navy blue study 2-1

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　　2-1. The system of the food production, consumption and distribution


As we start talking about the causes of the global food problem, firstly, please let me explain the overall picture of the system of the food production, consumption and distribution shown in Chart 2 below. The amount of grain production is decided based on the yield per acreage and the planted acreage. The total of the amount of grain production in the world in a particular year and grain reserves at the end of the year before is defined in this homepage as the “Total World Grain”. The Total World Grain represents the total amount of grain which exists in the world at a particular time. Thinking simply, all the people in the world would be able to have at least decent meals if the Total World Grain surpasses the total grain consumption for all of the world population, but this is a misunderstanding. Even though the Total World Grain actually exceeds the total grain consumption for all of the world population, many people are still dying of starvation. This is a result of the "problem of distribution" of food. Not all of the Total World Grain goes to human meals. Some of the grain are fed to livestock to produce meat, milk and so on. Such meat and milk are consumed by us. And some of the grain are used for other purposes than food sources, such as bioethanol production. Grain for human meals is not distributed equally to every country. Some countries have large, rich farmlands and export grain. Some countries can not produce enough grain but they can import enough grain. On the other hand, there are some countries which can neither produce enough grain because most of the land is too dry to use, nor import enough grain to make up the deficiency of grain production because they do not have economic power.

Chart 2


Next, let us confirm the big picture of the system of the food production, consumption and distribution within one country using Chart 3 below. The total amount of one country’s grain production, reserves and imports is defined in this homepage as the “Total National Grain.” To simplify this, please allow me to ignore the grain export amount. Grain production varies based on agricultural technology, climate events, a country’s agricultural policy, and so on. Grain imports change based on the country’s grain production, its economic power, and grain prices. For those countries which have little economic power, they cannot import enough grain to make up the deficiency even if the grain production is lower than the grain consumption of the country’s population. How is the Total National Grain distributed to the people in one country? As we saw earlier at the level of the whole world, a part of the Total National Grain is used for livestock feed and purposes other than food. Grain for human food is not distributed equally to all the people. Wealthy people are able to buy enough grain, but people in poverty can only buy a little of it.

Chart 3

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Copyright (c) Makoto Kurata, 2009