Food Production and Storage: Methods, Government Role, Preservation & Impact on Population

Food production and storage play a vital role in sustaining a growing population and to ensure food security.

From government involvement in agriculture to the environmental factors that influence crop yields, understanding these elements is essential.

This guide examines methods to enhance food production, the impact of food shortages, and contemporary food preservation techniques that help minimize waste and ensure year-round food availability.

Food production depends on the following.

1. Role of the government in agricultural production
2. Environmental factors required for food production.
3. Ways of improving crop production.

Role of Government in Agricultural Production

1. The role of government in agricultural production includes.
2. Provision of agrochemicals
3. Provision of financial assistance.
4. Provision of high-quality planting materials
5. Provision of tractors and other implements
6. Provision of extension services
7. Establishment of river basin authorities
8. Provision of storage and processing facilities
9. Provision of an effective transportation network
10. Efficient quarantine measures
11. Provision of research work

Environmental Factors Required for Food Production

Environmental factors that influence food production can be categorised into two main types:

1. Abiotic Factors

These are non-living physical and chemical elements in the environment that affect plant growth and crop yield:

1. Rainfall: Provides water essential for plant growth and soil moisture.
2. Temperature: Affects enzyme activity and the rate of photosynthesis and respiration in plants.
3. Wind: Can aid pollination, but strong winds may damage crops or cause erosion.
4. Sunlight: Essential for photosynthesis, the process by which plants make food.
5. Relative Humidity: Influences water loss from plants (transpiration) and disease occurrence.
6. Solar Radiation: Determines the amount of energy available for plant processes like growth and development.
7. Edaphic Factors (Soil-Related)
   • Soil pH: Affects nutrient availability and microbial activity.
   • Soil Texture: Influences water retention and aeration.
   • Soil Structure: Affects root penetration and overall soil health.

2. Biotic Factors

These are living components of the ecosystem that influence food production:

1. Soil Organisms: Include beneficial microbes and decomposers that help in nutrient cycling.
2. Pests: Insects and rodents that damage crops and reduce yield.
3. Parasites: Organisms that feed on crops or livestock, causing disease or reduced productivity.
4. Diseases are caused by fungi, bacteria, or viruses that negatively affect plant health.
5. Weeds: Compete with crops for nutrients, water, and light.
6. Predators can affect livestock or destroy beneficial organisms in the ecosystem.

Ways of Improving Food Production

Food production can be improved by

1. Crop improvement method,
2. Proper timing of the plant,
3. Adoption of better cultivation methods,
4. Control of weeds,
5. Use of good crop varieties,
6. Use of resistant variety,
7. Use of manures and fertilisers,
8. Control of pests of crops,
9. Control of diseases of crops.

Effects of Food Shortage on Population Size

There is a direct relationship between population size and food supply. As the population of organisms increases, the quantity of food produced should increase accordingly. However, when there is a food shortage due to food wastage, the following results occur:

1. The high cost of food makes food unavailable to the common man.
2. Competition: Situation in which the organisms in a population struggle for limited available essentials of life, e.g., food.  This results in survival of the fittest in the population.
3. Cannibalism: This is an animal feeding on another.
4. Emigration: This is the outward movement of organisms from a particular population when there is a shortage of food.
5. Increased death rate (which is called mortality): especially of organisms which could not survive competition or migrate out.

Evaluation

1. What are the effects of food shortage on population size?
2. Define cannibalism.

Methods of Food Preservation (Storage)

The methods and principles of preserving food include.

1. Salting:  This involves coating the food with table salt or common salt (NaCl).

Principle: The salt on the surface of the food dehydrates it, i.e. it removes water from the food.

This forms a highly concentrated solution which has an osmotic pressure greater than the cytoplasm of the microorganisms that cause decay. The salts inhibit the growth of the microbe or kill it. This method can be used for fresh meat, fish, etc.

2. Drying:  Food such as vegetables, maize, cassava, fish, meat, etc., can be preserved by drying under the sun.

Principle: Drying reduces the water content of the food, thus making it unsuitable for the growth of spoilage microorganisms due to increased osmotic concentration of food.

