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Food SecurityExponential growth
Exponential growth is when there is a constant growth rate so the population size that started quite small increases more and more rapidly. In November 2011, the world’s population reached 7 billion and it is estimated to reach 10 billion by 2025. South Africa’s population reached 50 million in 2011 and is estimated to reach 60 million by 2025. The carrying capacity of the earth is probably close to the number of people alive today. Consequences of rapid human population growth:
Droughts and floods These are among the most dangerous and devastating natural disasters as they affect our ability to grow food. They are happening more commonly due to global warming, climate change and other extreme weather conditions. The immediate effect on food security due to droughts and floods is on Crop production. Droughts and floods cause harvest failure and reduced crops yields (amount of food produced). Due to this, food security is reduced and this affects those who depend on local food production, but less on those who can import food elsewhere. Poor farming practices As more people need more food, crop farmers increase their yields. This is done by Monoculture. Monoculture is the planting of one single crop over a large area every year. The advantages of monoculture is that:
There also many disadvantages if monoculture is not managed properly, such as:
Alien plants and the reduction of agricultural land Alien species are organisms that are accidently or intentionally introduced into a habitat where they do not occur naturally. An alien plant is only a problem when it is invasive. Invasive plants have the following characteristics:
Loss of wild varieties Almost all of South Africa’s crops and domestic animals have come from wild populations in other parts of the world. Many varieties of plants and animals were found in their natural environment. Although only a few were used to breed the crops we have today. Many wild varieties of food are edible and nutritious, however people consider them as food for the poor and they are discarded. Therefore there is little variation and if a pest or disease attacks a crop, it is badly affected, reducing food security drastically. When a disease strikes a crop yield, a new solution is to find plants from a population in the original home of the organism, that are resistant to the disease and use these to breed new varieties that are more resistant to the disease. The loss of wild varieties threatens food security because the pool of gene in these wild populations have been lost. Genes are useful in protecting our crops from pests and diseases. Genetically engineered foods To ensure and sustain food security, scientists have created genetically engineered foods. A genetically engineered food comes from an organism that has had characteristics added to it from other species that are not related. Supporters of genetically engineered foods say that it improves food security because they come from crops that may:
And people who don’t support genetically engineered foods say that:
Wastage Stopping food wastage is a huge step in improving food security. Food is wasted due to poor harvests, poor storage, weather, war or diseases and pests. Food wastage is the decrease in edible food throughout the supply chain that leads from production of food to the food people eat. Food wastage take place:
References: P. Ayerst, R. Langley, P. Majozi, A.Metherell, D.Smith. (2012) Top Class life sciences grade 11. Shuter and Shooter. Cape Town https://www.google.co.za/ion=1&espv=2#q=food%20security%20definition |
Understanding of complexity of chosen context
- Droughts and floods have a serious effect on places like Rootbar, as it affects their ability to grow food. Seasons seem to have a common influence on the prices of Rootbar’s fresh foods, fluctuating food prices, at different rates. During this current season, there has been a major decrease in rainfall and due to this many of Rootbars vegetable prices have increased. Vegetables such as, cucumbers, oranges and lemons have sky rocketed in price, but are beginning to decrease with the slow change in season.
- Avocado prices have also increased dramatically. So badly that it has been taken off of Rootbars menu. Avocado on toast, used to be a popular dish on Rootbars menu, however due to the droughts and reduced crop yields, it has been taken off, as it was just too expensive and not worth it. Perhaps with the changing season, Avocado prices will too decrease and soon will be back in the kitchen.
- Genetically engineered foods are generally able to tolerate disasters such as Droughts and Floods, however Rootbar tries to be as organic as possible, and understands that genetically modified food is not as organic as it should be. Rootbar does not sell a single genetically engineered vegetable or fruit and this is explained in their catchy phrase- “it’s all good naturally”
- Rootbar manages their waste remarkably well and at the end of the day they tend to not have much wastage at all. Meals like salads are prepared for the day, rather than being made in bulk, risking the chance of going off and are often sold out very quickly. Smoothies and juices are only made to order, rather than being made beforehand and risking not even being sold. Wastage is close to nothing, however they do recycle if there is. Wastage is taken away by workers who load food scraps into a truck, which is taken away and planted into a large vegetable garden.
Interview Questions
The following questions were asked in an interview in order to help us understand the complexities of our chosen context.
All of the questions were answered and adapted by Colette Lowe, the shop owner.
All of the questions were answered and adapted by Colette Lowe, the shop owner.
interview_recordings_2.mp4 | |
File Size: | 1838 kb |
File Type: | mp4 |