1. Background As we all know that China has 1.3 billion populations and still consistently growing, whereas the disparity is a significant issue. In some poor provinces or villages, there is a shortage of food problem, which leads them to death. Recently, China’s growing demand for agricultural imports has lightened up the concerns about worldwide food demand raised by Brown (1996). Due to loss of arable land and developing opulence in China, it has a soaring demand for more consumer goods now. It has progressively reliant on imported agricultural products. Neither fishers nor farmers have possessed the capacity to stay aware of the development in populace lately (Brown, 1996). As a consequence, grain producers may have a tendency to raise …show more content…
Because of the low availability of both land and fresh water, the grain could not follow the growth in population. Despite the farmers tried using more fertilizer, it only has little effect on production that still couldn 't reach the demand for food. According to Brown, China had a heavy loss of rice land in its southern provinces in 1994 (Brown, 1996). As a result, a shortage of food supply could be formed, which means the food supply could not meet the food demand of the Chinese or even the world. To summarize, land, water, soil, and diet are the key factors that reduce food …show more content…
According to Brown, future food security for China and the world could work on with suitable changes in a collection of strategies and policies. Firstly, diminishing the consumption of fat-rich domesticated animals among the wealth (Brown, 1996). If a 10% reduction in the grain used for food, it would cover total populace development for 26 months (Brown, 1996). Most of the Chinese people are getting richer due to industrialization, animal foods have become a major ingredient in the Chinese diet, and especially they eat dogs to flaunt their status in China. However, if there were a control on the consumption of those livestock products among the rich, the species of the food supply in the pyramid would not appear a shortage or abandon problem. Since feeding the domesticated animals require a lot of grains as well, if both human and animals have a high demand for grains, a serious shortage of food would be performed. Secondly, executing topsoil-saving rural systems to reduce the loss of farming area to erosion (Brown, 1996). Thirdly, propose water-marketing schemes, such as eliminating subsidies. This will diminish waste and encourage investment in water-efficient technologies (Brown, 1996). The most efficient for China to solve the food problem is to stabilize the population before it reaches the peak of 1.66 billion projected for 2045 (Brown, 1996). The one-child policy was an
Although the collaboration method results in a higher standard of living with higher levels of consumption as well as increases threats to the environment, Sen believes that it is still the preferred method of controlling and curbing the population at hand. For one, “override” leaves the individual with very few choices. It limits their freedom. As with China, it can lead to neglect and often endangerment to a second child. More often than not, since a male child is favored among the Chinese, female children have been reported to have been severely neglected and speculations that female infanticide may occur. A higher level of consumption isn’t big enough of a problem as some may assume. As Sen puts it “ the worldwide trend of output of food per person has been firmly upward.” The places that have an increase in population are the ones that also seem to have an increase in the production of food. The average American does pose as a bigger threat on the environment than dozens of Third World individuals, but yet these individuals raise a red flag for complications for a denser population on rural resources such as forests, fields, and other greenery.
From 1865 to 1900, production of crops increased, and prices dropped. (Document A) These crops were shipped east, where they were eaten and exported to other countries. This was due to technology, but government policy caused economic conditions in the west barely improved as a result. In fact, despite the success many farmers experienced, many in the west still struggled to put food on the table.
A population control method that has achieve environmental sustainability is China’s one-child-policy which was incorporated into Chinese society in 1990 which made is compulsory that mothers only have one child. The policy was incorporated because the government realized that if birth rates stayed the same, as they were pre-1990, then the country would head into famine. The policy resulted in 400 million fewer births and averted the famine. The population policy that the Chinese took on did achieve environmental sustainability because as China develops economically, their population will require a larger ecological footprint; and with one tenth of china’s 120 million hectares of arable land contaminated, the reduction of population benefited the country environmentally and led to slower and more sustainable development. Economists have viewed the one-child policy, as a necessary regulation to control what was China’s exponential population growth, which helped relieve resource scarcity, water supply, renewable energy sources, and environmental pollution.
While in China a similar problem became evident, the farmers of China began to notice the deterioration of agriculture and while they had no money because the lack of food they were also being pushed off their lands by the Qing (Bulliet, Crossley, Hedrick, Hirsch, Johnson, and Northrup).... ... middle of paper ... ... Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2007.
Before industrialization became big, farmers used to grow their own food, make their own clothing, and bartered for their other needs. Now, with the high prices, farmers were forced to grow single "cash" crops like wheat or corn, and use their profits to buy other necessities at the general store.