3. Smoking: Involves placing the food over naked fire to dry it. Food preserved this way includes meat, fish, groundnut, plantain, etc.

Principle: The smoke creates an oxygen-deficient environment that kills microorganisms. The smoke also contains chemicals that are poisonous to the organisms.

Evaluation

1) List three methods of preserving food.

2) What are the principles of the methods mentioned above?

Method of Food Preservation

1. Refrigeration/Freezing: This involves keeping food in the refrigerator or freezer at a low temperature. Such food includes fruit, vegetables, milk, bread, fish, meat, etc.  Low temperature reduces the metabolic rate of microbes.  Some can even be killed, thus reducing spoilage considerably.
2. Pasteurisation: This is the heating of some food product to a very high temperature (72 °C) for about 10 minutes and its immediate cooling for storage. The high temperature destroys the spoilage microbes. Milk, cheese, and beef can be preserved this way. Pasteurisation usually precedes the canning or bottling method of food preservation.
3. Canning/Bottling: This is the storage or sealing of processed and consumable food in cans or bottles under special conditions for future consumption. This is used for food like fruit, meat, fish, and beans. etc. Microbes are gradually killed, the entrance of new ones is prevented, and long storage is ensured.
4. Irradiation: This is the subjection of some food, e.g. Milk, Canned food, tubers, fruit juices, etc., to high radiation, such as ultraviolet rays. The irradiation kills the microbes in the food and also prevents the entrance of new ones.
5. Chemicals: This is the addition of harmless chemicals to food, e.g. soft drinks, vegetables, etc.

Principle: The chemical choke spoils organisms in the food.  It also dehydrates or toxicates the microbes.

Evaluation

1. How is pasteurisation related to the canning or bottling method of preservation?
2. Food storage reduces the effect of natural disasters, explain.

Effects of Food Storage on Population

1. Prevention of hunger and famine: Hunger or famine that would have resulted from food shortage is averted with the preservation of food.
2. Maintenance of stable price: During harvest, food is cheap. However, food storage ensures the availability of food throughout the year. This helps in the maintenance of a stable price.
3. Reduce the effect of natural disasters, floods, earthquakes, pest attacks, and even war cause farm crop failure or destroy farm activities. Food already stored, etc., harvest will save people from starvation in periods of scarcity.
4. Food storage employs workers, especially in food processing companies.

Evaluation

1. What are the effects of food storage on the population?
2. Highlight ways of improving food production.
3. Mention four abiotic factors that affect food production.
4. List the edaphic factors that affect food production.
5. What is pasteurisation?

Assignment

1) The following is except one result from food shortage: (a)Competitio,n (b) Reduced mortality rate, (c) Emigration, (d) Increased mortality rate.

2) Food shortage makes the population size (a) increase, (b) decreas,e (c) stabilise (d) fluctuate

3) Food storage results in (a) stability of price, (b) Natural disaster, (c) high natality rate, (d) overpopulation

4) These are methods of storing and preserving food except (a) Silos (b)  barns (c)  refrigeration (d) Marketing.

5) The biggest factor that affects food production in Africa is  (a) improper food storage, (b) drought, (c) low utilisation of land, (d) static farming technology.

Theory

1 a. List three methods of preserving food.

1. Explain the principle involved in the method listed above.
2. State five ways of improving crop yield.

Conclusion

Food production and storage are key components of agricultural sustainability and population health. With the right governmental support, environmental management, and application of preservation methods like drying, salting, refrigeration, and pasteurisation, food scarcity can be significantly reduced.

These strategies not only enhance crop yield and prevent post-harvest losses but also stabilise food prices, reduce famine risks, and create employment opportunities. Understanding and applying these concepts is crucial for long-term food security

See also.

Organism | Meaning, Population, Succession, Competition, Overcrowding

Kidney | Structure, Functions, Diseases, Effects, Remedies & Osmoregulator

The Eyes | Anatomy, Functions, Problems, Solutions

Evolution: Theories of Evolution, Jean Lamarck’s theories

Evolution: Theories of Evolution, Jean Lamarck’s theories

Variation, Competition & Succession of Organisms