scholarly journals The Challenges and Strategies of Food Security under Rapid Urbanization in China

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 542 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yong-sheng Wang

Food security has received wide attention in China for a long time due to the challenges of a huge population and limited farmland area. Under conditions of rapid urbanization, the food scenario has changed, creating major challenges for massive populations in China. This paper intends to reveal the impact of urbanization on food security and to propose strategies for mitigating the threats to it. Total grain production has continuously increased, but most of the grain production has been distributed in the northern region since 2006. Although the per capita rural income has increased significantly since 1980, the agricultural income ratio has consistently declined from 56.13% in 1983 to 26.61% in 2012. A dramatic shift in food consumption away from grain towards meat, poultry, eggs, milk and liquor has been found in both rural and urban areas. The faster agricultural water consumption growth in northern China over southern China helped close the gap. There has been net increase of cultivated land in northern China, whereas southern China has seen a net decrease. The medium- and low-level cultivation ratios of land were 52.84% and 17.69%, respectively, in 2015. This paper concluded that food security in China could be ensured by increasing production and optimizing consumption. It suggested that enhanced grain production capacity, strict water management, and land consolidation engineering as well as agricultural industrialization could be used for maintaining grain production. Food consumption itself can be managed by optimizing resident dietary pattern, reducing food waste, adjusting grain consumption structure and moderating food imports policy.

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (22) ◽  
pp. 9550
Author(s):  
Andi Syah Putra ◽  
Guangji Tong ◽  
Didit Okta Pribadi

Urbanization has become a global phenomenon that affects the food system. Some studies revealed that urbanization increases income/capita, thus transforming food consumption from cereals to animal products, vegetables, and fruits. Urbanization, particularly in developing countries, not only produces economic benefits but also various issues that might lessen peoples’ capacity to afford food. This study aims to analyze the impact of urbanization on food consumption, food composition, as well as farming performance. Series of consumption data since 1976 and statistical descriptive approaches were employed. The results showed a trend of declining the share of food expenditures, especially in urban areas, which is commonly regarded as a sign of increasing prosperity. Surprisingly, food composition remained stable, dominated by rice, due to lower-income and higher non-food expenditures of urban inhabitants mainly for housing, transportation, water and energy. The stagnancy of food composition provides less incentive for farmers; thus, farming is dominated by low-revenue paddy fields, uneducated laborers, and older farmers. Based on these findings, some recommendations can be suggested: (1) incorporating food composition and farming performance into food security policies, instead of merely focusing on the compliance of food supply and demand, (2) linking food issues with non-food issues, especially with urban planning, housing development, and transportation management to increase the income capacity of the society to purchase a greater variety of food, and (3) developing food diversification served by urban food vendors to support the benefits of the farming business.


2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 1025-1051 ◽  
Author(s):  
Q. Z. Yin ◽  
U. K. Singh ◽  
A. Berger ◽  
Z. T. Guo ◽  
M. Crucifix

Abstract. During Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 13, an interglacial about 500 000 years ago, the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) was suggested exceptionally strong by different proxies in China. However, MIS-13 is a weak interglacial in marine oxygen isotope records and has relatively low CO2 and CH4 concentrations compared to other interglacials of the last 800 000 years. In the mean time, the sea surface temperature (SST) reconstructions show that the Western Pacific Warm Pool was relatively warm during MIS-13. Based on climate modeling experiments, this study aims at investigating whether this Warm Pool warming could explain the exceptionally strong EASM occurring during the relatively cool interglacial MIS-13. The individual contributions of insolation and of the Warm Pool SST as well as their synergism are quantified through experiments with the Hadley Centre atmosphere model, HadAM3 and using the factor separation technique. The SST over the Warm Pool region has been increased based on geological reconstructions. Our results show that the pure impact of a strong summer insolation contributes to strengthen significantly the summer precipitation in northern China but only little in southern China. The pure impact of enhanced Warm Pool SST reduces, slightly, the summer precipitation in both northern and southern China. However, the synergism between insolation and enhanced Warm Pool SST contributes to a large increase of summer precipitation in southern China but to a decrease in northern China. Therefore, the ultimate role of enhanced Warm Pool SST reinforces the impact of insolation in southern China but reduces its impact in northern China. We conclude that enhanced SST over the Warm Pool region does help to explain the strong MIS-13 EASM precipitation in southern China as recorded in proxy data, but other explanation is needed for explaining the exceptionally strong EASM in northern China.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 73-80
Author(s):  
Assefa Ayele ◽  
Kassa Tarekegn

