FACULTY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING, SHAH ALAM

RESOURCE SCARCITY

(FOOD)

MEC600 : ENGINEER IN SOCIETY

INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

NAME : MUHAMMAD HAZIQ HANAFI BIN MD YUSOF

STUDENT ID : 2015283268

GROUP : EMD7M11

LECTURER : IR. DR. AMIRUL BIN ABD RASHID

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 CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................................... 3
CAUSES OF FOOD SCARCITY .................................................................................................................... 4
EFFECT OF FOOD SCARCITY..................................................................................................................... 5
1. Human Society ............................................................................................................................ 5
2. Health .......................................................................................................................................... 5
3. World .......................................................................................................................................... 5
SOLUTIONS FOR FOOD SCARCITY AND ITS CHALLENGES........................................................................ 6
1. SOLUTIONS .................................................................................................................................. 6
2. CHALLENGES ............................................................................................................................... 7
POTENTIAL ETHICAL ISSUES AND ITS SOLUTIONS................................................................................... 8
POTENTIAL ISSUES .............................................................................................................................. 8
SOLUTIONS SUGGESTION ................................................................................................................... 9
CONCLUSION......................................................................................................................................... 11
REFERENCES .......................................................................................................................................... 12
APPENDICES .......................................................................................................................................... 13

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INTRODUCTION

Food scarcity in a shortage of food or not enough food is produced for whatever
reasons and cannot provide enough food for themselves. Food scarcity may exist at an
individual level, city level, state level, nation level, state level, or even global level. The
Trade Organization estimates that if total calories from all the food produced were divided
among all the people on earth, there would be enough calories to feed everyone in the world.
Unfortunately, not everyone is getting the need calories and food because it is not evenly
distributed across the landscape of the world.

As populations increase in developing countries and incomes grew in wealthy ones, it

was argued that more grain would be need, both as a food staple and to feed the growing
demand for animal protein associated with more affluent diets. People who do not consume
enough food each day suffer from food insecurity of food scarcity. When a person, state,
nation, or even country is unable to obtain sufficient amount of food on a daily basis it will
result to chronic hunger and poor nutrition.

The production and distribution of food for every country in the world is influenced
by two variables which is natural resource endowments and human institution. The natural
resource endowments of a country can include thins such as forest, water, fertile land, ore
deposits, and a diversity of wildlife. The amount of natural resources of a country determines
how much a country is able to produce for its own people. Human institution will take its role
when the natural resource endowment of a country falls short. Human institution can step in
to reduce the scarcity of food. A country could provide incentives to their own peoples to
encourage the people starts in farming or agricultural systems. That is how human institution
can reduce the food scarcity from happens seriously.

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CAUSES OF FOOD SCARCITY

There are several aspects that cause food scarcity which is social factors,
environmental factors, and economical factors. Social factors determine the distribution of
food to the masses, environmental factors determine the kind of crops to be produced in a
given place and economic factors determine the buying and production capacity.

The causes of food scarcity in aspect of social factor is the rate of population increase
is higher that increase in food production. Increase in population has led to clearing of
agricultural land for human settlement reducing agricultural production. Overcrowding of
population in a given place results to urbanization of previously rich agricultural fields. The
world is consuming more than it is producing, leading to decline in food stock and storage
level. It also cause increase in food price due to higher demand than production.

In environmental factors the causes is climatic change. Increase in populations means

more pollution as people use more fuel in cars, industry, and domestic cooking. The resultant
effect is increase in water and air pollution. Thus, it affects the climate and food production.
Deforestation of tropical forest due to human pressure has change climatic patterns and
rainfall seasons, causes the reduction of fertile land and cannot support the crop production.
Natural disasters have devastating impact on food security especially in developing country.
Drought is the leading cause of food scarcity in the world, as consecutive years of drought
have led to massive crop failures and loss of livestock. Flood also have rendered many people
homeless and destroying crops and animals.

Economic factors affect the ability of farmer to engage in agricultural production.

Poverty situation in developing nations have reduced their capacity to produce food, as most
farmers cannot afford seed and fertilizers. They use poor farming methods that are not able to
yield enough crops production. Farmers in developing country continue using outdated
farming practices, low yielding seeds and poor agricultural infrastructure which limit their
production capacity. Recent global financial crisis have led to increase in food price and
reduce investment in agriculture by individuals and government in developed nations
resulting in reduce food production.

