Environmental science
Meisha Ross
11/26/12
Bio 114
Intro to Marine/Environmental Science
Section 2
Chapter 9: Food and Hunger
9.1 World Food and Nutrition People have predicted that because of the growing population, a rise in famines will occur but on the contrary, world food supplies have kept up with the growing population. Within the past two centuries, the growing population has slowed down to an average of 1.7 percent per year. In contrast, the world’s food production has increased an average of 2.2 percent. One of the reasons why food production has increased is because of the increase in the use of irrigation and fertilizers. In the same way, the enhanced crop diversity and better dispersing method of food have improved the nutrition of billions of people. The average number of calories consumed is three thousand calories, which is well above the norm for a healthy and productive life. In knowing this information the UN Food and Agriculture Organization expects the world food supply to be persistently more than the population. The United States is one of the countries that have a surplus of food and one of the leading countries in wasting food. The supply of food in the United States is enormous which causes the profit to be very low. Farmers in the United States are paid not to produce more because studies show that we can still increase farmland and production of products to feed nine billion people in the next decades. On the contrary, to given information listed above more than eight hundred and fifty million people in the world are considered malnourished. Over the past several years the number of chronically under nourished has risen especially in sub Saharan Africa and South Asia. In contrast to these countries, China has decreased their number of malnourished people by over seventy five million in the past ten years. The ability to obtain sufficient food on a day to day basis is called food security. Food security varies within different
11/26/12
Bio 114
Intro to Marine/Environmental Science
Section 2
Chapter 9: Food and Hunger
9.1 World Food and Nutrition People have predicted that because of the growing population, a rise in famines will occur but on the contrary, world food supplies have kept up with the growing population. Within the past two centuries, the growing population has slowed down to an average of 1.7 percent per year. In contrast, the world’s food production has increased an average of 2.2 percent. One of the reasons why food production has increased is because of the increase in the use of irrigation and fertilizers. In the same way, the enhanced crop diversity and better dispersing method of food have improved the nutrition of billions of people. The average number of calories consumed is three thousand calories, which is well above the norm for a healthy and productive life. In knowing this information the UN Food and Agriculture Organization expects the world food supply to be persistently more than the population. The United States is one of the countries that have a surplus of food and one of the leading countries in wasting food. The supply of food in the United States is enormous which causes the profit to be very low. Farmers in the United States are paid not to produce more because studies show that we can still increase farmland and production of products to feed nine billion people in the next decades. On the contrary, to given information listed above more than eight hundred and fifty million people in the world are considered malnourished. Over the past several years the number of chronically under nourished has risen especially in sub Saharan Africa and South Asia. In contrast to these countries, China has decreased their number of malnourished people by over seventy five million in the past ten years. The ability to obtain sufficient food on a day to day basis is called food security. Food security varies within different