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

Sub-Saharan Africa

提示It lies south of the world's largest hot desert.

为什么Food 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

提示Two words; the second also means safety from danger.

为什么This 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

提示Both come from farm animals: one from the body, one from milking.

为什么Economic 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

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

为什么Technology 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

提示A kind of grasshopper that gathers in huge flying clouds.

为什么The 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

提示A six-letter word; it begins like 'family'.

为什么Famine 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)

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

为什么Undernourishment 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

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

为什么The 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

提示Look at how a small weekly budget is divided.

为什么A 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

提示The opposite of calm.

为什么When 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

提示Too many animals and no rest years for the fields.

为什么People 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.