IB Geography
F O O D
Module as described by the IB Syllabus: Global availability of food: Identify global patterns of calorie intake as one measure of food availability. Distinguish between malnutrition, temporary hunger, chronic hunger and famine. Discuss the concept of food security.
Areas of food sufficiency and deficiency: Explain how changes in agricultural systems, scientific and technological innovations, the expansion of the area under agriculture and the growth of agribusiness have increased the availability of food in some areas, starting with the Green Revolution and continuing since. Examine the environmental, demographic, political, social and economic factors that have caused areas of food deficiency and food insecurity.
Production and markets: Examine the impacts at a variety of scales of trade barriers, agricultural subsidies, bilateral and multilateral agreements, and transnational corporations (TNCs) on the production and availability of food.
Addressing imbalances: Evaluate the relative importance of food aid, free trade and fair trade in alleviating food shortages.
Sustainable agriculture: Examine the concept of sustainable agriculture in terms of energy efficiency ratios and sustainable yields. Examine the concept of food miles as an indicator of environmental impact.
Calorie intake by country:
Questions to think about:
1. Why might calorie intake be a good indicator of food availability?
2. What might be a better indicator of food availability?
Global Availability of Food & Food Security
The map to the left inficates Daily Calorie intake per capita per country. It can be deduced that North America and most of Europe, have the highest daily calorie intake at 3,480 - 3770. This can be attributed to the very high consumption of fast foods and overally unhealthy eating practises. North America is considered the fattest country in the world, with an increasing amount of their population being overweight and obese.
The lowest daily calorie intake in a given region is in africa, where the entire continent does not exceed 3050 - 3,270. The majority of North Africa has a greater daily calorie than the rest of the region, with a consumption at 3050 - 3,270, which can be attributed to the success of the some of the countries.
The rest of Africa varies in calorie consulption, but does not exceed 2850. It is evident that is the region with lowest calorie intake.
South America has variable calorie intake but it is evidently Brazil that has the highest daily calorie intake at 3050 - 3270.
Simialr to South America, Asia also has varied calorie intake, which seems to be higher in the west and decreasing theeast. Countries such as Indonesida have very low calorie intake at 1890 -2170.