FOOD PRODUCTION AND STORAGE - WEEK SIX

TOPIC: FOOD PRODUCTION AND STORAGE

Specific objectives: By the end of the lesson, students should be able to:

1. State the ways of improving crop yield
2. List the causes of food wastage
3. Mention various methods of preserving and storing food.
4. Explain the factors that are responsible for rising population growth
5. Explain the relationship between availability of food and human population
6. State various efforts made by the government to increase food production.

Ways of Improving Crop Yield

The crops harvested can be improved through the following ways

1. Extensive use of fertilizers: Fertilizers are applied to raise the nutrient content of the soil and thereby improve the yield of the crops. Examples of fertilizers include: chemical fertilizers NPK(Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium); ammonium sulphate; and organic manure such as compost, farmyard and green manure.
2. High yielding varieties of crops should be developed and used in cultivation
3. Timeliness of farm operations: all the operations involved in crop production ranging from land preparation, planting, fertilization etc must be carried out at the right time. For instance, in Southern Nigeria, improved yield of yam is only possible if the seedlings are planted between late March and early May.
4. Pests and diseases must be prevented and controlled.
5. Weeds must be controlled in cultivated area of land.
6. Adequate water supply through irrigation in areas of insufficient rainfall will help to improve crop yield.

Causes of Food Wastage

Food wastage is caused by these factors:

1. Inadequate storage facilities for e.g modern storage facilities such as silos for grains, cold room for perishable products are lacking.
2. Poor harvesting method/damage to fruits, vegetables and tubers during harvesting. The damage done to crops reduces the storage life.
3. Poor preservation of Agricultural products.
4. Attack by pests. For instance, yam and cassava are attacked by beetles and bush rats and this result to serious wastage both in the field and at storage.
5. Unavailability of good processing plants. These processing plants are needed to convert edible food into another form that is more acceptable or convenient to consumers. E.g baking bread from wheat, making sausage from meat, processing garri from cassava tubers.
6. Most times edible parts of crops are lost during separation of edible parts of crops e.g peeling of yam tuber, cassava, cocoyam and fruits like pineapple and mango.
7. Delay in transportation due to bad road
8. Use of contaminated water to wash food. The water introduces micro-organism into the food which can initiate spoilage of the food.

Methods of Preserving and Storing Food

1. Storage in Silos: A silo is a modern storage structure for storing grains such as maize, rice, millet and guinea corn. The structure is air-tight and the products are well protected from insects and rodents.
2. Barns: In this storage method, yams are tied with twine to small vertical poles, supported with strong horizontal poles which are tied to solid stakes. Shade is usually provided to avoid excessive drying of yam tubers.
3. Bags and sacks: Agricultural products such as rice, groundnut, garri, beans, and melon can be stored in bags and sacks after the moisture content has been reduced to a level when they will have good storage life.
4. Drying: This method concentrates the nutrient in food and reduces the water content to an intolerable level. This stops the enzyme in dried food from working and prevents the growth of most spoilage bacteria.
5. Refrigerators and cold room: These provide lower temperature within the food. The storage equipment works with electricity to preserve and store perishable products like meat, fish, vegetables etc. the lower temperature slows down/kills some micro-organisms that spoil food.
6. Canning: Here food is carefully prepared and sealed in air-tight containers. The containers are heated to high temperatures and then cooled. Meat, fish, poultry and vegetables are heated to about116⁰C, while fruits are heated to about100⁰C. This process keeps air away from food, kills all spoilage organisms and prevents any chemical damage in food.
7. Pasteurization:  This is mainly used to preserve milk (which becomes sour very quickly) by heating to temperature of 72^oC for 15 seconds and then cooled rapidly. This destroys most of the microbes, thereby allowing the milk to ‘keep’ for a longer time.
8. Salting and smoking: salting removes water from food and raises the osmotic concentration of food. When applied to a food like fish, meat; it kills the micro-organisms that cause food spoilage. Smoking raises high temperature which suffocates/kills micro-organisms in food.
9. Chemical preservation: Chemicals choke/suffocate spoilage organisms in food; and finally kills the organism. Salt, sugar, vinegar, chemicals in wood smoke and sodium benzoate slow down the growth of spoilage micro-organisms and help to preserve food. Sugar can be used to make jams and jellies from fruits. Vinegar is used to pickle vegetables, meat and fish. Fish and meat can be preserved by smoking, which is often combined with salting and drying. 

Population Growth and Food Supply

Population in this regard simply refers to the number of people living in a place or country. Food implies materials that can be eaten by these people to keep them alive. Adequate food must be available to sustain the population of a given place. This is because increased population has direct consequence on food consumption.

In most developing countries for e.g Nigeria, the human population is highly increasing and we are faced with the problem of controlling this population growth and solving food shortage crisis. In other words, the growth rate in food production has always lagged behind the population growth rate.

Factors responsible for rising population growth

1. Improvement in medical care that has resulted in continuous fall in death rate and increase in birth rate.
2. There is early marriages and lack of birth control measures among the rural dwellers

Factors affecting realization of adequate food supply for the growing population

1. Small land area(about 48% of potentially cultivable land in the country) devoted for cropping hinders food output
2. Drought and other weather conditions e.g late and insufficient rainfall have drastically affected food production.
3. In Nigeria, many farmers are still conservative and have not fully embraced new technologies employed in farming. Also there is lack of finance to adopt most of these improved ways of farming
4. Improper food storage and transportation affect availability of food. Poor storage methods employed by farmers in developing countries result in huge food shortage after production. Also as a result of bad road networks and non-availability of vehicles, it is a big problem to move food from sites of production to the site of consumption.

Relationship between availability of food and human population

Adequate food supply give rise to a population that is healthy and active. They work hard, improvethe economy of their country and enjoy a high standard of living. On the other hand, limited food supply results in poorly fed populationwho are susceptible to deficiency and infectious diseases. Such a population cannot work productively (there is reduced energy for hard work). If for instance the population is mainly farmers as is the case with many developing countries; crop production will decrease, worsening the food situation. The economy of the country will be affected; the standard of living and education will be low. Because of these effects, people will not realize the importance of family planning as a solution to their problem.

Government Efforts to Improve Food Production

1. Distribution of high quality seeds and other planting stock which are high yielding, pest/disease/drought resistance
2. Distribution of fertilizers and other agro-chemicals at subsidized rate to increase crop yield
3. Distribution of tractors/other farm machines for hiring to facilitate quicker cultivation of large areas of land.
4. Providing extension services to local farmers to intimate them with modern farming practices/techniques.
5. Establishment of river basin authorities which make water available for irrigation/dry season farming.
6. Good roads and stable markets for easy distribution of products.
7. Government should make available storage facilities to prevent spoilage.
8. Establishment of research institutes to research on food varieties.
9. Government should grant Agricultural loans to encourage farmers to produce more food.

Evaluation

1. Mention 3 ways of improving crop yield
2. List 2 causes of food spoilage
3. Mention 4 methods of food preservation and storage
4. State 2 factors responsible for rising population growth
5. Explain the relationship between availability of food and human population
6. Mention 3 efforts by the government to improve food production.

Assignment

1. Outline the best methods that can be employed to preserve the following food items:

Milk, yam, cassava, tomatoes, and maize grains

2. State 3 characteristics of a  poorly fed population
3. Mention 2 major factors that affect the rate of population growth