'Feed all the nations first, then think of world peace and world market share indexes,' urges Ayub Chege in a discussion on need to increase global food production.
Food Miles
When the war on food miles and the health quotient of imported foodstuff was hot news threatening the livelihoods of millions of hardworking resource constrained smallholder farmers in the developing world, supermarkets in the West stood tall extolling the virtues of locally sources foodstuffs and produce. Alongside stood the world famed Soil Association of the United Kingdom- the certifier and standard setter of all that is organic and decent for mankind to eat. Thus aligned, the superpowers in the food industry had dealt the blow to kill any business venture and industrial future of the third world.
It didn't matter that the proclaimed food miles were scientifically and ecologically more environmentally friendly and a practical step fighting global warming. It didn't arise that the carbon footprint didn't start and end with the airfreight. It didn't dawn on some that bananas could not be faxed from Costa Rica or coffee and French beans be emailed from Kenya. All that shone throughout the world was that floriculture was doing in the market against "locally sourced foods" that were "ethically grown and harvested and transported" to the supermarket in "under thirty hours." So, produce their own they had to, at whatever cost in terms of and costs to greenhouse investments.
To many even today, the expenditures in greenhouse warming is not as harmful to the environment as the fumes from airfreights, despite these accounting for less than one percent of the total UK's food miles. Furthermore, food transportations within UK - from the houses to the supermarkets in SUVs, supermarket deliveries, HGV distributions, transport from farm to the store - contribute less than ten percent of the carbon emissions attributed to other food-related factors, which is much lower than that from agricultural production, household related factors like wastage, storage and catering, and even processing/manufacturing.
Few- even the learned scientists- saw the real dimensions of the food miles as only a small insignificant speck on the larger picture, nor the real source of the Carbon footprint from where to tackle. Few businesses, too, saw the dangers of reduced cargo freights. With declining numbers of travellers, some recompense could only be made with more cargo. Airlines like BA and Virgin wisely came to the aid of farmers, wisely aware that they would have suffered decreased returns in their operations, therefore generating lower government revenues, thus contributing to the increasing unemployment with prospects of job cuts, hence making the government invest less on social services, leading to dissatisfied citizens… and increased crimes and finally, anarchy.
The Environment
Global warming has touched all save the glasshouse maintained cultures bar the increased energy costs of maintenance. Man's increased use of fossil fuels has discharged compounds into the air that have deactivated the ozone molecules and thus the protective ozone layer that filters harmful radiations. The result has been a subtle raise in ambient temperatures that has been transferred to water bodies and land, affecting the physiological and chemical functions associated with life.
Climate change has made it hard to rely on weather predictions. Droughts that used to haunt Africa are no longer the preserve of the sub-Saharan ecozones as Mediterranean temperate lands have received their harsh share. Similarly, the killer monsoons are no longer destroyers in the South East Asia- Mozambique and Britain have had regular floods that have destroyed crops. Heavy rains at harvest have been just as bad as floods.
The productive soils have undergone gradual degradation with years of farming. This is attributable to short-term destructive effects- salinisation, leaching, decreased organic matter, water-logging, nutrient depletion- that are not always obvious. The ultimate soil erosion only turns previously good land rocky and bare.
Food Production
Most food-crop harvest indexes (yield per unit vegetative matter) have been declining- as recorded by CIMMYT in their long term monitoring of grain (maize, wheat, rice) yields. Days of sure bumper harvests are gone as the previous reliance on affordable resources (energy, fertilisers, pesticides and irrigation) has caused untold damage to the environment. At present, even Nobel successes in research have been dealt harshly as crop trials have become suspect of genetic modified organisms. Basic breeding to improve food-crop traits is being attacked. Sadly, the search for new traits has been in response to nature's demand to a changing environment as well as to a growing population.
It is unfortunate that scientific based search for higher yielding crops has been met with resistance and accusations of Frankensteinist agenda. Meantime, food security has evaded many even in the developed world as cost has risen with decreased availability evoked by high demand. Alternatively, specialist needs due to rising health complications and fashions (vegetarian, organic food, etc), and the competition to meet biofuels from foodstuff have also increased the pressure.
