new seeds: culBvaBon by selecBon and bioengineering of high yield varieBes (especially wheat and corn) Use of new inputs: ferBlisers, pesBcides and irrigaBon Capital equipment enhances producBvity à Result was a drasBc increase in output growth and lower food prices A second Green RevoluBon? Flooding (monsoons) of rice fields and drought is detrimental to rice producBon (especially in poor places) o A geneBcally modified (GM) new seed developed in 2008 by the InternaBonal Rice Research InsBtute (IRRI) has “submergence-tolerant” genes with high yields o GM techniques look promising to develop various “climate change – ready” rice varieBes A second Green RevoluBon may be under way provided o Farmers switch to the new seed varieBes and are “nudged” by governments to do so o Governments support basic and experimental GM research Is the Green RevoluBon sustainable? FerBlisers enhance producBon, but excessive nitrogen overwhelms the natural nitrogen cycle (water polluBon, algae blooms and eutrophicaBon) o PesBcide poisoning is a real possibility o Use of fresh water in agriculture leads to depleBon of aquifers (waterhoudende grondlagen), water logging, salinisaBon and in some areas to infecBous diseases (malaria, schistosomiasis) Government policies need to support new (GM) technologies and induce farmers to switch to high-yield varieBes Norman Borlaug Norman Borlaug (1914-2009, USA), agricultural research, Nobel Peace Prize 1970 Father of the Green RevoluBon “The green revoluBon has won a temporary success in man’s war against hunger and deprivaBon; it has given man a breathing space.” (Nobel lecture) o It has improved the food situaBon on earth o It has given people food, that would have died when there was no green revoluBon Controversial new technology: GeneBcally Modified Seeds GeneBc engineering of varieBes results in high yield crops, but GM foods are a cause of concern (especially in some countries, such as the UK, but less so in other countries) o Most geneBcally modified seeds are not naturally reproduced but are manufactured with risks of market power by a few dominant firms o Fears of health risks (“absolute precauBonary principle”) o Use of GM means a reducBon in biodiversity (other naturally reproduced seeds are dominated) “We have to be careful before we adopt the seeds, because we don’t know the long term effects” 37 Downloaded by: carolinaalmeidadj | [email protected] Want to earn $1.236 Distribution of this document is illegal extra per year? Stuvia.com - The Marketplace to Buy and Sell your Study Material 7. Food policies and poliIcs Governmental food policies: developing countries Farm policies in many developing countries are biased in favor of the urban (poliBcally organised) masses against the interests of small (unorganised) farmers In some countries, governments have brought prosperity to rural areas by agricultural reform o Land reform (e.g., Japan a`er WWII) o SBmulaBng the establishment of cooperaBves (buying and selling power, stabilisaBon of farm prices and farm income, informaBon and diffusion of technological knowledge) o Private or local ownership of land rather than collecBve ownership (China, Vietnam,...) Government food policies: developed countries Increasing agricultural producBvity (outpacing demand) in developed countries means lower prices, declining farm income and more costly government support schemes for farmers The EU’s Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) relies on price support and producBon subsidies, but schemes like these: o are costly to taxpayers, o imply high prices for consumers, o lead to exporBng food surpluses to developing countries at dumping prices, o require protecBonism Income subsidy schemes are also costly to taxpayers but less distorBve (verstorend) and have smaller deadweight losses 8. Future outlook Future food supplies: how many can be fed? The effects of climate change (warming, variability in climate) on food producBon and its distribuBon are an addiBonal long-term uncertainty There is sBll plenty of arable land, but some is lost o 1⁄4 of the planet is arable and 1⁄2 is currently used o Large reserves (Brazil, Sub-Saharan grasslands) exist, but development requires large amounts of energy o Arable land is lost due to urbanisaBon, erosion, deserBficaBon, salinisaBon and water logging Doubling agricultural output requires a tenfold increase in energy used (diminishing returns and rising costs) AlternaBve (sustainable) or organic agriculture is no real subsBtute o Has a lower producBvity, so not everyone would be fed Biotechnology and geneBcally modified food (GM food) are controversial (especially in some parts of Europe), but highly producBve Dependence on monocultures increases the risk of catastrophic epidemics o e.g., wheat leaf rust Overfishing is a real problem (a “commons problem”); aquaculture is promising, but not free from environmental concerns 38 Downloaded by: carolinaalmeidadj | [email protected] Want to earn $1.236 Distribution of this document is illegal extra per year? Stuvia.com - The Marketplace to Buy and Sell your Study Material Future food producBon? According to Lester Brown, the main threats to future food availability are: o Rapid populaBon growth o Loss of topsoil o Spreading of water shortages o Rising temperatures AggravaBng factors are: o Meat-centered diet with more wealth o Corn producBon for fuel But many experts failed to predict the progress in food producBon of the last few decades and underesBmated the ingenuity of mankind under adverse condiBons 9. To sum up Enough food is produced to feed everyone Hunger and undernourishment are on the rise again Agricultural and food policies can take different forms The first Green RevoluBon has played an important role in reducing hunger It remains to be seen whether the second Green RevoluBon will be sustainable Future food producBon will face several threats 39 Downloaded by: carolinaalmeidadj | [email protected] Want to earn $1.236 Distribution of this document is illegal extra per year? Stuvia.com - The Marketplace to Buy and Sell your Study Material 40 Downloaded by: carolinaalmeidadj | [email protected] Want to earn $1.236 Distribution of this document is illegal extra per year?

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