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EFFECT OF FOOD SCARCITY

1. Human Society

Food scarcity can give bad impact to human society such as children, mothers, and also
elders. The impact on children is reduces class concentration among school going children
and also reduce playground and social activities which are essential for their growth. Food
scarcity also makes mothers have less energy to take care of their toddlers also for verbal
interaction. Not energetic people also the result due to food scarcity and it cause the people
not to work efficiently. This can cause a society to left behind and will not able to improve
their country performance.

2. Health

There so many effects on health due to food scarcity. Food scarcity will lead the people
towards starvation. Lower food security or food scarcity is associated with higher probability
of each of the chronic disease examined such as hypertension, coronary heart disease (CHD),
hepatitis, stroke, and malnutrition. People who live in household that are food insecure, even
at the lowest levels, are likely to be sick more often, recover from illness slowly, and be
hospitalized more frequently.

3. World

Food scarcity effects respect to world is the long term effect. Shortage of food will effect
in increasing price of food as a result demand and supply forces. Increasing cost of food
production due to the increase in fuel prices coupled with persistent drought in grain
producing regions has contributed to the increase in the price of food in the world. Increase in
oil price led to increase in the prize of fertilizers, transportation of food and also industrial
agriculture. This will cause burden towards people who lives in poverty. Farmers also cannot
afford the fertilizers for the crop. Thus, it result less crop production and cause the food price
increase higher.

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SOLUTIONS FOR FOOD SCARCITY AND ITS CHALLENGES

1. SOLUTIONS

To achieve a state of global sustainability, food scarcity or food shortage must resolved
first. To solve the food scarcity problem is there is need to reduce the production of carbon
emission and pollution to reduce the resultant climatic change through concerted and
individual efforts. There is also need to invest in clean energy such as solar, nuclear and
geothermal power in homes and industry because it is safe and healthy to environment.
Advance country should help the left behind country to develop and encourage them to use
clean and renewable energy in order to stabilize Green House emissions into the atmosphere.
So, no serious climate changes and fertile land will increase. Thus, it will improve the crop
production.

Next solution is focus on agricultural development. Aligning foreign assistance with

country-led strategies for agricultural growth is the most effective approach to achieving
results for vulnerable smallholder farmers, their families, and their communities. Government
ownership is critical to sustaining development investments and to ensuring a sound policy
environment for private-sector engagement. In order for agriculture to reach its potential to
generate employment, raise smallholder incomes, and catalyze markets, both the will of
country leadership to dedicate resources and the ability of local and international private
companies to invest along the value chain are required. In some cases, this translates into
tough policy reforms that take time to understand, to implement, and to enforce.

Development glass half full is also the solution. Development of agricultural may take
time, but with the right kind of partnership and country leadership, it will work. Feed the
Future, the U.S. global hunger and nutrition initiative launched by the Obama administration,
has room for improvement, its achievements in poverty reduction and improved nutrition in
select focus countries are laudable. Small farmer can learn to improve cultivation and
management practices and utilizing new technologies. This will benefits the children with
eating more diverse and nutritionally complete diets.

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 2. CHALLENGES

There are some challenges to solve food scarcity problem such as funding assistance for
agricultural inputs, inadequate infrastructure and supply chain, and skill gap. These are
common challenges because most of countries that are facing food scarcity or food shortage
are left behind. They need to start from the beginning.

Funding assistance for agricultural inputs becomes the challenge to solve food scarcity
because some country does not focus on agricultural development only. it also may be due to
limited financial resources of the government. Thus, the rich nation or country should help
poor country to develop the agricultural development in order to achieve global
sustainability.

Next is inadequate infrastructure and supply chain. The infrastructure of the places that
are facing food shortage mostly inadequate and poor supply chain. It may be due to rural
area. Thus, government should provide inadequate infrastructure and supply chain to improve
their life.

Last but not least is skill gap. To start improving peoples live is not easy. They may be
not has the knowledge about things that they should do. So, proper education on knowledge
and skills must be emphasized.

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POTENTIAL ETHICAL ISSUES AND ITS SOLUTIONS

POTENTIAL ISSUES

1. Pressure on natural resources

In many areas of the world, plant and animal genetic resources and land, air, water, forest
and wetland resources are the renewable natural resources on which human life depends are
being rapidly degraded. Pressures on natural resources arise because of conflicts between
long-term and short-term interests, economic and social interests, local and regional
priorities, and between the needs of present and future generations. There is a propensity to
short-term approaches, whereas the management of resources calls for a long-term approach.
Furthermore, current market and political forces may not take sufficient account of future
generations, as they do not consume or vote. Corrective measures need to be implemented to
secure rights for people in the future.

