Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
the world. Permafrost will keep the seeds cool even if power is lost during a cata-
strophe. The isolation of the island in the far north will further protect the contents
from raiders. 10
11.8.2 Transportation Networks
Transportation is essential in creating food security. If there is no way to get food to
people, then having a store of it is useless. Because different methods of travel are
vulnerable to different types of interruption, it is best to have a transportation
network that includes water, land, and air links. Railroads are the most cost effective
for transporting large quantities of materials while air transport is the fastest and
truck transport is potentially the most versatile because trucks can go to the locality
where the cargo is most needed and are not restricted to a particular route. However,
access can be prevented or limited by water or lack of roads.
An example of the limitations imposed by transportation was seen in India in the
drought of the 1960s. There was widespread hunger in north and central India. In order
to get imported wheat to these regions it was necessary to unload freighters in Mumbai
and Kolkota. As soon as the grain was unloaded, it was put into railroad cars to be sent
to the areas of greatest need. The railroad network was good and could deliver grain to
almost any area of the country. The locomotives and rail cars needed to carry the wheat
were in short supply. The most serious bottlenecks were the ports. Ships would wait
several days to unload their grain even when the ports were operating 24 hours a
day. Even though the distribution network existed, it was impossible to get enough
grain through the ports in the time needed.
11.9
CONCLUSIONS
There is no country in the world where farmers are producing food at the maximum
level possible. This is due to several factors. In most cases it is not economical to
produce at the highest possible level (yield per hectare). In other cases resources,
seed, fertilizer, and other inputs may not be available. Lastly, we have not exhausted
the potential for further increases in food production.
In many countries grains are produced at very low yields that can be increased
dramatically (2- to 10-fold) by relatively simple and inexpensive means. In some
areas of the Philippines farmers grow barely 300 kg of maize per hectare while it is
possible to grow more than 10,000 kg/ha! However, to go from 300 to 600 kg/ha
could be done by simple methods such as crop rotation, application of manure or
compost, or the use of improved varieties.
In Niger a farmer may only produce 300 kg/ha of millet when it is possible to
produce 3000 kg/ha. In this case it may only be necessary to keep wandering animals
out of the young millet to double production to 600 kg/ha. Both of these cases point
out the fact that in many countries it is possible to dramatically increase agricultural
output by application of simple and inexpensive improved production practices.
Search WWH ::




Custom Search