Food security is defined as all people having access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs. Revolutions in agricultural technology, including mechanization, chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and high-yielding crop varieties, have fulfilled the needs of growing populations by boosting food production. Advances in food preservation through techniques like canning have further revolutionized food security by allowing food to be safely stored and distributed over long periods and distances.
How Ang Chong Yi Singapore is serving up sustainable future-ready foods?
Ensuring Food Security Through Agricultural Revolutions
1. FOOD SECURITY:
Definition:
When the all people, at all time, have physical and economic access to
sufficient, safe and nutritious food and to meet their dietary needs and
food preferences for an active and healthy
life”.
It have three dimensions in this definition which are:
1: Available of food.
2: Access of food.
3: Utilization of food.
Food insecurity:
It is opposite of food security. The insufficient amount of food for all people at
all time.
2. Food security is ensured in a country when it have:
Enough food is available for all the persons.
All persons have capacity to buy food of acceptable
quality.
There is no barrier on access to food.
Revolutions in food security: In earlier
Days:
In beginning, man was hunter and a gatherer.
He was able to hunt an animal or collect some food
from fields.
He had the food security for a day or two days only.
Gradually, he realized that gathering and hunting
would not sufficient.
3. Then,he resorted to domestication of a selected
number of plants and animals for food.
In this process, species with great native variability
were introduced.
However, owing to environmental and political
circumstances, generally the situation has been that
of shortage (drought, flood, war, poverty).
As a result, mankind has suffered from famine and
inadequate supply of food.
4. Revolutions in last century:
Three major revolutions witnessed in the last century in
agriculture technology it provided the sufficient food to
mankind.
1:The first revolution is mechanization.
It is very productive in terms of output per man-
year.
It has resulted in increase in cultivable land, intensive
farming and greater crop yields.
5. 2: The second revolution was founded on the science of
chemistry.
It enabled the development and production of fertilizers,
pesticides and other agricultural chemicals.
This has further helped to enhance the crop yields by providing
the required nutrients and preventing the activities of pest.
3:The third or last revolution is based on biology, the green
revolution.
The introduction of, high-yielding fertilizer-responsive and disease
resistant wheat varieties contributed the larger harvests from a
given area of farmland.
The foundations of this revolution are based on improved
breeding techniques, applications of the science of genetics,
genetic engineering and biotechnology.
6. It provided the high yielding crops which are best in ecological
circumstances such as pest , drought and other to the mankind.
The plant breeders have find out the crops variety with
characteristics that might help the poor farmers in developing
countries grow more food.
The high yielding varieties of staples food have helped avert
catastrophic famine in Asia in 1960s and 1970s.
Their work continues to improve the lives and livelihood of millions
of people on planet Earth.
Physical resources of food system are land,air and water are
essentially fixed.
The energy input required to exploit these means.
The biological and social inputs however are far more from being
pressed to the limit.
7. World population requires new agricultural
technologies:
The rapidly growing world population requires
new agricultural technologies to boost food
production.
Only higher and sustainable yields can fed more
people without harming the environment.
The farmers need to use the most appropriate
methods to manage the natural resources and feed
the world’s growing population effectively.
Agricultural biotechnology is one of the essential
tools to achieve the goal.
8. This tool can be helpful in developing more
productive and nutritious crops.
This tool also raises the complicated issues for
developing countries.
The intellectual property rights affects the
agricultural biotechnology.
The private corporations in developing countries
are taking out patent and other forms of
protection for their new genetically modified (GM)
crops and for related genetic materials.
In this manner the developing countries are being
deprived of benefits of biotechnology revolution.
9. Poor nutrition is a violation:
Poor nutrition is a violation of an
individuals and it causes the untold
sufferings.
Good nutrition depends on proper access to
food,care and health and sanitation services.
Improvement in nutritional status is now
being used to judge the success of wide
range of development strategies.
Millions of people in developing countries
suffer from lack of calories, proteins,
micronutrients and from illness and impaired
physical and mental developments.
10. In these regions, staple foods make up the large
percentage of diet and majority of foods are not
processed.
In the developed world, people have easy access to
health care, fortified foods and vitamin supplements.
In these countries,a worthwhile approach is to process the
foods that people already eat and make them more
nutritious.
All revolutions and efforts to increase the foods
production will be more worthfull when it becomes save
from wasting.
The amount of 40% in fruit and vegetables and 20% in
cereals and legumes wasted in most developing
countries.
11. The revolutions in agricultural technology fulfill
the needs of food in population growth:
The revolutions in agricultural technology fulfill
the needs of food in growing population.
It boost the agricultural production.
It provided the more and nutritious food for
growing population.
The situation is prevail now in world is that
food for everyone is now equally distributed.
For this purpose, there is need to find
techniques that would permit the safe delivery
of sound, nutritious and wholesome food.
12. The prevention of food loss from spoilage is critically
important.
The discovery of principles of food preservation has led to
another revolution.
This is a revolution that has helped to supply food to non-food
producing areas, to areas of famine, and to places where food is
needed.
This is a revolution that has led to scientific expeditions to the
highest mountains and deepest seas on earth and ice laden
north and south poles.
This discovery has enabled man to travel to space and set its foot
on other planets.
13. Revolutionary discovery has helped mankind:
The revolutionary discovery has helped mankind to
prevent starvation during periods of low harvest.
If this revolution is fully utilized ,then there would
be no hungry soul on this earth.
Presently, there is need to improve the storage of
already existing food instead of producing more food.
This food has to be distributed in a fair way.
People still die of hunger just because we do not find
model which enables us to distribute food with more
justice.
Canning Technology:
In earlier it was applied to milk and wine later it was
extended to other foods.
14. It was discovered by Nicolas Appert (father of
canning).
This discovery is applied to almost all foods in one form
or another.
The scope of this discovery has extended from the use of high
temperature to the applications of low temperature, to
removal of moisture.
Furthermore, numerous chemicals have been discovered that
prevent the growth and activities of
microorganisms.(preservatives).
Microorganisms have been harnessed and exploited to
preserve and produce new foods.(fermentations).
The investigation on the electromagnet spectrum have led to
discovery of electromagnetic waves that are useful in
extending the shelf life of foods.(use of radiations).
15. Packaging has also emerged as a technique to
supplement the action of preservative agents.
For this, food technologists are trained to do .
Their efforts towards preservation of foods so that
these can be distributed over long periods and
distances.
The benefits of this ultimate revolution in food
security, food technologists the over world are making
efforts to utilize the food produced and provide the
consumer with nourishing, wholesome and safe
foods.
Reference Book: Food Processing and Preservation
by Dr. J. A. Awan