2. Gaps and differences

Considered of many gaps and differences could generate inequities and conflicts. The
gaps between the affluent and the poor, between the food-secure and the food-insecure,
between those with access to education and technology and those without, between the
winners and the losers in the process of globalization. Cultural differences must also be taken
into account. Action aimed at improving conditions for the present generation can conflict
with the needs of future generations. Ethics calls for efforts to reduce these gaps and to
balance the different interests in a fair way.

3. Economic globalization requires cooperation in global governance

Far too many of the world's people remain marginalized, and the gap between the poorest
and the most affluent groups is growing. There are serious power imbalances arising from the
concentration of economic power in the hands of a few. Institutions are not yet in place to
ensure that these imbalances are properly addressed and existing international mechanisms
are too weak. Increased linkages with civil society, facilitated by modern communication
technologies such as e-mail and the Internet, can strengthen the decentralized global
governance system that is now emerging.

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 An ethical food and agriculture system must also move away from unrestricted free
trade, in which powerful forces are able to impose their rules in the marketplace, towards an
ethics-based trade system that provides for a participatory mode in the establishment and
implementation of rules.

SOLUTIONS SUGGESTION

1. Ecosystem management

Multinationals sometimes pressure governments to abstain from enacting or enforcing

required national legislation, under the threat of investing elsewhere. The efforts now under
way in the UN Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights to
develop a code of conduct for multinational corporations, and called upon FAO to assist the
Sub-Commission in its work so as to ensure the inclusion of guidelines concerning the
operations of such corporations in food and agriculture. FAO is continuing to work on a draft
Code of Conduct on Biotechnology as it relates to Genetic Resources for Food and
Agriculture, requested by member countries.

2. Buffering negative consequences of agricultural intensification

Farmer must be properly empowered because farmers can make their plant varieties and
animal breeds more competitive. Data banks may be developed to record cultural traditions of
agriculture. Traditional technologies may be combined with new technologies so that farmers
can advance beyond subsistence farming in a sustainable manner. Ethical guidelines for
decision-making during the process of change are needed, and ways should be sought to
make productive use of available human resources. There should be more direct links
between farmers and policy-makers; in this context, the Panel referred to the text on Farmers'
Rights, agreed on by governments during the current negotiations for the revision of the
International Undertaking on Plant Genetic Resources. The text stipulates that States Parties
shall take measures to protect and promote Farmers' Rights, including the right to participate
in decisions on matters related to plant genetic resources for food and agriculture.

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 3. Information and education

The universal human right to education is essential for the achievement of food security.
Information flows and education can be harnessed to meet the ethical imperative of
empowering those who are currently vulnerable. Access to information is highly unequal at
present, but it can and should be broadened. In this respect, education institutions can be of
great help. Although education is important, it is rarely neutral, and usually has aims and
directions built into it. However, provided ethical considerations are taken into account in the
structuring of its content and methodology, education may influence people to make the right
ethical choices later in life. It also has an important role in helping people to make informed
decisions regarding new technologies. Education needs to be adapted to different cultural
contexts, and it is important for local communities to have more voice in the planning of
education systems.

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CONCLUSION

It is very clear from these discussions that food shortage is a serious global problem
given its devastating impact on the population and government, and this calls for an urgent
remedial measure by players in the food sector. The effect of food scarcity can be short and
long term. Short terms impacts are more concentrated on women, children and the elderly
population who cannot withstand hunger for longer period. Causes of food shortage are well
known and can be solved if appropriate measures to solve the problem are taken and
effectively implemented. Environmental causes of food shortages are changes in climatic and
pollution due to human activities such overgrazing and deforestation which can be controlled
through legislation.

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REFERENCES

1. https://www.paypervids.com/food-shortage-causes-effects-solutions/
2. https://sdn.unl.edu/global-food-scarcity
3. http://www.sciencealert2014.com/food-scarcity-the-defining-issue-of-our-century
4. http://www.fao.org/docrep/003/x9600e/x9600e05.htm
5. https://www.csis.org/analysis/food-security-solution

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APPENDICES

1. Hunger Relief Program

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2. Food Security

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