Resources and environment, Year 11: supply and insecurity (Food option)

Sub-Saharan Africa

HintIt lies south of the world's largest hot desert.

The whyFood supply per person is highest in North America and Europe and lowest across much of sub-Saharan Africa and parts of South Asia. The pattern is an average: countries within every region differ widely. About 645 million people worldwide faced hunger in 2025: 309 million in Africa and 292 million in Asia.

Food security

HintTwo words; the second also means safety from danger.

The whyThis is the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization's definition. In plain terms: the food must exist, people must be able to reach and afford it, and it must be safe and nutritious. A country can grow plenty of food and still have food-insecure people who cannot afford it.

meat; dairy

HintBoth come from farm animals: one from the body, one from milking.

The whyEconomic development raises food consumption in two ways: people eat more, and they eat different things. Animal products need far more land, water and feed crops for each calorie than cereals do, so this change raises demand for food by more than the growth in population alone.

Without machinery, fertiliser, irrigation or improved seeds, each hectare produces less

HintThink what money buys a farm: tractors, chemicals, pumps and new crop varieties.

The whyTechnology and poverty are linked factors in food supply. Technology raises yields, but only for farmers who can pay for it, and a poor harvest leaves less to invest the following year. This is why food supply can be low in places with good farmland.

locusts

HintA kind of grasshopper that gathers in huge flying clouds.

The whyThe desert locust is the most destructive migratory pest in the world. A swarm covering one square kilometre can hold up to 80 million insects, and each eats its own weight in plants every day. Pests and plant diseases cut food supply most where farmers cannot afford pesticides or resistant seeds.

Famine

HintA six-letter word; it begins like 'family'.

The whyFamine is the most severe impact of food insecurity. It is rarely caused by a failed harvest alone: war, poverty and blocked supply routes usually turn a shortage into a famine. International agencies declare a famine only when set levels of hunger, child malnutrition and deaths are passed.

Energy (calories)

HintIt is what the body burns to move, grow and keep warm.

The whyUndernourishment is about quantity: too little dietary energy to lead a normal, active life. The FAO uses it to count the world's hungry. Undernutrition is about quality as well: too few nutrients for healthy growth. A person can eat enough calories and still lack nutrients.

Undernutrition

HintIt starts with 'under' and ends like the word for the study of food and health.

The whyThe World Health Organization's forms of undernutrition are wasting (too thin for height), stunting (too short for age), being underweight, and a lack of vitamins and minerals. In 2022, 149 million children under five were stunted.

They already spend a large share of their income on food

HintLook at how a small weekly budget is divided.

The whyA wealthy household spends a small part of its income on food, so a price rise is an annoyance. A poor household spends a much larger part, so the same rise means eating less or giving up other essentials such as medicine or school costs.

unrest

HintThe opposite of calm.

The whyWhen people cannot afford basic food they may protest, strike or riot, and governments can fall. Food shortages can also start conflict over farmland and water. Unrest in turn disrupts farming and trade, which makes the food insecurity worse.

Farmers overgraze and over-cultivate the land, leaving bare soil for wind and rain to remove

HintToo many animals and no rest years for the fields.

The whyPeople short of food farm their land harder: more animals, no fallow years, and steeper or drier land brought into use. Plant cover is lost and the soil is no longer held together by roots. The eroded land then grows less, so the food insecurity deepens.