Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
tonnes. In South East Asia, Latin America and Africa, there are additional social
and economic issues associated with increased production since improving the
population's standard of living is also important and horticulture's position as a pro-
vider of employment (Sanyal
1985
). Governments in these regions also recognize
that they need to secure more production from their land, or increase productiv-
ity per unit area, so food security can be assured in the future as well as improve
the quality of their populations' lives. Asian people have developed technology for
securing more production from their land, based largely upon their varied expe-
riences and traditional information (Lee
2007
). Today there is greater discussion
about how to retain the postharvest quality of our fruits and vegetables (Toivonen
et al.
2014
) and how they can be effectively marketed along the value supply chain
(Murray-Prior et al.
2014
; van de Vorst et al.
2014
) both nationally and internation-
ally (Maxwell et al.
2014
). These new aspects of horticulture will contribute greatly
to the twin goals of increasing production while also increasing the social standing
of plant based foodstuffs.
The social facet of horticulture describes people's behaviour and how it relates
to plants and places over time and space. Social horticulture largely defines the
underpinning of the physical and psychological aspects, and other health benefits,
which humans derive from living with and using plants, their products and services.
Research shows that mankind is socially dependent on nature and green open space
for psychological, emotional and spiritual needs (Maller et al.
2009
; Dunnett and
Qasim
2000
). Urbanised green open spaces, although recently seen as sources of
urbanised food production, but they also provide a range of social services for the
public good. Plants provide social capital by fostering an active lifestyle, providing
safe play areas for children, and providing instruction on conservation and environ-
mental awareness (Patel
1992
; Cammack et al.
2002
). Green open space engages
the community with structured and unstructured sporting activities, national and
international events, all of which do contribute to a vibrant, populous and sustain-
able city. Similarly green open space can provide an environment that reduces crime
and disorder, stress, aggressiveness and violence, builds interpersonal relationships
between juvenile offenders and municipal officials, provides a safe environment
for young people at risk and provides a reason for building civic pride and com-
munity spirit (Kuo and Sullivan
2001a
,
b
). A stroll about or resting in green open
space facilities can improve the health of people and enrich the culture of a nation
as well as providing spiritual health and creative self-expression. Green open spaces
can also improve the working environment, increase memory retention, reduce the
recovery time after a medical procedure (Ulrich
1984
) and the likelihood of stress-
related depression (Kuo
2010
; Elings
2006
; Pretty et al.
2005
,
2006
; Rothert and
Daubert
1981
) and the potential for anger (Ulrich and Parsons
1992
). More recently
green open spaces have shown to provide significant health benefits and savings in
medical care costs (McKenna
2003
).
Among the changes that could influence the socio-economic performance are
shifts in world demographics, such as age and longevity of the world population,
and the level of unemployment and disposable income. In many western countries,
life expectancy has increased by approximately 5 years over the past 20 years due