AbstractIn a country like Ethiopia where the vast majority of the populations are employed in agriculture, land is an important economic resource for the development of rural livelihoods. Agricultural land in peri-urban areas is, however, transformed into built-up regions through horizontal urban expansion that has an effect on land use value. In recent years Ethiopia has been experiencing rapid urbanization, which has led to an ever-increasing demand for land in peri-urban areas for housing and other nonagricultural activities that pervades agricultural land. There is a high demand for informal and illegal peri-urban land which has been held by peri-urban farmers, and this plays a vital role in the unauthorized and sub-standard house construction on agricultural land. This urbanization has not been extensively reviewed and documented. In this review an attempt has been made to assess the impacts of rapid urbanization on agricultural activities. Urban expansion has reduced the areas available for agriculture, which has seriously impacted upon peri-urban farmers that are often left with little or no land to cultivate and which has increased their vulnerability. Housing encroachments have been observed to be uncontrolled due to a weak government response to the trend of unplanned city expansion. This has left peri-urban farmers exposed to the negative shocks of urbanization because significant urbanization-related agricultural land loss has a positive correlation with grain production decrease. Appropriate governing bodies should control urban development in order to control the illegal and informal spread of urbanization on agricultural land that threatens food production.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kuhu Joshi ◽  
Devesh Roy ◽  
Lora Iannotti ◽  
Aishwarya Nagar ◽  
Avinash Kishore

Abstract Background: Obesity is rising in developing countries like India and is associated with an increase in cardiometabolic problems. Rising incomes, rapid urbanization, and mechanization have induced lifestyle changes like consumption of more obesogenic foods and sedentary habits at work and leisure, contributing to a transition from under- to over-nutrition. This study maps the prevalence of adult (15-49 years) overweight and obesity across regions and socioeconomic groups in India, and estimates its association with lifestyle, health environment, dietary patterns, diabetes, and hypertension.Methods: We employ a combination of 3 latest nationally representative datasets with over 700,000 adults. We use a linear probability regression model to identify the correlates of overweight/obesity and their relative magnitudes. We use intra-household regression to identify differences between men and women and coarsened exact matching to causally estimate the impact of obesity on diabetes and hypertension.Results: Overweight/obesity rates have increased across all states, in rural and urban areas, and for all wealth levels. Women are more likely to be overweight/obese than men, even in the same household. Improved health environment (toilets, piped water, clean cooking fuel), urban jobs, television watching, and processed snacks increase the risk of overweight/obesity. Adults who are overweight/obese have a 5.6% higher risk of diabetes and a 9.7% higher risk of hypertension.Conclusions: Our results underscore the need for policy intervention to reduce the burden of obesity and NCD’s in India.


Atmosphere ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 759
Author(s):  
Haochen Tan ◽  
Pallav Ray ◽  
Mukul Tewari ◽  
James Brownlee ◽  
Ajaya Ravindran

Due to rapid urbanization, the near-surface meteorological conditions over urban areas are greatly modulated. To capture such modulations, sophisticated urban parameterizations with enhanced hydrological processes have been developed. In this study, we use the single-layer urban canopy model (SLUCM) available within the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model to assess the response of near-surface temperature, wind, and moisture to advection under the impact of the green roof. An ensemble of simulations with different planetary boundary layer (PBL) schemes is conducted in the presence (green roof (GR)) and absence (control (CTL)) of green roof systems. Our results indicate that the near-surface temperature is found to be driven primarily by the surface heat flux with a minor influence from the zonal advection of temperature. The momentum budget analysis shows that both zonal and meridional momentum advection during the evening and early nighttime plays an important role in modulating winds over urban areas. The near-surface humidity remains nearly unchanged in GR compared to CTL, although the physical processes that determine the changes in humidity were different, in particular during the evening when the GR tends to have less moisture advection due to the reduced temperature gradient between the urban areas and the surroundings. Implications of our results are discussed.


