Background Image
Previous Page  79 / 104 Next Page
Information
Show Menu
Previous Page 79 / 104 Next Page
Page Background

79

AVAILABILITY OF FOOD

The availability of food within a specific country can be guar-

anteed in two ways: Either by food production in the country it-

self or by trade. The first option has been discussed extensively

in the previous chapters. The second option has become more

and more important (Figure 29), with increasing transport

possibilities and storing capacities and the growing challenges

faced by some countries in their domestic production, includ-

ing because of limitations in available cropland. International

trade in agricultural products has expanded more rapidly than

global agricultural GDP (FAO, 2005).

The past several decades have witnessed a major increase in

the integration of the world economy through trade. Many

parts of the world have experienced high economic growth in

recent years. For example, Asia’s GDP has increased by 9%

annually between 2004 and 2006, and growth is especially

high in China and India. Sub-Saharan Africa experienced 6%

annual growth in the same period, after a long period of re-

cession in many countries. Even countries with a prevalence

of hunger reported some economic growth, although this is

not always reflected in social conditions. However, global eco-

Total agricultural

exports (billion USD)

1960

1970 1980 1990

2000

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

Figure 29: World cereal trade in agriculture has increased steadi-

ly in the past decades.

OECD has always been the major net

exporter and Asia has become a major net importer. (Source:

FAOSTAT, 2009).