Definition and Dimensions of Food Sustainability

Discuss about the Crop Production for Northern Australia and the FAO.
 

Food sustainability is defined by Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) as the condition when all the time the people have economic and physical access sufficient, nutritious food safety in meeting their needs dietary and preferable food to have a healthy life and active (Stead, 2015, p. 6). The food production sustainability can be expressed into three dimensions as identified by the food security; access- the economic and physical ability to obtain the food by the people, availability- this explains the food supply in an area, utilization- this is the food and stability consumption in a proper manner.

Food sustainability can be achieved through different exponents in agriculture sustainability. This sustainable agriculture includes; organic agriculture, fertility agriculture, biodynamic agriculture, integrated agriculture, ecological agriculture, biological agriculture, agro-ecological agriculture, and the conservational agriculture (Persley, 2008, p. 25). Sustainable agriculture can be defined as farming practices which will make food production sustainable. These practices mitigate and limit the depletion and degradation of resources by increasing the local production of food and food security enhancement. Food sustainability involves both economic and environmental impacts because it alleviates the rural poverty, natural resources, conservation restoring and protecting the environment (Campbell & Barker, 2011, p. 9). Food sustainable activities should, therefore, involve the practices which will restore and rehabilitate the degraded environments and farmland.

Resources competition, environmental degradation, agricultural integration, and resources competition into the international economy has threatened more sustainability of systems of the food production. The agriculture’s biophysical limits are identified by the environment (Steiner, 2013, p. 56). Levels of population maximum are defined as the carrying capacity that is able to be supported in the perpetuity. The viability of production unit refers to primary producer’s capacity which remains in the agriculture. The adequacy of food supplies focuses on the security and product supply. Equity concerns the temporal and spatial distribution of the products which is derived from the resource use (Leventon, 2015, p. 7841).

The food production sustainability embraces issues that relate to social, economic environments and biophysical (Meier, 2014, p. 12). Food sustainability is facilitated when the analytical systems and development of the framework is appraised to the maximum. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has intervened food sustainability. The FAO ensures that there is food security by managing all the factors which could lead to food shortages (Williams, 2015, p. 179). In the Australian locations, FAO has dealt with the climate change accordingly and the biophysical. These factors are the major source of food deterioration in the Australian areas. The community has been educated through FAO workshops on how to improve agricultural activities. The farmers are provided with cereals which make sure there is no malnutrition in the community (Giovannucci, 2012, p. 26). FAO would supply fertilizers, insecticide, and herbicides to the farmers during the workshops in order to prevent the attack of the crops hence improving the crop production.

Exponents of Sustainable Agriculture

Through the core goals of the FAO, food sustainability has been foreseen to be sustained. The FAO collect, analyze and disseminate statistics and information to the members about the medium and long-term trend. The organization develops the norms, standards and international instruments. This is making the food production high and help the farmers get motivated in engaging in the agriculture. FAO could set the standards, provide specialist expertise, compile and distribute information which seems to have been fulfilled by the farmers with aim of high crop production. The organization has made efforts in providing the displaced farmers with farming inputs and seeds after the restoration of peace in northern parts of Australia back 2009. FAO’s deal with control of the animal diseases like avian influenza, illegal fishing and eradicating global rinderpest. FAO’s has contributed tangible achievements by its normative involvement and setting of standards bodies, in 2010, as well assisted the government with international institutions in the program of investing in the agriculture (SAFA, 2014, p. 70).

FAO through its role in knowledge translation, standards, public goods and norms into policy support to the members to achieve the development goals mostly in food production. In the northern parts of Australia, the FAO has conducted ranges of work on rural development, food security, and agriculture. This includes advocacy, value-chains, climate change, applied research, legislature support, and convening regional and international meetings. This spectrum allows FAO in addressing the food securities from a multi-dimensional perspective.

In this section, I will discuss strategies which have been put in place to aid achieving food sustainability. The government policies should be amended to attain high food production in Australia. The government should implement targets of World Food Summits Plan of Actions. When the FAO’s researchers are given opportunity in driving the growth of food in the state and help in reducing the food insecurity. The Action Plan in the World’s summit will make sure there is a reduced number of the undernourished people hence achieving the objective of the plan Action.

The plan of Actions is viewed feasible target and realistic by the FAO. FAO produces important implications which aided in the objective achieving. First, it stated that when in the lowest levels of consumption today establish at least 1 percent of the demand. Secondly, the countries with low production it would achieve the drastic change when they prioritize in rural development and agriculture. Thirdly, the countries with the severest level of undernutrition have to put more efforts, for instance, the cereal supply has to grow at least by 4% annually rather than 2% of recent past.