2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (11) ◽  
pp. 2079-2089 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel P Miller

AbstractObjectiveAlmost no previous research has examined the impact of the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Summer Food Service Program and related Seamless Summer Option, which provide meals and snacks to low-income children over the summer. The present study investigated whether geographic accessibility of summer meals programme sites (a proxy for programme participation) was associated with food insecurity for low-income households.DesignThe study used data from the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) and administrative data on summer meals sites in California. Geocoding was used to calculate driving time between CHIS households and nearby summer meals sites. Geographic accessibility was measured using a gravity model, which accounted for the spatially distributed supply of and demand for summer meals. Food insecurity and very low food security were measured using a standard six-item measure from the USDA.SubjectsLow-income families with children (n5394).SettingA representative surveillance study of non-institutionalized households in California.ResultsGeographic accessibility was not associated with food insecurity. However, geographic accessibility was associated with a significantly lower probability of very low food security in the full sample and among households with younger children and those living in less urban areas.ConclusionsThe USDA’s summer meals programme may be effective at reducing the most severe form of food insecurity for low-income households with children. Expanding the number of summer meals sites, the number of meals served at sites and sites’ hours of operation may be effective strategies to promote nutritional health over the summer months.


2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 162-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shenggen Fan ◽  
Emily EunYoung Cho ◽  
Christopher Rue

Purpose The paper is a synthesis of the 2017 Global Food Policy Report, and the purpose of this paper is to put into perspective the major food policy issues, developments, and decisions of 2016 and highlights challenges and opportunities for 2017. Design/methodology/approach The paper presents an overview of recent changes in the global context for food security and nutrition, and synthesizes research findings on major issues that arise in an urbanizing world. Based on its findings, the authors present policy recommendations and areas for future research for food security and nutrition. Findings Urbanization is linked with dietary changes to more energy-dense diets, and, the triple burden of malnutrition is increasing, particularly in rapidly urbanizing developing countries. Rural-urban linkages are key to improving food security and nutrition in both rural and urban areas, and traditional agricultural value chains linking farms to cities are undergoing a “quiet revolution.” Governance to enhance food security in the context of rapid urbanization faces various challenges in the institutional, administrative, and political realms, especially for the informal economy in developing countries. To address the unique challenges of urbanization, policies will need to create enabling environments, promote efficient and inclusive value chains, improve governance, and promote tailored programs. Research gaps that need to be filled include better, updated, and disaggregated data on food security and nutrition, as well as an enhanced understanding of enabling environments. Originality/value The paper highlights the increasingly relevant issue of rapid urbanization, especially in developing countries, for food security and nutrition, and synthesizes recent research in this area.


Author(s):  
Celile Özçiçek Dölekoğlu ◽  
Sema Gün

Rapid urbanization in developing countries involves unplanned migration, unemployment and poverty. The steady shrinking of rural areas and the use of agricultural land for other purposes are progressively increasing the pressure on natural resources. This development on the one hand increases the risk to food security, and on the other triggers climate change. The rural population who migrate to the cities or who are absorbed into urban areas continue their agricultural activities in the urban in order to provide themselves with an income or to maintain their food security. In the big cities of the developed world, contact with nature is kept by means of hobby gardens, recreational areas and urban and suburban plant and animal farming, and creative ideas such as roof gardens can be found. This development, known as urban agriculture, is practiced by 800 million people in the world. Urban agriculture has many economic, social and environmental benefits, but it may also have risks and adverse effects. In this study, the developments in this area in Turkey and the world are presented, and all aspects of its effects and outcomes are discussed.


Author(s):  
Abraham Amenay Zewde ◽  
Zifu Li ◽  
Zhou Xiaoqin

Abstract The global challenges that face sustainable sanitation services in developing countries are the lack of fecal sludge management; this is due to the rapid urbanization and population growth as it generates enormous quantities of fecal sludge. The extensive use of unimproved sanitation technologies is one of the main reasons for environmental and public health concerns. In dispersed rural areas, isolated slums or in urban areas where a sewerage system is costly, decentralized wastewater system can be used. Therefore centralized management of decentralized wastewater systems along with proper institutional framework treatment of fecal sludge can be used to enhance the economies of developing counties from resource recovery. The discovery of new ways to inactivate pathogens contained in human waste is key in improving access to sanitation worldwide and reducing the impact of conventional waste management processes on the environment. The entire FS management system should include on-site sanitary treatment methods, collection, and transportation of FS, treatment facilities as well as resource recovery or disposal of the treated end products. This review paper addresses the hygienization of fecal sludge and improved treatment technologies for safe reuse or disposal of the end products and the significant economic revenues attained from the treatments of fecal sludge.


2014 ◽  
Vol 28 (S1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn Fiorella ◽  
Matt Hickey ◽  
Charles Salmen ◽  
Brian Mattah ◽  
Richard Magerenge ◽  
...  

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