Classwork Series and Exercises {Biology – SS1}: Food Production and Storage

Biology, SS 1, Week: 4

Topic: Food Production and Storage

Introduction

The various effective farm practices like mechanized farming, crop rotation, mixed farming, coupled with other factors such as government funding, ability to store and process agricultural products, carrying out of researches, adequate rainfall, pest and disease control, soil texture, soil pH, soil fertility, temperature, the use of agricultural extension workers to enlighten subsistence farmers, all go a long way in improving food production.

How to Improve Farm Yield

1. Improved soil fertility by the use of natural manure, fertilizer application (NPK, Ammonia and Super phosphate), crop rotation and leaving of the land fallow.
2. Viable Seeds and Grains: Viability of the materials – seeds and fruits go a long way in determining the crop yield
3. The crops must be stored in Silos or Bans to avoid pest infestation
4. Aiming at having improved variety which possess qualities like early maturity, resistance to disease, high yield and easy to harvest
5.  Improved livestock with high milk production, eggs and meats of qualities as well.
6.  Feeding  livestock with high quality diets not only gives high quality animals but also resists diseases
7. The use of modern tools make the farming exercise more comfortable and result-oriented when compared with subsistence farming
8. Thorough fumigation with required chemicals such as fungicides, insecticides, nematocides, herbicides improved yield

Causes of Wastage of Food

1. Inability to store properly due to inadequate facilities
2. Wastage caused by attack of stored food by pests
3. Man’s inability to cook or accumulate what he needs
4. Poor harvesting methods resulting in damages of food
5. Unavailability of market to dispose crops
6. Farm produce are inaccessible due to bad roads
7. Attack of moulds on farm crops
8. The farmers not being able to sun-dry the grains adequately prior to storage
9. The destruction of stored fruits by larvae or worms
10. Microbial attack caused by bacteria, viruses or fungi on the food crops

Importance of Food Storage

1. The food is economized
2. Perishable food is saved from spoiling
3. The food is saved from pest infestation
4. There is always reserve, especially during scarcity
5. Good quality foods are always available

Methods of Preserving and Storing Food

Food can be preserved and stored using any of the following methods:

1. Salting: This is the dusting of farm products with table salt. Farm products which can be stored or preserved by salting include meat, fish, etc
2. Freezing/Refrigeration: This involves the use of cold storage facilities like refrigerators and deep freezers to store or preserve certain food such as meat, fish, vegetable, fruits, etc.
3. Drying/Sun-drying: This involves the drying of some crops or products using the heat from the sun. Products that can be dried by the sun include fish, meat, groundnut, yam chips, plantain chips, etc.
4. Smoking: Smoking is the drying of some farm products over the smoke of a naked fire. Food preserved by smoking includes meat, fish, groundnut, tobacco, maize, okra, etc.
5. Chemicals: This method of food preservation involves the use or addition of harmless chemicals to some food. Examples of food which can be preserved by adding chemicals include cakes, soft drinks, vegetables, etc.
6. Heating/boiling/frying: This method involves the direct heating, boiling, frying or roasting of some farm products in order to store or preserve them. Examples of food products that can be preserved by this method include meat, fish, soup, yam, plantain, vegetables, etc.
7. Irradiation: this involves the subjection of some food to high energy radiation such as ultraviolet rays. Such irradiation generally prevents the spoilage organisms from entering into the food. Examples of food preserved by irradiation are meat, canned food, seeds, tubers, fruit juice, etc.
8. Canning/bottling: Canning involves the storage of processed and consumable food in cans or bottles under special conditions for future consumption. Examples of food items preserved by this method are fruits, meat, fish, beans, etc.

Efforts Made By Government at Improving Food Production

1. Availability of loans to farmers    
2. Provision of improved seeds and high breed animals
3. Organization of enlightenment programmes using the media
4. The use of extension workers to reach small scale farmers
5. Supply of drugs, chemicals, on regular basis
6. They make available land for farm settlements
7. They provide subsidies to farmers
8. Control influx of plants and animals through quarantine
9. Provision of markets where agricultural products are sold
10. Provision of sites for storing end products
11. Ban importation of certain crops in order to encourage local farmers
12. Provision of amenities in the rural areas to discourage rural-urban migration.

Population Growth and Food Supply

Organisms do not generally live alone. A population is a group of organisms of the same species living together in one geographical area. This area may be difficult to define as population may comprise widely depressed individuals that come together only infrequently (e.g for mating). These may also fluctuate considerably over time. These changes make populations dynamic.  Populations gain individuals through births or immigration, and lose individuals through deaths and emigration.

Birth, deaths, immigration (movements into the population) and emigrations (movements out of the population) are events that determine the numbers of individuals in a population. Population growth depends on the number of individuals added to the population from births and immigration, minus the number lost through deaths and emigration. This is expressed as:

Population growth =

Birth – Deaths + Immigration – Emigration

The world population has been growing at an alarming rate for several years now. High reproduction rate leads naturally to geometrical growth in population. There is a direct relationship between population and growth and food supply. The quantity of food produced should increase in geometrical progression, i.e. 10, 20, 40, 80, etc. in order to take care of the population which is expected to increase in arithmetic progression of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc.

Factors that Affect Population Growth

1. Availability of food and water encourages an increase in population while lack of it is the reverse
2. Where the climate is harsh, population tends to decrease
3. Natural disasters such as earthquake, landslide and erosion cause a drastic reduction in population
4. Wars reduce population
5. Drought and famine affect population as people starve to death
6. Increase in birth rate and a decrease in infant mortality rate cause population explosion.