The Role of FAO in Achieving Food Sustainability

The natural resources should be safeguarded through the government policies. The policies should be accelerated to the conservation of the natural resources, particularly in countries where there are environmental carrying capacities that is, natural resources constraint to further the growth. The FAO has put a base in making sure that the public policies are maintaining productive capacity at the base of natural resources in the countries where the market fails. When the management policies of agricultural resource fail, the social, economic and the legal environment induce institutional and technical change which is needed in agricultural growth and hence sustaining the projected production when is limited.

Reformation of the international trade rules in agriculture where the more successful rules are implemented rather than liberalizing trade. The government should control the issues like water resources, agricultural lands owned by the foreigners, control of the foreign agri-business, globalization and providence of food information in Australia.

FAO contributes also to MDG, specifically MDG7 about environmental sustainability and the MDG3 about the gender equality. It supports the genetic resources for sustainable management, manage the natural resources for sustainable use, ensuring efficiency of the water used for agriculture, managing the forests, inland fisheries, and aquaculture sustainability, improving the productivity of the soil, integrating livestock and crop systems; watershed management; pesticide management. FAO it gives a high priority warnings of food emergency in advance, it provides nutrition emergency as well as preparedness improvement through policies of sustainable food securities.

Through the efforts of FAO and the government, the food sustainability has been seen. The food production has been achieved due to unmeasurable policies and guidelines provided to the farmers. The fisheries when provided with the better fishing tools and workshops on how to maintain the population in the oceans and avoidance of water contamination which in turn could lead to the death of the marine lives. This has made the population of the fish is maintained while meeting the human nutrition needs. The environmental conservation has led to high yields in food production. When the environment is conserved, there will be no effects of global warming in entire Australia.  The afforestation in northern Australia has assisted much in rain catchment. The environment given priority will be the reason for sustaining the food production. The farmers need to put in considerations the policies and strategies provided by the expertise.  

Innovation has been seen as a driving force in increasing the agricultural productivity in northern Australia. In the past agricultural practices were not that complex and the production during that time was able to meet the daily needs (Mirzaei & Micheels, 2016, p. 105). Now there are complex challenges which are facing agriculture. Due to these challenges, the agricultural technologies are designed to be adopted in coming up with the solutions to these challenges. When the technologies are incorporated in the agriculture the productivity has increased with the farm incomes. Global issues like biodiversity, climate change, and ecosystem loss should be addressed accordingly and therefore, the agricultural innovation need to emerge complex and new decision-making processes which weigh immediate concern of feeding world against concerns of sustainability in future (Eneji & Ushie, 2012, p. 151). This will, therefore, call for strategic approaches in linking the knowledge. Researchers and decision-makers should come together in collaboration to address the issue in the environment.  

Innovations in Food and Agricultural Production

Some of the innovations in the food and agricultural production include generic and new science with the green potential. This includes specific technologies which in turn will be having transformational potentials like biotechnology, computing, bio production and information technology (Javad, 2013, p. 321). The farmers should be educated on these technologies in order to apply them rightly in farming. The use of a chemical in the agriculture should be proportionally used to avoid the side effects to the plants. This will lead to high yields of the crops. Green technologies such as tillage conservation, precision farming, and pest management have increased the farm profitability and productivity while conserving the natural resources and reducing the environmental degradation (Jasmine, 2012, p. 49). The farmers through the technology, they are reducing the adverse environmental impacts. For example, the use of Global Positioning System (GPS), in collecting data in exact locations, geographical systems and map precise pesticide and fertilizer requirement across the field (Woodhouse, 2010, p. 450).

Another crucial innovation in the food production sustainability is how the waste from the farms are utilized. The cow-dug and maize stalks can be used as manure in the farm. Biomaterials are obtained from the agricultural biomass. These include industrial oils and fibers used in making inks and paints, polymer and detergent production through the starch and products with acids of low volume for the health care maintenance (Garnett, 2013, p. 6). Through the technology innovation, the environment is lees or not polluted at all because the waste is recycled in a controlled way.

In conclusion, the food productivity sustainability can be achieved in the northern parts of Australia if the organization (Food and Agriculture Organization) continues in implementing its policies to the farmers. When the researchers through the government educate the farmers and fishers about the globalization world they will help them in utilizing what they have in an effective manner and will reduce wastage. If the government provides the farmers with the required tools for investing in the agriculture the food will be made available in the area. Technology integration shows great impact in the agriculture, therefore, the farmers should be provided with the knowledge. 

References

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