China has approximately 20% of the world’s population, which is around 1.3 billion people (Morris, 2009, p. 111). Also, China has become one of the worlds biggest manufacturing countries within 30 years (Fawssett, 2009, p. 27). However, such rapid development has come at a cost, which has created various environmental problems. Coincidentally, China has 16 cities on a list of the 20 worst polluted cities in the world (Fawssett, 2009, p. 15). Therefore, this essay will explain the reasons for China’s environmental problems, then evaluate the claim that the Chinese government and people, are tackling these environmental problems. First, crop farming techniques over the last hundred years, and their consequences will be explained. Followed by, how peoples choice in food has changed over the last hundred years, and how this indirectly affects the environment. Then, how a capitalist economy is linked to agriculture, and finally what the Chinese government and people are doing to tackle these problems.
There are many problems confronting our global food system. One of them is that the food is not distributed fairly or evenly in the world. According “The Last Bite Is The World’s Food System Collapsing?” by Bee Wilson, “we are producing more food—more grain, more meat, more fruits and vegetables—than ever before, more cheaply than ever before” (Wilson, 2008). Here we are, producing more and more affordable food. However, the World Bank recently announced that thirty-three countries are still famine and hungers as the food price are climbing. Wilson stated, “despite the current food crisis, last year’s worldwide grain harvest was colossal, five per cent above the previous year’s” (Wilson, 2008). This statement support that the food is not distributed evenly. The food production actually increased but people are still in hunger and malnutrition. If the food were evenly distributed, this famine problem would’ve been not a problem. Wilson added, “the food economy has created a system in w...
And, because food now comes at a low cost, it has become cheaper in quality and therefore potentially dangerous to the consumer’s health. These problems surrounding the ethics and the procedures of the instantaneous food system are left unchanged due to the obliviousness of the consumers and the dollar signs in the eyes of the government and big business. The problem begins with the mistreatment and exploitation of farmers. Farmers are essentially the backbone of the entire food system. Large-scale family farms account for 10% of all farms, but 75% of overall food production (CSS statistics).
During the Mao era, agriculture was seen as an inferior part of development. Mao based his economic system off of the Soviet Union’s economic policy in the 1950s, which focused on the development and growth of industry (Huang, 17). During the period of Mao’s rule, lack of incentives and absence of markets constrained increases in agricultural output (Brandt 469). The majority of agricultural production was centered on food to sustain China’s growing population. However, most citizens were still unable to obtain food security and barely consumed 2,300 Calories a day (Brandt 471).
By 1961, China was forced to buy grain form abroad, and only strict rationing prevented the famine from continuing. As we can see, the ambitious Great Leap For...
It is ridiculous to imagine that 80% of all of the world’s agricultural land is being used for animal production. These resources could be used to feel millions of hungry/malnourished families (Duden).
Agriculture has changed dramatically, especially since the end of World War II. Food and fibre productivity rose due to new technologies, mechanization, increased chemical use, specialization and government policies that favoured maximizing production. These changes allowed fewer farmers with reduced labour demands to produce the majority of the food and fibre.
One of the most complex issues in the world today concerns human population. The number of people living off the earth’s resources and stressing its ecosystem has doubled in just forty years. In 1960 there were 3 billion of us; today there are 6 billion. We have no idea what maximum number of people the earth will support. Therefore, the very first question that comes into people’s mind is that are there enough food for all of us in the future? There is no answer for that. Food shortage has become a serious problem among many countries around the world. There are many different reasons why people are starving all over the world. The lack of economic justice and water shortages are just merely two examples out of them all.
Without access to outside food the population in poorer countries drops and is “checked” by crop failures and famines. But access to outside food could be a problem because “if they can always draw on a world food bank in time of need, their populations can continue to grow unchecked, and so will their “need” for aid”(333). Poorer countries’ populations could surpass richer countries, then poorer countries will receive even more resources and give basically nothing, while the rich receive even less but give
There are those that believe our planet has reached its maximum capacity to sustain humanity and we need to reduce our population to rectify it. It is also said that our planet is well capable of providing both the nutrition and caloric needs for humanity, both now and into the future as well. Regardless of where one’s opinion of the facts fall between these two arguments, global food security is not where it should be. Uneven development could be argued to be a cause of this. But it is not the only issue affecting the planet.